The Manor (2021)

• Genre: Supernatural, Mystery
  
  Source: Amazon Prime
  
  The Manor (2021) is Welcome to Blumhouse's eighth entry in their anthology series. The film opens with Judith (Barbara Hershey) enjoying her seventieth birthday party. A former dancer in her youth, Judith enjoys the vibrancy of the young children she teaches dance lessons to. She also maintains a close relationship with her only grandson, Josh (Nicholas Alexander) however the relationship with his mother, Judith's daughter, is strained for this reason. At the party, Judith suffers a minor stroke which causes her to reevaluate her life. She decides to enter a historic nursing home to live out her remaining years. An independent soul, Judith chafes at first under the increasingly rigid rules of the nursing home. When terrifying creatures begin preying upon her at night, Judith must convince the most important person in her life, that she isn't losing her mind.
  
  I personally liked this film for the ending. The atmosphere of the nursing home is depressing in particular for someone who has had a loved one placed in one for a short time. There is a palpable loneliness to the residents with the horrors of old age the main topic of conversation for Judith and her friends. They expend a great deal of gallows humor over their supposed impending demises. I felt like Judith's relationship with her grandson is done well and not overly trite and while the subject of witches and eternal youth is a somewhat overused trope, I found myself assuming I knew the ending. Protagonists always do the right thing, right?"

  
  Well, no, and that's what makes the ending of The Manor stand out for me.
  
  The film was directed by Axelle Carolyn, and is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
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