THE MIKE FLANAGAN CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

Let’s be real. Mike Flanagan is a master of horror. Add him to the list of greats like Wes Craven, John Carpenter, and Clive Barker. His career started off with small little horror films like Abstenia, Oculus, and Hush. For me, Hush was a game changer as he cast his wife Kate Siegel as a deaf writer who becomes the victim of a home invasion. Flanagan grabbed me right then and there, and I’ve been hooked to his style since then. The film was from Blumhosue Productions and debuted on Netflix. Flanagan has not only made great movies (Gearld’s Game, Doctor Sleep, Ouija: Origin of Evil) , but he’s written and directed many limited series for Netflix like The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, and his latest, The Fall of the House of Usher. His overall deal with Netflix has ended now with the release of The Fall of the House of Usher, and I’m excited to see what he has in store with his new deal through Prime Video. One thing that is in the works in an adaptation of Stephen King’s opus, The Dark Tower. King fans should be rejoicing as he is trusted and revered adaptor of King’s works.

Here’s a collection of my reviews of his work along with interviews that I’ve done with his cast, many of whom have become part of his company of actors that he uses in many of his projects.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER(2023)

Creator/Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas, Carla Gugino, Kate Siegel, Mary McDonnell, Zach Gilford, T’Nia Miller, Rahul Kohil, Samantha Sloyan, Willa Fitzgerald, Sauriyan Sapkota, Mark Hamill, Carl Lumbly, Ruth Codd, Kyliegh Curran

Mike Flanagan has become a respected name in the horror genre with films like Hush and Doctor Sleep to Netflix series like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. His latest series, The Fall of the House of Usher, is his most ambitious project to date. Mike Flanagan has previously adapted the works of Stephen King, Christopher Pike, and Shirley Jackson as the basis of his work. Now, he turns to the works of Edgar Allen Poe and gives it a contemporary spin with the rise and downfall of the Usher family. Bruce Greenwood plays the patriarch of the family, Roderick Usher, who has six children from five women. He runs a billion-dollar pharmaceutical company and he’s currently under investigation on 73 charges. There’s a family history of trauma and terror that continues for Roderick as his children all start dying due to mysterious and horrific conditions. Now streaming on Netflix

Here’s my review

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB (2022)

Creator: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Iman Benson, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, William Chris Sumpter, Aya Furukawa, Annarah Cymone, Adia, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Heather Langenkamp, Samantha Sloyan

Mike Flanagan has become a prominent name in the horror genre with Stephen King adaptations to series like Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House. Now he veers into the YA lane with his adaptation of Christopher Pike’s novel The Midnight Club. Brightcliffe Manor is a hospice home for sick teens. Iman Benson stars as Ilonka, the latest resident to step foot in Brightcliffe after being diagnosed with terminal thyroid cancer. She’s studious, hard working, and inquisitive. Some of the first kids she meets are Kevin (Rigney), the boy next door type, and her new roommate, Anya (Codd). Anya’s one of the longest residents there and comes with a hardened edge about her. Ilonka learns they are part of a secret group called The Midnight Club, who gather around a fire in the library at midnight to tell stories.  Ilonka’s inquisitive ways get the best of her when she sees the ghosts of dead people roaming the hallways. She becomes fixated on these visions and uncovering the secrets of Brightcliffe. Now streaming on Netflix

Here’s my review

MIDNIGHT MASS (2021)

Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Hamish Linklater, Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, Annabeth Gish, Henry Thomas, Kristin Lehman, Samantha Sloyan, Alex Essoe, Robert Longstreet, Michael Trucco, Crystal Balint

Writer/director Mike Flanagan is no stranger to horror thanks to his Stephen King adaptations and series like The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. His latest series, Midnight Mass, is mentally jarring like the others.  Crockett Island population 127 is that small town where everybody knows each other’s history for the good and the bad. Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) is the prodigal son who’s returned home after four years in jail following a drunken fatal car accident. He’s starting his life all over with nothing but a reputation that will haunt him. His mother tells him, “This isn’t a community anymore, honey. This is a ghost” It’s a religious old timey town where people gather for church daily. They’re taken aback when their beloved monsignor doesn’t show up, but instead, a younger Catholic priest named Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater) The cozy community is turned upside down after strange occurrences and miracles start to present themselves after the arrivals of Riley and Father Paul.

Here’s my review

THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR (2020)

Creator: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Victoria Pedretti, Henry Thomas, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, T’Nia Miller, Amelia Eve, Rahul Kohli, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Amelie Bea Smith, Carla Cugino

2018’s The Haunting of Hill House was one of the best Netflix series to date. It’s creator Mike Flanagan and many of its cast members are back for a new story with The Haunting of Bly Manor and it lives up to its predecessor. Like many ghost stories, this one starts in front of fire. An aged Carla Cugino tells the guests of a wedding rehearsal about a ghost story set in London in 1987. As we flash back, we pick up with Henry Thomas as wealthy businessman Henry Wingrave who is hiring an au pair for his orphaned niece and nephew following the death of their last au pair. Victoria Pedretti returns as well. This time as Dani, an American nanny who accepts the job looking after the Wingrave children at Bly Manor. She quickly learns that these children, the estate, and the other workers have a history full of complicated ghosts and relationships that have had lasting trauma on everyone involved.

Here’s my review

DOCTOR SLEEP (2019)

Writer/Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Jacob Tremblay, Carl Struycken, Emily Alyn Lind

Danny Torrance and his mother, Wendy, may have survived the horrors of the Overlook Hotel but that doesn’t mean that those events didn’t stick with them for life. Now as an adult, Dan (McGregor) has tried to shut away those memories and quiet “the shine” within him, but the years of trauma have taken their toll. He’s become an alcoholic spiraling into a messy life. He wasn’t the only one gifted with the shine as he learns that a young girl named Abra (Curran) may be one of the most powerful kids with that ability. She becomes the target of Rose the Hat (Ferguson) and her gang known as the True Knot. They hunt out kids with the shine killing them using their steam/shine to give them life. As Rose becomes aware of Abra’s abilities, she attempts to track her down and it’s up to Dan to face his old demons in order to protect her.

Here’s my review

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2019)

Creator/Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Michiel Huisman, Henry Thomas, Carla Gugino, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, Victoria Pedretti, McKenna Grace, Timothy Hutton, Samantha Sloyan, Annabeth Gish, Robert Longstreet

The latest Netflix binge is the new mini-series The Haunting of Hill House. Writer/director Mike Flanagan adapts Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name, but puts his spin on the story. It’s been years since the members of the Craine family stepped foot in the mansion they grew up in. Why would they? It is extremely haunted and the site where their mother committed suicide. The five Craine children have grown up each suffering some sort of trauma from their past. Eldest son Steven (Huisman) is a best-selling novelist who wrote about their family’s ordeal to make money, but twins Nell (Pedretti) and Luke (Jackson-Cohen) have suffered the worst fate. Tragedy strikes their family again reuniting the Craines forcing them to deal with their past once and for all. Their relationships are fractured and may never be healed, but it allows for some honest confrontations with the hope they’ll make their way out of it like they did many years ago.

Here’s my review on “Twin Cities Live”