Here’s why ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ home feels ‘sunnier’ than ‘Hill House’

There has been a lot of comparisons between “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “The Haunting of Hill House.”

One of those comparisons explain how the “Bly Manor” looks so much sunnier than the “Hill House.”

According to the “Haunting” series creator Mike Flanagan, “that’s something that’s unique to ‘The Turn of the Screw.’ When they describe it in the book, he says that it’s this beautiful and bright place.”

“The Haunting of Bly Manor” is loosely based on the 1898 novella “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James.

Mike said they “really leaned into the cavernous darkness of Hill House last season.”

And this was something he didn’t want to do again, “so that was one of the big challenges for us when it came to how to make it scary.”

Mike also explained the reason why at first “Bly Manor” seemed to have a more welcoming vibe than “Hill House.”

“The answer was that when Dani, the new nanny, first gets to Bly, it shouldn’t be. It should be bright and warm and welcoming,” he said.

“There’s a beautiful line in ‘The Innocents’ where Flora says, ‘don’t worry if your room feels small. The rooms are bigger at night.’ It’s one of those lines where you think, ‘oh yes, now we’re talking!’” he added.

Mike said they wanted the “Bly Manor” house to have a “very deceptive beauty.”

“We wanted it to be as open and inviting as possible so that it closes like a flytrap, very slowly,” said the director.

“The Haunting of Bly Manor” is set in 1980s England. After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) hires a young American nanny (Victoria Pedretti) to look after his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) living at Bly Manor with their home chef Owen (Rahul Kohli), groundskeeper Jamie (Amelia Eve) and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (T’Nia Miller). 

All nine episodes of “The Haunting of Bly Manor” are now streaming on Netflix. – RC, GMA News