Alexandre Gagnon

First of all, excuse my poor English writing skill as it is not my first language. I would have given it more of a 4.5 than 4 stars but I don't think this series is worth the perfect score. I think I have to specify that I haven't seen the first horror Netflix series of Mike Flanagan ''The Haunting of Hill House'' so I won't be able to compare it with the first work. First of all, this is the first time ever that I felt stressed/anxious, on some occasions, watching a horror series. For some reason, horror series had always failed to project this feeling, this eerie ambiance to its viewer. Even if this feeling wasn't as intense as watching ''insidious'' for the first time, it was there. This was the first indicator, for me, that this series was worth watching and was promising. The story starts beautifully with this eerie ambiance always present in either the character living in the manor or the manor itself. All characters have this mystery hanging around them that captivate your curiosity. And all these mysteries will slowly unravel has the series progress using unique and meticulous storytelling that really makes the charm of the series. This story is told in a very unique way for the horror genre and it makes the thriller and horror part being in a tasteful balance. The only thing that made me rate it 4 instead of 5 was the fact that the closer we were getting to the end of the series the more I felt like they were in a hurry to tell the missing part of the story. The balance we had before was no more. The storytelling was still pretty good but a lot more present than before which let very little place for the horror/eerie part we had at the beginning of the series. And I felt like these ''horror parts'' were forcibly shoved in the storytelling to fill the lack of it. But in the end, the overall work of ''The Haunting of Bly Manor'' deserves 4/5 if not 4.5/5 for its originality, it's great storytelling, and the feeling you get watching it like you were watching a real good horror movie. Also more mentions that I haven't talked about, great music, great shots, and good acting overall.