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 legend’s stories, but with each one, there is plenty of the director injected into the story, too.
With Flanagan’s latest film, “The Life of Chuck,” landing in theaters, here are the seven best offerings from the director to date.
7. Doctor Sleep
“Doctor Sleep” and the balancing act that Flanagan achieved deserved more love than it got. “The Shining” is one of Stephen King’s most iconic novels, and the Stanley Kubrick adaptation is equally revered — by all but King himself. So when the time came to adapt the horror writer’s “Shining” 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.
6. Oculus
Flanagan might have proven himself a master of adaptation, but he’s flexed more than once with original horror films. “Oculus” 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, “Oculus” might be Flanagan’s most impressive film.
5. The Life of Chuck
“The Life of Chuck” 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. It’s introspective and existential, with at least one meaty monologue for all the actors involved.
“The Life of Chuck” is a great film destined to follow in “The Shawshank Redemption’s” footsteps with “oh, THAT’S a Stephen King story?” comments. Flanagan saw the film within the story.
4. Hush
“Hush” is a modern slasher classic. Written with his wife, and film’s 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 Flanagan’s later projects became bigger behemoths in terms of what he wanted to explore, say, and shoot, “Hush” is a small, snappy horror tale, and it’s all the better for it.
In other words, it’s all killer and no filler.
3. The Fall of the House of Usher
Flanagan left Netflix on a high note with “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Based on the many stories of Edgar Allen Poe, each episode centers on a different member of the cursed Usher family as they’re slowly and methodically killed off. The mainstay actors for Flanagan are back in force for this series, with many playing quite opposite of what they’re usually tasked with working for the writer/director (looking at you, Samantha Sloyan), and it’s a pleasure to watch them die.
The overall story might be a bit more conventional “horror” when it’s all said and done, but when it’s crafted this well, what is there really to complain about?
2. The Haunting of Hill House
Flanagan’s first horror series at Netflix also shot him into a new level of recognition. “The Haunting of Hill House” – adapting Shirley Jackson’s novel – 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 – 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 – and asked viewers to figure out what was true among a variety of unreliable narrators. “Hill House’s” exploration into grief and how different individuals process their trauma differently hits much harder than it had any right to.
1. Midnight Mass
“Midnight Mass” 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 community’s single church.
Despite being a (spoiler alert) vampire story, the larger tale being told is Flanagan’s long treatise on the benefits and failings of religion, morality, God and sobriety. His hands are on every frame and line of dialogue in “Midnight Mass,” and each subsequent rewatch manages to lend something new to the viewer – just like all the best stories do.
