Netflix
My favorite sort of Netflix series is the ones that come out of nowhere. Directly from the top rope. Out of the clear blue sky.
I remember back in July 2016 — essentially a lifetime ago — when the first Stranger Things came out. I was working at my previous, infinitely shittier job (don’t worry, kids, your first job out of college isn’t supposed to be all that and a bag of chips, to quote my boy Dr. Evil) and I remember G-Chatting (another relic of the past) my roommates saying we should check this new sci-fi out. Long story short, in the middle of summer, we spent one entire hungover Chinese-food-filled day crushing Stranger Things and it was glorious. As we now know, Stranger Things has turned into Netflix’s greatest ever hit.
The Haunting of Hill House last year was similar — it was ~~spooky season~~ and the boys and I were nursing a hangover. Nothing but bong rips and burgers from McDiesel. We needed something to watch and something that would take an entire day, ultimately landing on The Haunting of Hill House. Once again, Netflix delivered, as it not only boasted 93% Rotten Tomatoes score but legitimately scared the piss out of us a couple of times. I remember this one scene in a car distinctly. That’s all I’ll say.
Long story made long, you bet your sweet ass I’ll be checking out its unrelated follow-up, The Haunting of Bly Mano, when it blows in with the Autumn breeze.
Here’s the official synopsis for The Haunting of Bly Manor, via Netflix:
From The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy comes THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR, the next highly-anticipated chapter of The Haunting anthology series, set in 1980s England. After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) hires a young American nanny (Victoria Pedretti) to care for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen (Rahul Kohli), groundskeeper Jamie (Amelia Eve) and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (T’Nia Miller). But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this chilling gothic romance. At Bly Manor, dead doesn’t mean gone.
The Haunting of Bly Manor hits Netflix on October 9.