The Gore Connoisseurs

The second instalment of Mike Flanagan ’s The Haunting anthology series, The Haunting of Bly Manor, sees a markedly different take on ghosts than the earlier Haunting of Hill House . Bly Manor sets up an all-new mythology for its ghostly residents, which is all part of Flanagan’s aim to shake up the tone in the new series. While Hill House focussed on childhood trauma, Flanagan has described Bly Manor as a “Gothic romance” – which influences the way ghosts are portrayed in the series. Warning: Spoilers for  The Haunting of Bly Manor The origin of the haunting We’re never explicitly told why Hill House is so chock full of ghosts, other than the fact there is something fundamentally wrong about the building. Episode one opens with Steven Crain reading the first paragraph of Shirley Jackson’s novel in voiceover, explaining: “Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within.” We come to learn that the house itself is carnivorous, claiming the soul...

It's just been announed that The Haunting of Hill House is getting a second series that's loosely based on Henry James's short story The Turn of the Screw.  Here's why that's a terrible idea. Hill House creator Mike Flanagan has revealed that The Haunting is set to become an anthology series – with its second outing focus on a different gothic pile with unwelcome supernatural visitors. While the decision to move away from the Crain family was a wise one, The Turn of the Screw is a regrettable choice of source material. Here's why. 1) The Turn of the Screw is not very good Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is a lyrical, poetically suggestive novel painting a delicate portrait of loneliness and mental fragility. Flanagan carefully crafted the book's strange and touching imagery into the series – from Nelly's cup of stars to Ruth's raining pebbles. While Jackson's novel was popular but not ubiquitous, ever...