The Haunting of Bly Manor (Out Now)

[Smithy]

(Tried looking for the old thread but the search function on this site is ****E)

Anyway

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[Niamh.]

Ohhhh I loved Hill house, will definitely be watching

[Ammi]

...I loved Hill House as well...exciting...

[Marsh.]

:clap1: Can't wait.

[Marsh.]

They're keeping Kate Siegel's role a secret. :think:

[Smithy]

Trailer in the OP :D

[Ammi]

...Smithy’s Manchester apartment manor teas...?...:laugh:...I’m so excited for this, it looks perfectly scary...:love:...

[Tom4784]

Hill House was probably my favourite Netflix show ever so I've been looking forward to this one for a while. It's looks quite different to Hill House as well, perhaps a little more campy which isn't a bad thing.

[Smithy]

Out today :pipe:

[Niamh.]

:amazed:

[DouglasS]

Looking forward to this, really enjoyed Haunting of Hill house and have rewatched it (it’s better than any series of AHS imo)

[Smithy]

The British kids are so much more irritating than the American ones

[DouglasS]

The British kids are so much more irritating than the American ones

The kids in the original one weren’t even annoying imo? I quite liked them

Theo was bad ass, Luke and Nell were cute
Shirley was Just meh, and I guess the older brother was a bit annoying.

[Tom4784]

I watched the first two episodes, It's pretty good so far, I don't think it grabbed me as instantly as the first series did but I think it's gonna be more of a slow burn.

[Oliver_W]

https://decider.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/bly-manor-the-room.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1100

Oh hi Mark

[Ammi]

...I think that I’m going to try to resist for the moment and start to catch up on Halloween ...

[Smithy]

I watched the first two episodes, It's pretty good so far, I don't think it grabbed me as instantly as the first series did but I think it's gonna be more of a slow burn.

I’m on ep 4 and it still hasn’t massively grabbed me :(


End of ep 3 **** me right up though

[Niamh.]

1 and a half episodes in, I like it, its intriguing

[Smithy]

I literally have no idea what’s going on BUT I think

Peter is dead and is potentially possessing miles?

[Smithy]

I literally have no idea what’s going on BUT I think

Peter is dead and is potentially possessing miles?

:smug:

[Niamh.]

Just started episode 4, Smithy the spoilers are so tempting [emoji102]

I'm curious about Hannah and if she's actually alive, she never eats

[Toy Soldier]

I'm on episode three but having studied Turn Of The Screw at University I feel like I have it pre-spoilered :think:. Obviously there are differences (with the original written and set in Victoria era) but the major story and plot points are thus far the same so I can only imagine the ending will be too.

The main thing we need to talk about though... Some of the ACCENTS. Oh my god. The Haunting Accents of Bly Manor.

The narrator flipping between RP English and Jodie Whittaker is bordering on hilarious, it comes out as totally random words :joker:. The narrator is American and I think she's had some bad coaching on some of the vowels, haha.

Second offender is the Scottish guy. I can sort of get that to non-Scots he might sound Scottish. The problem is, his accent flips and flops between working class Glasgow, "Euan McGregor" style Edinburgh, and a more northern Inverness/Highland accent. If you actually live in Scotland, the mix makes it a really obviously fake accent. Honestly it's quite jarring.

I have to wonder if it's the same for people in Georgia US when Rick talks in The Walking Dead.

[JerseyWins]

I've been hearing the ad for this on spotify CONSTANTLY for the past week :joker: It sounds/seems pretty creepy and worth a watch. I was hoping/thinking it was just a movie at first tho rather than a TV series buuut I might give this a try anyway

[Marsh.]

I'm on episode three but having studied Turn Of The Screw at University I feel like I have it pre-spoilered :think:. Obviously there are differences (with the original written and set in Victoria era) but the major story and plot points are thus far the same so I can only imagine the ending will be too.

The main thing we need to talk about though... Some of the ACCENTS. Oh my god. The Haunting Accents of Bly Manor.

The narrator flipping between RP English and Jodie Whittaker is bordering on hilarious, it comes out as totally random words :joker:. The narrator is American and I think she's had some bad coaching on some of the vowels, haha.

