Best Mike Flanagan Movies and TV Shows: Our Picks

When you think of modern horror, one name undoubtedly comes to mind: Mike Flanagan. From big screen features to streaming movies and miniseries – often featuring a roster of returning cast members like Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, and more – the Flanaverse has captivated audiences for the better part of a decade, with Flanagan easily making his name as a master of horror with titles like The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep.

Flanagan stepped into the horror genre with his debut feature Absentia in 2011, and in the more than a decade since, has cemented his place as one of the greatest horror directors of the modern era. In addition to his many Netflix miniseries – which began in 2018 with The Haunting of Hill House and wrapped with 2023’s The Fall of the House of Usher – Flanagan has tackled numerous other projects, including several Stephen King adaptations. The most recent entry in the Flanaverse, The Life of Chuck, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival back on Sept. 6, with the famed director having numerous other projects currently in the works amid his exclusive multiyear overall series-production deal with Amazon.

As fans rewatch Flanagan’s numerous contributions to the horror genre as part of annual Halloween marathons and await his upcoming projects, here are PopCulture.com’s top picks from the director’s famed body of work.

The Haunting of Hill House

Where to Stream: Netflix
Cast: Michiel Huisman, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, Victoria Pedretti, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, and Timothy Hutton
Synopsis: “Flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.”

Marking Flanagan’s first Netflix original series, The Haunting of Hill House remains a modern horror masterpiece. An adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel of the same name, the series effortlessly blends horror and emotional family drama to create not only what is considered to be one of the best explorations of grief, but one of the best horror series in recent memory.

Hush

Where to Stream: AMC+
Cast: Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., Michael Trucco, Samantha Sloyan, and Emilia “Emma” Graves
Synopsis: ”A deaf writer who retreated into the woods to live a solitary life must fight for her life in silence when a masked killer appears in her window.”

While many of Flanagan’s projects are inspired by previous works, his 2016 movie Hush was an original screenplay he wrote with his wife and frequent collaborator, Kate Siegel. The movie is a classic home invasion story with a twist – the protagonist (Siegel) is deaf. The premise gives way to a heartstopping cat-and-mouse chase that has been praised by the King of Horror himself, Stephen King, who declared that Hush is “up there with HALLOWEEN and–even more–WAIT UNTIL DARK. White knuckle time.”

The Fall of the House of Usher

Where to Stream: Netflix
Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Mary McDonnell, Zach Gilford, Willa Fitzgerald, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, Samantha Sloyan, T’Nia Miller, Sauriyan Sapkota, Ruth Codd Carl Lumbly, and Mark Hamill
Synopsis: “A wealthy CEO faces a criminal investigation amid tragedy, trauma — and a supernatural threat. The Usher family learns an informant lurks among them.”

Released in 2023, The Fall of the House of Usher concluded Flanagan and Netflix’s collaboration with a bang. The eight-episode limited series is based on the body of work of gothic horror icon Edgar Allan Poe and explores themes of family, greed, guilt, and consequences while crafting a modern love letter to Poe’s work. The series features some of the most gruesome deaths in Flanagan’s credits.

Midnight Mass

Where to Stream: Netflix
Cast: Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Hamish Linklater, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Kristin Lehman, and Henry Thomas
Synopsis: “The arrival of a charismatic young priest brings glorious miracles, ominous mysteries and renewed religious fervor to a dying town desperate to believe.”

Considered to be Flanagan’s Magnum opus, which he teased in his previous works, Midnight Mass is a haunting new take on the vampire story. A slow burn that gives way to one of the most terrifying, unsettling finales in Flanagan’s body of works, the miniseries takes place in a secluded island community unknowingly dealing with a vampire. The miniseries spotlights Flanagan’s storytelling talents as it explores themes of Catholicism, faith, and redemption and features some of the best performances in Flangan’s works.

Doctor Sleep

Where to Stream: Max
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, and Cliff Curtis
Synopsis: “A now-adult Dan Torrance joins forces with a teen who shares his extrasensory gift to battle a cult whose members feed off the shine of innocents.”

Flanagan introduced elements of fantasy and horror from Stephen King’s original novel to create Doctor Sleep, the long-awaited follow-up to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Released in 2019, the movie is an exploration of childhood trauma and addiction. Vanity Fair called the movie “a body of work that benefits from hindsight and reflection, which must be why they feel so welcome.”

The Haunting of Bly Manor

Where to Stream: Netflix
Cast: Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Amelia Eve, T’Nia Miller, Rahul Kohli, Tahirah Sharif, Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, and Henry Thomas
Synopsis: “An au pair plunges into an abyss of chilling secrets in this gothic romance from the creator of The Haunting of Hill House.”

If Hill House was about the families we’re born into, then Bly Manor spoke to the families we choose. Released in 2020 as the second installment of the Haunting anthology series, Bly Manor wove a hauntingly beautiful ghost story and love story into one as it adapted Henry James’ Turn of the Screw into a limited series. Like its predecessor, the century-spanning tale expertly balances heartbreak and drama with ghosts and jump scares to craft a compelling ghost story.