T H E N A I V E F I L M M A K E R

This year saw me finally watch the acclaimed Horror series’ The Haunting of Bly Manor and The Haunting of Hill House (in that incorrect order). I had tried to watch The Haunting of Hill House a previous year but found myself unable to follow it and without a clue of what on earth was going on, although this turned out to be because I’d accidentally started on episode 3 instead of the pilot episode

I absolutely loved both of these series. They both made up some of my favourite television of 2020. They’re completely packed not only with well earned scares, amazing actors and beautiful writing, direction and producing; but also with some of the most unsettling ghosts I had seen in any film or television show for quite a few years.

It is no secret that the horror genres are largely synonymous with mediocre films, usually released in January.

Martin Scorsese controversially compared Marvel Films to theme parks, however I have believed for sometime that this statement would be more true if Marvel Films were replaced with Horror Films.

The horror genre is too bloated with cheap scare pictures, fear is artificially manufactured by sudden loud noises, shock factor gore and a dubious “Based on true events” claim. These films frequently do well at the box office however due to the time honoured activity of attending scary movies with friends and seeing who cries first. In the case of my teenage years it was nearly always me.

The mark of a good Horror Film however is not one that makes you jump many times over the course of 90 minutes, only to then be completely forgotten. A good Horror Film is one that leaves you with a sense of unease, an unease that flares up again and again over days and weeks, usually when you’re walking home after a late shift.

To me subtlety will always be the key to a terrifying antagonist. Many classic movie monsters no longer inspire fear because of their obvious fictional elements. Bandage clad mummies and unshaven werewolves have no element of realism, as a result nobody fears the dark walk home after a viewing of one of their films.

Just like over the top monsters prove to be unscary, Slenderman hasn’t been scary in almost a decade, Freddy Krueger hasn’t been scary since his second film and Mama despite being based on a terrifying short film did not evoke much fear among the class of English students who persuaded their teacher to play the DVD on the last day of term. (True story told to me by my brother).

Ghosts however have always been a point of unsettlement for people, even hard line atheists get nervous when alone in an old, darkened room. Ghosts are just enough like us to be believable but supernatural enough to invoke fear. What people fear is the uncanny and the things they don’t quite understand. Nobody ever forwarded a chain email under threat of a bloodthirsty dog.

Critics have been disavowing the use of jump scares for years (exceptional circumstances allowing).

The most important thing for a horror film or television show to focus on is a fearful antagonist that is still equally fearful without the use of an increased volume.

The Haunting of Bly Manor (I’ll discuss this first as I saw it first) achieves this with its paralyzingly scary villain Viola. A Character who I am secretly worried will choose to haunt me as a result of my very writing of her name.

Mike Flanagan utilized several methods to build up the fear of this character. The most important being that we don’t actually see her properly for several episodes. We fear the concept of her before we fear her. Our introduction to Viola is the fallen crudely made doll, the very sight of which invokes fear and anger into a young Flora. The doll itself is sinister to look at and the audience immediately knows to be afraid, just not what of. Throughout the first few episodes we see only glimpses of the spiteful ghost. A generic woman in white that we know only through the terrified residents is full of malicious intent.

We are introduced to many ghosts in the series, many we meet and many merely lurk in the background of shots, hiding from all but the most astute of viewers. However we don’t fear them like we do Viola, even the aggressive ghost of Peter while we know of his selfish intent we don’t fear like The Lady of the Lake.

After we are introduced to Viola, Flanagan manages to continue to maintain the sense of fear and unease through her uncanny appearance. The decision of faceless ghosts is one of pure genius as they look human enough to be real but warped enough to be scary, the removal of facial features results in the removal of any human connection, emotions and expressions that would risk making us more comfortable around them.

As scared as we are of the face (or lack thereof) we are more scared of the malicious nonchalance with which Viola manoeuvres, seemingly just walking from the house to the lake, an eternal penance that would scare anyone concerned about the afterlife. The mundane routine is broken by the vicious killings of anyone who gets in her way, not just the corrupt Quint or selfish sister but innocent doctors, children and anyone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nothing is as chilling as the casualness of her stroll in sentencing Flora to a cold and painful death in the lake.

A week after watching the series I felt incredibly uneasy when trying to sleep in a dark bedroom, occasionally imagining her figure standing in my open door. Despite not being the only villainous ghost of Bly Manor, she certainly achieves leaving the most chilling impression.

Less went into the malicious spirit of Mr Hill in The Haunting of Hill House. He is not so much the antagonist as he is one of many ghosts and he is not integral to the plot, he is only integral to the demons of Luke Crane. I feel the focus of this series was less on scary ghosts and more on the haunting itself and the terrible consequences it had on the family. I don’t actually consider it as much a horror series as a series about family. But Mr Hill is one of the most unpleasant parts of the watching experience!

In this series there is far less of a fear build up, Mr Hill himself only appearing in a few scenes in the entire series. However the minute or two of footage is incredibly effective in unsettling an audience.

Mike Flanagan taps into our psychological fear as children, that there is a malicious presence just outside our bedroom door. The fear that drove us to run up the stairs as the lights were switched off.

(Writing this reminded me of one of my childhood bedrooms that for some reason had a small window above the door. While too tall for anyone to look through, I would lay awake at night watching it for fear of a ghostly face peering back through. I was eventually motivated by such a fear to cover the window with pictures of Futurama characters I had printed off at school).

We’re introduced to this ghost through the eyes of the young Luke, who had been innocently enjoying a hat that he had found. The image of the strange man, impossibly tall and floating through the house with the aid of a walking stick is an image that feels very real despite its ludicrousness. Seeing it from the eyes of a child is a throwback to our own childhood fears and the near human appearance of the ghost only aids the believability of the situation.

The true terror of this ghost however is its continued haunting of Luke, while in reality we leave our fears of unlit hallways and darkened bedrooms in our childhood, Luke frequently endures relentless following from Mr Hill. Almost a side effect of his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. However again the ghost is subtle, the following is not a chase or stalk. But just a quiet presence, always behind him and like Nell struggles to get rid of the Bent Neck Lady (A concept that in itself was as scary as the ghosts I have discussed) We wonder if Luke will ever escape this malevolent spirit. The fear of subtle and uncanny spirits is a much truer fear than that of loud noises, while many films become unmemorable due to their failure to embrace the psychological elements of fear, Mike Flanagan’s creations sit in the back of your mind for weeks until they eventually turn from unconscious fear to great appreciation of excellent horror.

~ Alexander ~