Second offender is the Scottish guy. I can sort of get that to non-Scots he might sound Scottish. The problem is, his accent flips and flops between working class Glasgow, "Euan McGregor" style Edinburgh, and a more northern Inverness/Highland accent. If you actually live in Scotland, the mix makes it a really obviously fake accent. Honestly it's quite jarring.

I have to wonder if it's the same for people in Georgia US when Rick talks in The Walking Dead.

Yeah, Carla Gugino sounded Welsh to me in some of that opening scene. :joker:

Then she went posh to Northern England.

[Niamh.]

Just finished it

it was ok, not a patch on Hill House though. It wasn't scary at all. The only scary part was when Perdy opened the chest and Viola strangled her. It was very drawn out and pretty dull in a lot of parts I thought.

I guessed very early on that Hannah was a ghost but I wondered how she was able to touch people when Peter couldn't? Was it because she didn't realise she was dead?

[Ammi]

...I’m trying not to look at the spoilers yet...I think that I’ve just finished episode 7...

...since one the earlier episodes, I don’t recall which one..but before Miles was expelled from school and they were discussing the Demon and the Swine..?...it was obvious that it was Miles or Miles and Flora that were going to be possessed, their bodies used as hosts, type thing and they would die...and also that they would ‘invite the demons in..’.../...or agree...I didn’t know though that it would be Rebecca and Peter...anyway, Flora is not yet possessed...I also thought that not everyone in the Manor was ‘alive’ and at one time, wondered if they were all dead or most of them... but that some were with the dark spirits and souls and some weren’t...:laugh:...and ughhhh, I thought/hoped that Dani was going to survive but it’s not looking as though she will..:sad:..

[Kizzy]

If it's as good as hill house I'm there, me and my lad have been waiting for something we can binge watch again :) I don't do gore though so hopefully there's none of that.

[Ammi]

If it's as good as hill house I'm there, me and my lad have been waiting for something we can binge watch again :) I don't do gore though so hopefully there's none of that.

...Kizzy, I won’t give anything away in this spoiler..

...it is quite a different vibe from the Hill House so don’t thing ‘Hill House, part 2’ , type thing...but if you do take that comparison away..?...I feel it has a lot of depth in its own right and is a good watch so far as a one series story goes...there is no gore, I don’t do gore either...I’m one of the worst people with that ..scare me but don’t gore me...but this is perfectly fine to watch...

[Ammi]

...I finished watching it..


...although I agree, it could have been a little shorter, I really enjoyed it...it didn’t have the scares/jumps in the same way as House Hill...although it did have some jumps, though...but as it said in the end, intrinsically it’s a love story...so much love and so much sadness felt in the walls of BlyManor... and also, outside of Bly Manor, as with Dani...I’m not sure if I’ve seen Henry Thomas since his ET time so it was interesting to see him as Henry as well...

[Tom4784]

I finished Ep3 yesterday.

That jump scare at the end was spectacular, simply because of how it played with expecations, I was expecting Glasses to lurch forward and scream or turn monstrous but what happened instead shook me a lot more. Good jumpscares are an artform that is rarely done well and can easily be seen as cheap and one thing I'll give Mike Flanagan credit for is that, inbetween this one and the car scene from Hill House, he knows his way around a good jump scare.

[Smithy]

Omg did anyone else cry at the finale or am I just emotional bc I drank too much last night

[Niamh.]

Just you Smithy [emoji14]

[Smithy]

Overall I really like it, I think it was probably an episode or two too long, maybe 7 would have been better than 9, a lot of the stuff that confuses you early on could have probably been cut down a lot, it wasn’t really that scary either. The only scary bits were the jump scares at the end of the episodes. It picked up pace for the last 3 episodes I’d say though.

[Niamh.]

Yeah it wasn't terrible but felt a bit drawn out plus, yes OK it's a love story but I watched because I thought it was a horror [emoji28]

[Smithy]

Yeah it shoulda been the love story of Bly manor :fist:

[Ammi]

...I did enjoy it quite a bit and a love story can often be the reasoning/entwined for a haunting as well, it would always be a sad story of maybe love and loss etc and tragedy...but the story of Viola and Perdita wasn’t explained until so far in and with around 9 episodes, it should have been earlier as well, I think as it was the whole thing that put the haunting into the manor...anyways, it all felt more of a complete ‘stand alone’ rather than ‘a haunting 2...’...

