Welcome to Frightful Fanatic

The Haunting of Bly Manor is based on what is probably my favourite horror story that I’ve ever read, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Much is taken directly from the novella, such as the name of the haunted mansion and those of the main characters, but it ultimately becomes quite a different story in the end.

I first read James’s novella in my third year at university and enjoyed it so much that I chose to write about it for an assignment, so I was very eager to see what the Netflix miniseries adaptation would look like. Plus, it follows the already-successful miniseries, The Haunting of Hill House, which was the first entry in the anthology series.

The Haunting of Bly Manor is set in a different, more modern time than the novella and also features original characters. But while it generally follows a similar narrative (at least to begin with), it adds an entirely different backstory dating to an earlier century that explains the hauntings at the mansion.

For anyone who’s read The Turn of the Screw, you’ll find that the miniseries takes unexpected turns and eventually follows a path of its own. But I wonder, what was it that you liked about the original story? For me, I found Henry James’s novella so intriguing because he makes you question what is really going on at the manor.

The novella is told from the perspective of the Governess, but James deliberately uses ambiguity as she relates her experiences, making us uncertain about the accuracy of her account. She tells of her perceptions and her awareness of ghostly presences and apparitions around the manor without being direct, and this continues right up to the story’s end.