“The Manor” brings a somewhat refreshing plot to the horror and thriller genres.
Directed and written by Axelle Carolyn (“Soulmate”), “The Manor” takes place in an elderly home. Judith Albright (Barbara Hershey, “Insidious”) suffers from a stroke, causing her to make the decision to live in the nursing home, so her daughter, Barbara (Katie Keane, “Protecting the King”) and grandson, Josh (Nicholas Alexander, “Adam”), would not have to take care of her. Once Judith gets in her room, she sees that her roommate, Annette (Nancy Linehan Charles, “Dracula”), is not in the best of health. This makes her think that she is not suited for the home, but she stays anyway. She sees that the nurses and staff are not so careful while handling the residents, especially Annette.
Judith quickly makes some friends, Roland (Bruce Davison, “Willard”), Trish (Jill Larson, “All My Children”) and Ruth (Fran Bennett, “Roots: The Gift”). She confides in these new friends about her troubles, and how difficult it has been for her to settle in. During the night, Judith wakes up to see a mysterious creature lurking in her room. This frightens her, making her press the call button for a nurse to come in. After the second night of seeing the creature, Judith is forced to go through a physical health exam that includes getting scans of her brain. The doctor at the nursing home tells Judith and her daughter that the scans reveal a diagnosis of dementia.
Having to deal with her family not believing her about the creature she has been seeing, she decides to take matters into her own hands. After trying to escape, and being forced to come back, she makes a shocking discovery that will ultimately lead her to the truth about the manor, and her friends.
Overall, the film is not horrible by any means. Horror movies these days do not typically have an older protagonist, so it is interesting to see a different change of pace. Hershey delivers a compelling performance, even though the plot is a little slower than other films. It makes sense that there is no real violence in the film, just a few jump scares here and there. It does address a real world problem: mishandling by nursing staff in a nursing home. It does happen, and although it is not the main plot of this film, it is still addressed many times.
Although the film is good overall, there are still a few moments that are very cringe-worthy. In the beginning, when Judith moves into the home, she goes to grab her phone off of her nightstand. A nurse quickly grabs it away from her, telling her that phones are strictly prohibited. In response, Judith says, “So much for all the exciting Insta updates I could have posted from here.” Lines like this one are just not necessary to the plot, and it makes the dialogue feel like it was forced to be modern.
Other than the awkward few moments in the film, it is a good one to watch during the Halloween season, or just for a movie night in.
Image from Amazon Prime Video via YouTube
