The Haunting Of Bly Manor Discussion (Netflix)

J-Roderton

J-Roderton

Member




Release date: October 9th, 2020.

Dead doesn't mean gone. An au pair plunges into an abyss of chilling secrets in this gothic romance from the creator of "The Haunting of Hill House."
Starring:Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Henry Thomas
Creators:Mike Flanagan
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Netflix Official Link


Releases tomorrow. Should be a good viewing to accompany 31 Days Of Horror.
 
Man I love horror.

Lets just hope it's not woke. Ok, ok, let's hope it's not too woke. This is SJWflix after all. Glad I have my sub through relatives. Lets me try this stuff and feel a little less guilty.
 
First season was so good and so many twists you wouldn't expect. Didn't realize this releases tomorrow! Tons of good content this month and next.
 
Apparently it's more a love melodrama than a horror series like the first season. I'm not sure what to think about it...
indiewire said:
Unlike the legion of frights tucked under every bed and behind every creaking door in his original haunted house, Flanagan's "Bly Manor" is an unhurried, allegorically dense, romantic melodrama. I like it, but it's not quite a love story — or if it is, it's not an affecting one. More importantly, it's not a horror show, and Netflix viewers should dissuade themselves of such presumptions, or risk missing its beautiful reflections.
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Another review:
inverse said:
The Haunting of Bly Manor isn't your average horror series. It's something you realize isn't scary until it's three hours later when you're still contemplating your own mortality. It's also so saturated in love, found family, and joy that you don't really mind the memento mori. As long as you have the moment.
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Just finished marathon watch. Nowhere near as good as the haunting of hill house.

The good:

Acting is excellent throughout from basically all characters.

Writing gets... a little too artsy, but I enjoyed it.

Loved the black and white episode.

The bad:

Too slow, they could have told this story better in half the time.

Plenty of plot holes, but that's hard with horror stories, they get it... 75% right.

Overall story was just ok for me, I rate it a B- I would recommend it, but you have to appreciate the acting and be ready to accept a very slow burn of a story. If you're not enjoying it in the first few episodes just drop it, it's not worth the time.
 
Tried to get into this last night - gave up. Far too slow moving and I found the characters annoying.

Just nowhere near the quality of the first season. Disappointing.
 
I'm about 4 eps in and while it is pretty good, the horror aspects are almost superfluous at this point. The little dolls and whatever is always walking in the background shots is effective, as is mirror glasses guy, but bah, the melodrama of the previous au pair is really dragging.

Damn that 80s/90s fashion though. The lead wearing those high waisted baggy jeans.....ugh, how did we make it through that fashion? The accents are a bit dodgy as well, a lot of the actors seem to be struggling keeping them consistent with the dialogue.
 
The first season is one of the best things ever on Netflix. I'm 2 episodes into S2. It's definitely not as good, but it's still an enjoyable watch.
 
How to ep 6 or so. It is definitely a slow burn but there are some definite creepy moments and even some real scares. It leans heavily into psychologic fears as real ghosts (I think, unless things change) but there appear to be true supernatural shenanigans afoot. Alas, nothing as terrifying as the lady in season 1 and the house isn't used nearly as effectively (limited set and budget this season?). But the main character romance feels more earned than usual, though I'm not nearly as fond of the flashback stuff this time around. This show really needs to learn into more T&A and gore or go more family friendly IMHO, it walks a line that is kinda boring (as do a lot of netflix shows, are there really a lot of teens watching this stuff?).
 
I've watched the first two episodes with my son, we are both really enjoying it. We'll probably watch the next 7 over the next week (one per night) and I'm really looking forward to it.

cormack12 said:
Wathed ep1. Solid start without any real creepiness.
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You must not have been paying very close attention.
 
Netflix is basically trying the Golden Age of studios thing where they put their people in all their shows/movies.
 
jshackles said:
I've watched the first two episodes with my son, we are both really enjoying it. We'll probably watch the next 7 over the next week (one per night) and I'm really looking forward to it.

You must not have been paying very close attention.
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I get what they were going for but I dont think they really landed the unsettling feel. The plague doctor, the candles, dolls, mirror haunting, the ?possession? Of the kids. Like I said, solid start but it's more intriguing than unsettling in my opinion.

As an aside does the actress look of weird proportions in the jeans?
 
The writing in this season is a little weird. Can't quite put my finger on how exactly. I keep finding my self saying "people don't talk like this"
 
OmegaSupreme said:
The writing in this season is a little weird. Can't quite put my finger on how exactly. I keep finding my self saying "people don't talk like this"
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I'm hoping it's story related. As having the kids running round talking like that is just not real lol. Perfectly Splendid! It's not pre-wartime like Narnia,
 
OmegaSupreme said:
The writing in this season is a little weird. Can't quite put my finger on how exactly. I keep finding my self saying "people don't talk like this"
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Perfectly splendid post

But for real this season was such a step back. So many plot points you just have to go with. Huge exposition drop during the climax. Ghosts that weren't scary. But hey its a love storyyyyy
 
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I've finished it. It was enjoyable but not particularly scary and plot wise it was a mess.

