Scare Home
THE MANOR I The real horror is being old in a care home in this Welcome To The Blumhouse anthology chiller…
I’ve had anxiety around ageing for as long as I can remember,” says writer-director Axelle Carolyn (The Haunting Of Bly Manor, Creepshow). “My very first short films starred Jean Marsh in a nursing home, so I guess it’s a setting I’ve found intriguing for a long time. But it’s really the experience of seeing my grandad, then my dad, in retirement homes, which inspired this story. Those places confront you to your own mortality.”
Carolyn’s The Manor sees Judith (an excellent Barbara Hershey) placed in a nursing home after suffering a stroke. She still has her mobility and her mental faculties, but is increasingly treated like a child, her autonomy stripped away. Judith’s escalating nightmarish visions don’t exactly help matters either, and the more she becomes convinced the home is being haunted by a malevolent force, the more the staff feeds her meds for the onset of dementia. But what if Judith’s right and the
residents aren’t just dying of old age?
“As a horror-movie setting, you’re locked inside, there’s no escape, and people won’t believe you,” says Carolyn of the large, gothic care home. And she’s right – it’s terrifying, even before you factor in a supernatural threat. “I really believe we’re overdue a conversation around how we treat the elderly, and how to best prepare for that part of our lives.”
The Manor is one of four Blumhouse Television movies being released on Prime Video (see boxout, left). The Welcome To The Blumhouse scheme, in its second year, is devised to develop original, diverse storytelling, and Carolyn feels such an active opening of doors is still very much necessary. “I do love that female directors have a bit more visibility these days,” she says. “When I started in the industry 15 years ago, I didn’t personally know any, and I think that unconsciously held me back. But we all still lose jobs to less experienced men, and we’re all still told on occasion that we ‘don’t look like a horror director’. Things are not changing as quickly as some may think.” JG
ETA | 8 OCTOBER / THE MANOR IS RELEASED ON PRIME VIDEO NEXT MONTH.