Barbara Hershey is a true screen icon and horror legend. She began her on-screen acting career in the mid sixties. Since then she has gone on to win both an Emmy and a Golden Award as well as having been nominated for both an Academy Award and a BAFTA. Over the course of her career she has consistently picked some intriguing projects. Hershey is best known to horror audiences for her work in The Entity and the Insidious franchise, but now stars in yet another intriguing genre film, The Manor.
Written and directed by Axelle Carolyn, The Manor is one of four feature films on the roster for this year’s selection of Welcome to the Blumhouse titles. The series is a union between streaming giant Amazon and home of horror, Blumhouse; it began last year and proved to be very successful. This year’s line-up will launch in two halves, the first going live on Friday 1st October, the second pair following seven days later on Friday 8th October. The Manor will form part of the second batch of titles and tells a sinister tale of ageing, perceived paranoia, and the supernatural.
In The Manor, Hershey stars as Judith, a retired dancer who, after having recently suffered a stroke, reluctantly agrees to move into an historic assisted living facility. But despite the best efforts of the staff, and a budding friendship with fellow resident Roland (Bruce Davison), strange occurrences and nightmarish visions convince Judith that a sinister presence is haunting the historic estate. As patients begin to die mysteriously, Judith’s frantic warnings are dismissed as pure fantasy. Even her devoted grandson Josh (Nicholas Alexander) thinks her fears are the result of dementia, not demons. With no one willing to believe her, Judith must either escape the confines of the manor, or fall victim to the evil that dwells within it herself.
Before The Manor launches on Amazon we were lucky enough to get some time with Barbara Hershey and Nicholas Alexander to discuss their thoughts on the film and the joy of playing on-screen grandmother and grandson.
The Manor arrives on Amazon Prime on 8th October 2021.