[Tom4784]

I just watched Ep5/

That **** could have been cut down so much but I'm so sad that Hannah died, like, it was obvious from the start that she was a ghost but still :sad: It all feels a bit predictable at the moment. I'm enjoying it but... yeah, it's not as good as Hill House so far.

[Marsh.]

I just watched Ep5/

That **** could have been cut down so much but I'm so sad that Hannah died, like, it was obvious from the start that she was a ghost but still :sad: It all feels a bit predictable at the moment. I'm enjoying it but... yeah, it's not as good as Hill House so far.

Yeah, the moments of her not eating gave it away. :laugh:
I enjoyed the episode overall, but the repetition of the scenes, whilst quirky at first, dragged on far too much.

[Tom4784]

Yeah, the moments of her not eating gave it away. :laugh:
I enjoyed the episode overall, but the repetition of the scenes, whilst quirky at first, dragged on far too much.

Yeah, I liked what they tried to do but this should have been a 30 minute episode tops unless we switched focus to other character while Hannah was freaking out. It dragged horrifically by the end.

It's cool that we got to see the evil ghost fully for the first time but I honestly think the doll's creepier than the ghost itself. It's definitely a far cry in quality from the bent neck lady or hat ghost from Hill House.

[Marsh.]

Yeah, I liked what they tried to do but this should have been a 30 minute episode tops unless we switched focus to other character while Hannah was freaking out. It dragged horrifically by the end.

It's cool that we got to see the evil ghost fully for the first time but I honestly think the doll's creepier than the ghost itself. It's definitely a far cry in quality from the bent neck lady or hat ghost from Hill House.

Yeah, it's not a patch on Hill House, but she scared the sh*te out of me when she jumped out on the stairs. :bawling:

[DouglasS]

I’m kind of getting from this thread that it’s not as good as hill house? Is that true (without spoilers)

[Toy Soldier]

I’m kind of getting from this thread that it’s not as good as hill house? Is that true (without spoilers)I enjoyed it but not its not as as good as Hill House.

For me in the end it also deviated waaay too far from The Turn Of The Screw... Which is just a much better story than what was presented :joker:

Book spoilers
[spoiler]For those who don't know, at the end of the book, it's left ambiguous whether the ghosts are real or the governess has been delusional all along. Also, Miles dies... Either his spirit already being dead thus his body left "lifeless" when Peter Quint is driven out, OR The Governess accidentally having smothered him whilst trying to drive out the "spirits", depending on your interpretation (supernatural or psychological).[/QUOTE]

Obviously a totally different story to this adaptation in the end (half of the characters don't even exist) but it is a good read. A very short one though. Giving it thought, there probably isn't even enough content for more than 3 or 4 episodes so I guess they had to add a lot.

[Marsh.]

Not TS moaning that he already knows the ending and then moaning that they changed it. :oh: Fussy arse!

[Ammi]

Yeah, the moments of her not eating gave it away. :laugh:
I enjoyed the episode overall, but the repetition of the scenes, whilst quirky at first, dragged on far too much.

...I think also what gave it away was her lighting candles for the dead, so the dead are remembered...because that represented her being remembered also..

[Ammi]

I’m kind of getting from this thread that it’s not as good as hill house? Is that true (without spoilers)

...I really liked it, DouglasS, it didn’t grip me from the beginning in the same way as Hill House did and felt a much slower pace, which maybe could have been less slow and a few less episodes...but I still found it completely absorbing with the character stories...

[Marsh.]

Just watched episode 8. Another round of dodgy accents. :laugh:

I enjoyed it. The backstory was suitably creepy, but not sure an entire episode with 80% voice over was really needed. If they mixed scenes of this in with the present day stuff of episode 6 then it would have allowed the last two episodes to flow better IMO.

[Marsh.]

It's actually feeling a lot like AHS: Coven with the hellish nightmares.

[Marsh.]

Giving it thought, there probably isn't even enough content for more than 3 or 4 episodes so I guess they had to add a lot.

Yeah, I think the show is an amalgamation of about 3 Henry James' books.

[Mystic Mock]

I watched this a few days ago and whilst I appreciate that what it was doing was okay for what it was, my personal preference goes towards Hill House and I hope that future seasons are more like Hill House than Bly Manor.

