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Since 2016 , director Mike Flanagan has released a new project each yr , never working on something without having any idea of what ’s next . Indeed , while there ’s currently no departure date , based on his track platter we can carry his next project , the Edgar Allen Poe - root on miniseriesThe Fall of the House of Usherlater this year , whileMidnight Masswas only released this retiring autumn .
Flanagan has graced hearing with a wide kind of moving picture and miniseries since his menial start withAbsentiain 2011 , and each projection serves to hone and tighten his craftsmanship even further . While waiting for what is trusted to be a hit withUsher , here ’s how his past employment stacks up on Metacritic .
Absentia (2011)- No Score
Flanagan ’s first feature film , Absentia , come after two baby as they set about to notice a form of fade centered around a creepy burrow nearby , including the married man of one of the sisters . tautness rise as a tone of mistrust tardily festers between the sis and everyone around them , reaching a madden boiling point at the celluloid ’s climax .
Absentia ’s absence from Metacritic is not entirely surprising , given the film ’s modest production , budgeted at $ 70,000 raise by Flanagan via Kickstarter . The narration also suffers either from Flanagan ’s inexperience or unproblematic production restriction . However , hand its roots , it ’s a o.k. object lesson of how to work with micro budget , resulting in a creepy little tale .
Doctor Sleep (2019)- 59
exhaust in 2019,Doctor Sleepis the continuation to Stanley Kubrick’sThe shine , both of which are free-base on the Stephen King novels of the same name calling . It follows a grown - up Danny Torrence on his recovery from dipsomania , and his mentoring of a young female child with the “ shine ” as she ’s point by a convent of psychic vampire ( the True Knot , headed by Rebecca Furguson ’s Rose the Hat ) . Dan ’s scrap with the True Knot spans across the US , culminate in a final battle where it all started : the Overlook Hotel .
Doctor Sleepis nothing unforesightful of brilliant , get married the wildly different bequest of both King’sShiningand Kubrick ’s , as well as elevating theDoctor Sleepnovel . While it was never go to surpass Stanley Kubrick ’s film and is n’t the highest - grade task of Flanagan’s , Doctor Sleepproves to be a worthy sequel .
Oculus (2013) - 61
2013’sOculusfollows a brother and sister as they investigate the deep descent of a haunted mirror that killed their parent . This is made all the more complicated as the brother , who was blamed for the murder , does n’t believe in the mirror ’s superpower , chalking his past up to a psychotic prisonbreak marry with amnesia . As the sister methodically plans out the documentation of the mirror ’s evil , it plays nasty trick on them for its selection until the film ’s tragic end .
Oculusis an expansion of one of Flanagan ’s short student film , eye : Chapter 3 , and it ’s exculpated that his strikingly original idea of a haunt mirror stuck with him until he was able to put a studio budget behind it years later . With plait and turns worthy of Shyamalan and Nolan , Flanagan ’s first studio apartment work is surely one to follow .
The Haunting Of Bly Manor(2020) - 63
The follow - up to 2018’sThe Haunting of Hill House , Bly Manorsees Flanagan reworking Henry James’The Turn of the Screw , follow an Astronomical Unit brace ( play by howler queen Victoria Pedretti ) and her fellow housekeeper as they handle for two loaded children in the nominal Bly Manor . Beset both by personal ghostwriter and the ghosts of the house , the resident of Bly must stand by together and care for one another if they are to survive .
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More gothic love affair than straight-out horror , Blyexamines the nature of romantic and familial love , as well as grief and guilt . The characters ’ sins press heavily on them , and while some of those characters ’ guilt is better expressed than others , Blyis still an first-class entry from Flanagan as he expands his thematic interest .
Ouija: Origin Of Evil(2016)-65
Ouija board : Origin of Evilis the prequel to the Hasbro - certify critical bombOuija . It follow a female parent who forge as a phony but well - think of spiritual spiritualist , and her two daughters , as the three assay to expand the business organization by bringing in a Ouija plug-in . After they utilise it , however , they give power to some of their house ’s terrible history .
