The Haunting Of Bly Manor: 5 Ups & 4 Downs Review

Despite the four downs here, Bly manor remains a successful piece of storytelling, albeit flawed. The cast negotiate their way around the British setting in a naive but respectful manner and the characters are fully realised, crucially given the time and space to create a series of mysteries that make for initially compelling viewing.

Those expecting the same intense and immediate frights of the previous season's ghostly happenings will, however, be a bit disappointed. The burn here is a deliberately slow one and at times forgets that it's title includes the word 'haunting,' instead preferring to locate the real horror of the situation within the guilt, loss and sense of a wasted life that is painfully illustrated here.

Perhaps though, that is precisely Bly Manor's strength - this is an essay on the human condition as opposed to anything more obviously and tangibly terrifying, the scariest things on display here, apart from the British accents, are the results of emotional suffering.

Although linked in name only, the Haunting Of Bly Manor is still a step above most shows on television, it will just suffer from it's marketing and promises made by its predecessor, which still runs the school of scares. Let's hope that Flanagan's third effort is a seamless blend of the two.