[Toy Soldier]

Not TS moaning that he already knows the ending and then moaning that they changed it. :oh: Fussy arse!I don't mind an ending twist but it should at least be as good an ending as the original :hmph:

Honestly the best part of the whole thing was the gardener calling Dani "Puppins" constantly. I know it was actually "Poppins", but it sounds like "Puppins", and that's the silly pet name we call our dog when she's being extra cute... Which made several heartfelt moments unintentionally hilarious [emoji23]

[Marsh.]

Oh that drove me mad that nickname. Cringe.

[Niamh.]

Did you all know that Flora is the voice of Peppa Pig? Just found that out now, Perfectly Splendid!

[Ammi]

...I also thought it was perfectly splendid that Henry Thomas played Elliott in ET...and he grew up to be Uncle Henry...

[Niamh.]

Oh I read that somewhere (probably here) he's changed a lot

[Niamh.]

The British kids are so much more irritating than the American ones

I thought Flora was adorable. Miles was annoying though

[Smithy]

I thought Flora was adorable. Miles was annoying though

She was annoying af saying perfectly splendid over and over to begin with

[Tom4784]

I just got one episode left, I'll watch it tomorrow.

It actually annoys me how we spent so long with Peter and Rebecca when Viola's backstory and the idea of her haunting was just so much better. They really should have focused more on her, and have her be the main antagonist because Peter took things in too much of an AHS direction, I think.

Also the creative team missed a trick with the virtual effects with the ghost, The blank faces aren't scary but when we saw Viola standing over that kid's bed when her face hadn't fully disappeared? That was genuinely unnerving, that's the look they should have kept. A featureless face isn't scary, but a partially faded one? That was eerie as hell.

As for the other episodes, this series is about 4 episodes too long, I think, maybe even 5. Hell, I think they could have done this story (so far, I guess) as a film. I think having two episodes that cover the same ground in explaining being 'tucked away' was too much. Hannah's episode pushed it but when we basically got the episode with Rebecca and Peter that covered the same subject, it just pushed my patience too far. I really liked the Viola episode though, that one brought me back from the brink of being done with this series.

I dunno whether the last episode will tie everything together but I feel like the plot is very scattered and disparate at the moment. Is Edmund a ghost or an hallucination? At this point, he seems forgotten, and I think there was too much time spent with the characters aside from the children not knowing what was going on, and the other ghosts may as well not exist at this point, it seems. Unless the last episode brings it all together, I think there's sadly just a lot of wasted potential in this season.

[Ammi]

I just got one episode left, I'll watch it tomorrow.

It actually annoys me how we spent so long with Peter and Rebecca when Viola's backstory and the idea of her haunting was just so much better. They really should have focused more on her, and have her be the main antagonist because Peter took things in too much of an AHS direction, I think.

Also the creative team missed a trick with the virtual effects with the ghost, The blank faces aren't scary but when we saw Viola standing over that kid's bed when her face hadn't fully disappeared? That was genuinely unnerving, that's the look they should have kept. A featureless face isn't scary, but a partially faded one? That was eerie as hell.

As for the other episodes, this series is about 4 episodes too long, I think, maybe even 5. Hell, I think they could have done this story (so far, I guess) as a film. I think having two episodes that cover the same ground in explaining being 'tucked away' was too much. Hannah's episode pushed it but when we basically got the episode with Rebecca and Peter that covered the same subject, it just pushed my patience too far. I really liked the Viola episode though, that one brought me back from the brink of being done with this series.

I dunno whether the last episode will tie everything together but I feel like the plot is very scattered and disparate at the moment. Is Edmund a ghost or an hallucination? At this point, he seems forgotten, and I think there was too much time spent with the characters aside from the children not knowing what was going on, and the other ghosts may as well not exist at this point, it seems. Unless the last episode brings it all together, I think there's sadly just a lot of wasted potential in this season.