As a prequel to another Hasbro moving-picture show bankruptcy , the fact that the film was greenlit at all is outre . However , in Flanagan ’s hand , he makes the material shine as he deals with his tried - and - true themes of inherited injury and brokenheartedness . What could have been the beginning of Flanagan ’s descent into a director - for - hire vocation turned out to be a unique footmark in his filmmaking journeying , and is well deserving a vigil .
Hush(2016)-67
2016’sHushis a home encroachment film with a twist , claim place over the course of one dark as a deaf writer fights off her masked attacker . Co - written with wife , actress , and Flanagan regular Kate Siegel , Hushis a tense , survival horror that is sure to make people think twice about hold up isolated in the Wood .
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Released at a time when the base encroachment subgenre was starting to feel dusty , Hushoffers a singular twist with its singular , indifferent protagonist , as well as the story echoing elements ofHalloween , Misery , and Flanagan ’s later version of Stephen King’sGerald ’s Game . It also offer glimpses of Flanagan ’s eventual passion projectMidnight Massas the moving-picture show boast an in - population novel of the same name and story . While perhaps Flanagan ’s simplest photographic film , it is no less superb than his other works .
Before I Wake (2016)-68
Diverting from repugnance into dark fancy , 2016’sBefore I Wakeis about a couple who adopt a unseasoned boy after the going of their biological son . While a utterly honorable kid , it ’s before long discovered that the boy has the strange yet unintentional world power to physically evidence his aspiration into the literal world – both the estimable dreams and the bad .
Though the film suffered from multiple years of release and statistical distribution setbacks , it still bring off to come up its interview upon release . The motion picture go about a well - bear horror image , that of a kid get from nightmare , with the common sense of compassion that Flanagan has become known for . While it may not be a horror in the traditional senseBefore I Wakeis another worthy entryway from Flanagan .
Midnight Mass (2021)-75
One of thebest horror shows of 2021,Midnight Massfollows Riley Flynn as he is released from prison into the custody of his parents on a solitary and broken island townspeople . Meanwhile , a Modern non-Christian priest has arrived in town , execute miracle and develop church attending , but looker are allow wondering if his purposes are wholly altruistic . It ’s best to go intoMidnight Masswithout any spoiler beyond that , as the reveal breathes new life into a classic horror trope .
Midnight Massis a passion project that had lived in Flanagan ’s oral sex for quite some time , as references to it began popping up years in the first place in bothHushandGerald ’s Game . While the serial is often bogged down by long monologues , it offers a fair and compelling look at the concept of religion from several angle , all of which merit to be take heed .
Gerald’s Game (2017)-77
Once again found upon the Stephen King novel of the same name , Gerald ’s Gameis about a couple ’s lam croak horribly wrong . In thisthriller hidden jewel on Netflix , the husband Gerald kick the bucket from a fondness attack in the middle of sexual escapades , while the married woman Jessie is handcuff in seam - wholly alone .
think to be unfilmable , Flanagan masterfully adjust King ’s novel to the mass medium of film , make practical changes to express the story visually while remaining faithful to the source material , almost to a fault . Released in 2017 amidst a host of other King adaptations , Gerald ’s Gamearguably stands above the others thanks to Flanagan ’s visual sense , igniting a working kinship with King that leave toDoctor Sleep .
The Haunting of Hill House (2018)-79
Flanagan ’s first foray into television , The Haunting of Hill Housereworks the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name , follow the Crane family as they navigate a recent loss in the context of use of a loss from their past tense .
Using the novel more as a jumping - off stage than an actual adjustment , Flanagan utilizes the themes found in Jackson ’s novel in a modern mount , while injecting his own brand of heartfelt horror into the story . Tense from beginning to finish and boasting one of thebest repugnance TV show lots , the approach worked exceedingly well , significative ofHill House ’s top - maculation placement . The show may be what ultimately put Flanagan on the map , and that alone makes it merit of love and respect .
NEXT : All Of Mike Flanagan ’s Horror Scores , Ranked