But the characters were good and they nailed enough tragic moments to make it worthwhile.

But damn, the accents were grating. Peter Quints Uber thick brogue, Henry's ultra posh, the little girls whistling victorian era speech, the narrator's over enunceated speech.

Still, even if it ultimately makes little sense it was a pretty fun ride. They do a GREAT job showing things from some of the ghosts POV and every character gets their moment to shine.

The costuming is atrocious. The au pair in those high waisted baggy jeans....damn. even the gardner looks dumpy. Yet Jessup and the housekeeper always look sharp and svelte. Odd. Makes sense in the end I guess, all we are missing is hair dye :p

The weakest actor is the creators wife. She was far better in the first season, they did her wrong in this one.
 
I've only watched the first 2 episodes and so far it seems good. Has that nice spooky atmosphere the first season had.
 
Up to episode four now. I think they tried to do 'less is more' with visuals but at the moment it's kind of up and down. Wardrobe is a mess. I agree with J jason10mm its that bad it pulls you out the moment. Ive no idea what good costuming is but this is the first show ive noticed it being shit enough to distract me
 
I was so looking forward to it but I am just really diappointed. After 4 episodes I decided to leave it. It's as boring as pretentious as woke as can be. If you enjoy people talking lame shit in low voices without any substance, this may be something for you though.
 
Is it really woke though? I mean sure, all the bad guys are white but where there really ANY bad guys? I thought all the characters had good motivations and earned consequences. The lesbian relationship felt authentic, it's not like they had a gaydar signal flare fire off across a crowded room and just hopped into the sack within 2 seconds of meeting as is so often the case. A woman was a cheater. No man was really a cuck. No woman was hit that I recall. The priest WASN'T a molester (unless I REALLY misread the dead dove).

In fact, I think the tagline to the season could be "Bitches be crazy" which is certainly anti-woke.

My only complaint is that the 2 black female leads got fantastic costumes while the 2 white female leads were dressed in sacks.

The show is, if anything, more about class struggle than identity politics and it handled it well I thought.
 
Question

Has the black woman got early onset dementia or something? I didn't get the whole Owen scene or why it was replaying. If it's answered later just say, but my impression was that she keeps zoning out because she has the equivalent of dementia and Owen could recognise and help her through it
 
cormack12 said:
Question

Has the black woman got early onset dementia or something? I didn't get the whole Owen scene or why it was replaying. If it's answered later just say, but my impression was that she keeps zoning out because she has the equivalent of dementia and Owen could recognise and help her through it
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It gets answered.
 
Peggies said:
I was so looking forward to it but I am just really diappointed. After 4 episodes I decided to leave it. It's as boring as pretentious as woke as can be. If you enjoy people talking lame shit in low voices without any substance, this may be something for you though.
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You probably should watch episode 5 before you quit. Just an FYI
 
I like how it slowly unravels itself as a
"gothic romance"
rather than forcing cheap jump scares and standard horror practice. I liked the story and found it really compelling and creepy. It was definitely a slow burn, and some of the repeated scenes like
the repeated memories of "I was a sous chef which means they only let me chop vegetables but here I can prepare full courses and blah blah blah" really overstayed their welcome after the 3rd time.
Likewise, some of the character arcs seemed a little ... pointless? Like
the "uncle" sitting in his office getting drunk and talking to his demonic mirror image for like 2 episodes straight lol. Like, what was the outcome of that again? I thought the other characters seemed much more connected to the purpose of Bly Manor than that dude.
I guess the takeaway for me, personally, is that a couple of the characters could have had a little less screen time and the
"gothic romance" stuff could have come much sooner, rather than being a "twist" ending/finale.
Overall, I enjoyed it for what it was, but I think Hill House was a lot less fantastical, better paced, which made it more cohesive and naturally easy to digest.
 
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dorkimoe said:
You probably should watch episode 5 before you quit. Just an FYI
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Thanks for the information! I did but still I expected something else. I know the original story by Henry James and though I appreciate the new approach, it seems pretentious in its way of making up a lot of lesbian soap opera stuff. "Haunting of Hill House" was quite slow as well, but had more substance to it.
 
Started watching last night. First 2 episodes. Why do people run towards and into Scooby Doo houses. Not I.

Tho her running to the man outside with that fireplace iron put a smile on my face.
 
Yeah, the show waffles between
guilt manifesting as a 'ghost' (shiny glasses guy, evil henry) and actual ghosts a bit too casually. We never really see the guilt leaving either of them, but their demons just sorta vanish. I was REALLY hoping for a ghost battle between shiny glasses ghost and faceless lake ghost though

And did I just miss it but
where did the 400 year old necklace Quint tries to steal come from? Did the original family keep the stuff and just dump the chest, was the chest recovered from the lake at some point, and is flora actually a proper descendant of lake ghost lady? Or was the necklace (and that hair comb thing) some other jewelry and lake ghost lady choking out Quint as he steals it just a coincidence?

And did they ever say how floras parents actually died?
 
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