...I agree that it was all too long and interest started to fade for me ..(like the face of Viola...)...and then I was pulled back in by Viola and her story which was the very reason for the manor’s haunting after all...before Viola, there was no haunting so the focus should have been on her story more, I thought...although I understand her featureless face not being so scary Being disappointing also...?...I quite liked that and felt it had to be that way because it represented the Day of the Dead, type thing because she wasn’t remembered and not being remembered, represents not being loved for those who are dead and especially if their souls are not at peace...?....but then that’s the thing as well of the story trying to entwine both ‘horror’ and love and sadness of lost love etc...and the criticisms it’s received of not really achieving either fully...)...In its own right and as a stand alone, I really enjoyed the story...(...even though a little long...)...but as a season 2 haunting...?...then it just didn’t give what was hoped for, not at all...

[Toy Soldier]

Did you all know that Flora is the voice of Peppa Pig? Just found that out now, Perfectly Splendid!

I knew Peppa was replaced recently - there have actually been 4, the last one was nearly 20 or something so it was time :joker:. I did say when watching this that they should have used Flora as the new voice... but apparently she actually is.

I just got one episode left, I'll watch it tomorrow.

It actually annoys me how we spent so long with Peter and Rebecca when Viola's backstory and the idea of her haunting was just so much better. They really should have focused more on her, and have her be the main antagonist because Peter took things in too much of an AHS direction, I think.

Also the creative team missed a trick with the virtual effects with the ghost, The blank faces aren't scary but when we saw Viola standing over that kid's bed when her face hadn't fully disappeared? That was genuinely unnerving, that's the look they should have kept. A featureless face isn't scary, but a partially faded one? That was eerie as hell.

As for the other episodes, this series is about 4 episodes too long, I think, maybe even 5. Hell, I think they could have done this story (so far, I guess) as a film. I think having two episodes that cover the same ground in explaining being 'tucked away' was too much. Hannah's episode pushed it but when we basically got the episode with Rebecca and Peter that covered the same subject, it just pushed my patience too far. I really liked the Viola episode though, that one brought me back from the brink of being done with this series.

I dunno whether the last episode will tie everything together but I feel like the plot is very scattered and disparate at the moment. Is Edmund a ghost or an hallucination? At this point, he seems forgotten, and I think there was too much time spent with the characters aside from the children not knowing what was going on, and the other ghosts may as well not exist at this point, it seems. Unless the last episode brings it all together, I think there's sadly just a lot of wasted potential in this season.

I do think they could have done more "back and forth" between the past and the present from maybe around the midpoint of the episode run, I think it would have added more variety and spiced it all up a bit, and the events from that timeline could be more interwoven with the modern stuff, rather than one dedicated episode right at the end of the run.

Regarding Edmund... he stopped appearing because Dani "symbolically" burned his glasses that she had been keeping with her, signifying that she was moving on. Whether he was a literal ghost or a figment of her PTSD from the accident I think is left deliberately ambiguous but I don't think it really matters... the point was that she was holding onto the past and had finally let it go.

[Tom4784]

Finished it, I think it ended strongly but the series has a number of issues about it.

1. Far too AHS-y
2. Not enough story to sustain the plot (ohai again, AHS)
3. Too slow paced and the payoff doesn't justify the pace.
4. Clumsy writing that signposted twists too much.
5. Not enough horror - The fact that things only get going on the last night and most of the characters are unaware of what's going on until Viola drags Flora into the lake is an issue. There should have been more hauntings scattered throughout, I think everyone should have known about the ghosts or suspected they existed much earlier. Considering Viola kills anyone in her path, you'd think there'd be more of a legend about her or lore within the town and/or house. The other ghosts also had creepy visuals that could have been used to great effect but simply were not. Why did we only see the attic at the end? Why weren't the dolls in the basement used more? etc.
6. Not enough character development to make the drama aspects work. I thought it was perfectly sad at the end but I wasn't any close to bawling like the creators wanted me to, mainly because certain characters were a little undercooked. Less time should have been spent with Peter and Rebecca, and more with the principal cast and the threat of Viola.

I have a lot of issues with it, but I'd give it a 7/10 overall, I think. The last two episodes really pulled it together, I thought.

I knew Peppa was replaced recently - there have actually been 4, the last one was nearly 20 or something so it was time :joker:. I did say when watching this that they should have used Flora as the new voice... but apparently she actually is.



