The Haunting of Bly Manor (Netflix) TV Show Review & Comments

Cheers Tom. I wasn't ever expecting a 4 but I'm still pretty hyped.

And I'm a sucker for a terrible English accent!!
 
A loose adaptation, indeed, that hung itself on overfamiliarity and boredom.
 
I had high hopes for this after the excellent first series.

Saw a few other poor review scores so clearly one to miss.
 
Cheers tom, I'm two episodes in and I'm going to bail out. It's too long and it's almost like they knew it was dull and boring but carried on with it anyway.
Total garbage and one of the most boring two episodes I've ever watched on Netflix.
There's far too much good stuff without wasting my time on this guff.
#cancelledaftertwoseasons
 
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Trying not to get hung up in the review on the "adaptation" element, but it was very clear that finer elements of the story had been lost. Namely
that there aren't definitely any ghosts at all in Bly and the governess may just be mad.
For them to later reference another James story, The Beast in the Jungle, in the final episode in a way which is in total opposition to what that story is actually about convinced me that they started with the wrong source material.

To be clear, the impact of that on my score was minimal. The problems with it went beyond it being a bit of a silly way to adapt a book.
 
I’m three episodes in and I think the four is a bit harsh. Sure it’s no Hill House (which was a 9/0 for me), but I’m still finding the story intriguing.

It’s not scary, the children can’t act. At all. I’ve seen dogs with more acting skill. And the portrayal of certain British characters is beyond comical. I think all of this is worse for a British audience because so much of the texture is an American conception of Britishness that at best is inaccurate and at worst laugh-out-loud funny.

I also hate the smeary, vaseline lens/bloom effect throughout. I suppose the director wants it to look all ‘ethereal’ but it just looks cheap. Which is a shame because a lot of the art direction is excellent.

Not a 4/10 from me so far. More like a 6. We’ll see how the rest goes.
 
The forced diversity doesn't help either
 
Well in all honesty I never expect any show on Netflix to get past two season's these days, so if this was the end I don't think anyone would be shocked :laugh:

Regardless of sentiment, if it isn't as well received as the first season then it'll be toast.
 
i posted another review in the TV show thread , 2/5 which apes Tom's score.
 
Well I must be the scarediest cat on the forums, but I’ve been bricking it through the first two episodes.

Also intrigued, and enjoying it, so will stick with it, with expectations duly tempered.
 
I just read that and HOLY SPIT, THAT WAS GREG SESTERO IN THE WEDDING PARTY?! I'm bumping my score up.

This could be another Cas style case of, "I gave it a 4 but we'll call it a 9" :D
 
The biggest pile of junk I've seen in years. A complete insult to Henry James' novella 'The Turn Of The Screw' and the 1961 film adaption of it, The Innocents.

The sets and location. Where to start. Both are like a poorly educated Americans imagination of how they perceive England to look like. Unfortunately, sets and locations are more American looking than America itself. No person from the UK can possibly admit that the location and look of the series make for a convincing England, whether we're talking being outside or inside.

The house itself is not at all convicing. it's not an English country masion. It's a fully modern American looking big house, even down to landline telephone ringtones everything is all American. Street scenes are a highly peculiar main street USA look, with bits of British street furniture, road signs and 1950's British cars/ Indian Ambassador taxi cars thrown in. It's all totally unconvincing and highly irritating to watch, yet we're meant to believe we're in England.

As for the acting. Calling it rank amateur would be giving it a compliment. The personalities of the British characters are also fully American in their interaction with others. It's like watching British actors playing American characters but without using American accents.

I don't know about others, I barely survived to part three. I simply couldn't take any more of this cheap raping of The Turn Of The Screw. To anyone that has watched this tosh and hasn't seen The Innocents, watch The Innocents. The Innocents, directed by Jack Clayton, and starring Deborah Kerr and Michael Redgrave, soars above this disappointing mediocre nonsense on every level possible.
 
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I've only seen episode 1 so far, so we'll see how it goes from here, but I really enjoyed it.
 
Not as good as the first series but the first was fantastic so would have been hard to beat.
 
Shame. I was looking forward to seeing this. I will still watch ep 1 if only to play ‘spot the poor attempt at portraying British life’
 
I must be an oddball, I’m enjoying it.
 
I wasn’t enjoying it at first but I’ve just watched episode 5 and I’m completely hooked. Really enjoying it can’t wait to watch the rest this evening.
 
:rotfl:
 
I watched the first series and thought it was excellent I wish I'd seen this review before I watched 4 episodes last night thinking it was just a slow start very poor series
 
Watching it now and it's pretty bad. Acting is bad and atmosphere is bad. The only remotely scary thing about it is the British accents coming from the American actors. Gruesome.
 

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