The 7 Best Mike Flanagan Movies and Shows, Ranked
Mike Flanagan has established himself as a modern king of horror film and TV.
The writer/director blew up into the mainstream with a number of successful and terrifying limited series on Netflix, but he was not satisfied with that. Flanagan is a self-described lover of Stephen King and has also established himself as the preeminent person to tap for an adaptation of the horror legendâs stories, but with each one, there is plenty of the director injected into the story, too.
With Flanaganâs latest film, âThe Life of Chuck,â landing in theaters, here are the seven best offerings from the director to date.
Warner Bros.
7. Doctor Sleep
âDoctor Sleepâ and the balancing act that Flanagan achieved deserved more love than it got. âThe Shiningâ is one of Stephen Kingâs most iconic novels, and the Stanley Kubrick adaptation is equally revered â by all but King himself. So when the time came to adapt the horror writerâs âShiningâ sequel, Flanagan found a way to tell the story of a grown Danny Torrance that felt like a continuation of both the book and the elements Kubrick changed for his adaptation.
The film is long, but moves at such a brisk pace that it is rarely felt. And for the ever-growing number of fans of Rebecca Ferguson, revel in how she plays the villainous Rose the Hat with sick glee here.
Oculus (CREDIT: Blumhouse)
6. Oculus
Flanagan might have proven himself a master of adaptation, but heâs flexed more than once with original horror films. âOculusâ follows a brother and sister in their years-long battle against a haunted mirror. The director uses the very nature of fighting a mirror to constantly be playing with perspectives in the film.
Technically, âOculusâ might be Flanaganâs most impressive film.
Neon
5. The Life of Chuck
âThe Life of Chuckâ is a Stephen King story that likely only someone like Flanagan could get right. The short story about the beautiful significance of the insignificant life of Chuck Krantz has all the hallmarks of the kind of tales Flanagan lives for. Itâs introspective and existential, with at least one meaty monologue for all the actors involved.
âThe Life of Chuckâ is a great film destined to follow in âThe Shawshank Redemptionâsâ footsteps with âoh, THATâS a Stephen King story?â comments. Flanagan saw the film within the story.
Netflix
4. Hush
âHushâ is a modern slasher classic. Written with his wife, and filmâs star, Kate Siegel, the story follows a deaf woman alone in a house in the woods who is preyed upon by a masked killer. While Flanaganâs later projects became bigger behemoths in terms of what he wanted to explore, say, and shoot, âHushâ is a small, snappy horror tale, and itâs all the better for it.
In other words, itâs all killer and no filler.
Sauriyan Sapkota (left), Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, Matt Biedel, Samantha Sloyan and Mark Hamill in âThe Fall of the House of Usher.â (Eike Schroter/Netflix)
3. The Fall of the House of Usher
Flanagan left Netflix on a high note with âThe Fall of the House of Usher.â Based on the many stories of Edgar Allen Poe, each episode centers on a different member of the cursed Usher family as theyâre slowly and methodically killed off. The mainstay actors for Flanagan are back in force for this series, with many playing quite opposite of what theyâre usually tasked with working for the writer/director (looking at you, Samantha Sloyan), and itâs a pleasure to watch them die.
The overall story might be a bit more conventional âhorrorâ when itâs all said and done, but when itâs crafted this well, what is there really to complain about?
Carla Gugino in âThe Haunting of Hill Houseâ (Netflix)
2. The Haunting of Hill House
Flanaganâs first horror series at Netflix also shot him into a new level of recognition. âThe Haunting of Hill Houseâ â adapting Shirley Jacksonâs novel â tells the bleak story of a family ruined by their short time in a new home they moved into.
The story serves as a puzzle with it taking place across two time periods â in the past when the family moved to the house, and in the present with everyone scattered to the wind and picking up the pieces years after living through what happened â and asked viewers to figure out what was true among a variety of unreliable narrators. âHill Houseâsâ exploration into grief and how different individuals process their trauma differently hits much harder than it had any right to.
Netflix
1. Midnight Mass
âMidnight Massâ was clearly the story Flanagan had been building toward telling for years, and he knocked it out of the park. The story follows a man who returns to his small island town off the mainland just as a darker threat follows a new pastor working at the communityâs single church.
Despite being a (spoiler alert) vampire story, the larger tale being told is Flanaganâs long treatise on the benefits and failings of religion, morality, God and sobriety. His hands are on every frame and line of dialogue in âMidnight Mass,â and each subsequent rewatch manages to lend something new to the viewer â just like all the best stories do.