I do think they could have done more "back and forth" between the past and the present from maybe around the midpoint of the episode run, I think it would have added more variety and spiced it all up a bit, and the events from that timeline could be more interwoven with the modern stuff, rather than one dedicated episode right at the end of the run.

Regarding Edmund... he stopped appearing because Dani "symbolically" burned his glasses that she had been keeping with her, signifying that she was moving on. Whether he was a literal ghost or a figment of her PTSD from the accident I think is left deliberately ambiguous but I don't think it really matters... the point was that she was holding onto the past and had finally let it go.

I suspected as much but it really didn't feel like much of an ending considering he was still there when the episode ended. I thought they were angling for a scenario where coming to terms with what happened wasn't going to be enough. It ended up feeling like a plot point that was brought to a conclusion but not truly finished.

Yeah, that would have been better, although I did like the Viola episode. Admittedly, I'm not sure about her literally choking people to death, though. I thought how they handled the dead harming the living in Hill House was better in how they affected the mind rather than killed people with their own hands. That being said, seeing her drag people around was an effective image.

[Smithy]

I don’t get how Viola walked into the parents bedroom however many times and nothing happened?

[Tom4784]

I don’t get how Viola walked into the parents bedroom however many times and nothing happened?

That's what I thought, I just assumed that she doesn't take people unless they're kids or they get in the way since she didn't harm the plague patients in the bed either. Maybe she just sees an empty bed if someone is sleeping in it.

[Marsh.]

I thought Peter and Rebecca made it very AHS-y, which isn't really a good thing at all.

[Marsh.]

Read an article earlier about the fact that they did a lot of post-production work on iPads due to Covid and it left a lot of the ghosts that they hide in shots virtually invisible.

I spotted the little child in the kitchen and the plague doctor in the background of one scene, but the scenes in the manor weren't nearly as unsettling as what it was like with Hill House.

[Smithy]

Read an article earlier about the fact that they did a lot of post-production work on iPads due to Covid and it left a lot of the ghosts that they hide in shots virtually invisible.

I spotted the little child in the kitchen and the plague doctor in the background of one scene, but the scenes in the manor weren't nearly as unsettling as what it was like with Hill House.

There was an article on some website saying here’s all the ghosts you missed! And literally even when they were circled you could barely see them

That being said I literally only ever saw one in Hill House anyway so it never really added anything for me

[Tom4784]

I didn't know they did that this year, I only saw the Plague Doctor and assumed he wasn't meant to be a hidden ghost.

[Marsh.]

I didn't know they did that this year, I only saw the Plague Doctor and assumed he wasn't meant to be a hidden ghost.

Yeah, apparently all of the figures in the doll house corresponded to where you would see each ghost.

Amazing detail if you could actually see them. :laugh:

[Ammi]

Omg did anyone else cry at the finale or am I just emotional bc I drank too much last night

...going back to Smithy...yeah, I found the ending../...the last episode incredibly emotional and quite tear-filled...

...although it was lovely that Dani and Jamie had, had so many happy years together in their lives before Dani took her traded place in the lake...it was always that thing that the sands of time were running and she never knew how long they would have together...like having a terminal illness and knowing that one day and would that one day be very soon..so much time just staring into the bathtub...it was also heartbreaking when Jamie turned her chair to the door...which presumably she had done every night and would do every night in the hope that Dani’s spirit would come back...something that would never be because there was nothing for Dani to come back for, she was at peace and she had given peace to Viola and she had given life to Flora and she had ‘lived a whole lifetime’ with the love of her life...

[Ammi]

...if Peter and Rebecca had taken the lives/bodies of Flora and Miles then it would have been brother and sister...(...and also children...)...in a romantic/sexual relationship...

[Tom4784]

On reflection, after thinking about it for a while. I've decided I liked this a lot more than I initially thought it I did.

[Glenn.]

Well I finished it.

Was a tad confusing until the last couple episodes.

I don’t think it was as good as Hill House tbh. It had some lovely emotional moments

[Headie]

I'm on Episode 7 and actually really enjoying it despite people saying it's got nothing on Hill House. I like the characters and the way their stories are told. It's quite sad how tragic all their stories are.

[Ammi]

...yeah I really liked it actually, Hayden...it wasn’t what I had expected and not so much a horror story...but I loved all of the entwining stories and the tragedy of them all...a few jumps as well...