Indie horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan’s best 5 films ranked in order of eeriness
With maverick indie director Mike Flanagan’s Hasbro-based board game sequel Ouija: Origin of Evil still in theaters and critics and audiences applauding its macabre and sophisticated merits, we thought it wise to review our five favorite feature films that were directed, co-written, often edited by the talented filmmaker and rank them in order of effectiveness.
Mike Flanagan, born in Salem in 1978, began dabbling in cinema in university, creating a series of short films that exemplified his interest in well-written characters and dramatic arcs. That, coupled with an interest in the plight of women during the notorious Salem witch trials, would form the foundation of Flanagan’s narrative approach. That emotionally sophisticated aesthetic would be reflected in his sense of style in the years to come, with student films like Still Life and Ghosts of Hamilton Street, with the director favoring long takes, slow zooms, existential moments of reflection, strong family bonds and the heart breaking destruction of those very bonds.
Flanagan is not merely a horror filmmaker. He’s a master filmmaker, full stop, one who uses the genre to push deeper explorations into the human condition and the fragile states of mind of good people put under great deals of pressure.
Here then is five great feature films by Flanagan. See if you agree with our ranking and if you haven’t seen these pictures, do so immediately.
Mike Flanagan
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5. Before I Wake (2016)
Filmed in 2013 as Somnia - a superior title fitting with Flanagan's style - the film's name was changed to the generic Before I Wake by distributor Relativity Media. The film boasts solid performances by Room's Jacob Tremblay and the ever-reliable Thomas Jane, but never quite finds its footing. Still, it's a uniquely Flanaganian take on the "haunted child" sub genre and has moments of dark, muted power.
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4. Hush (2016)
While waiting for Before I Wake/Somia to get a release, Flanagan created this simple, elegant and terrifying vehicle for his wife, actress Kate Siegel for Blumhouse Productions. Here, Siegel plays a young deaf woman home alone who is under siege by a masked lunatic. Spare on dialogue, with a cracking, unyielding sound design. Sure, you've seen this type of thriller before, but never presented with such sophistication and respect for its audience's intellect.
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3. Absentia (2011)
Flanagan's breakthrough horror film is a low budget marvel that encapsulates everything that Flanagan continues to explore on screen. A queit, female-centric story of a woman dealing with the loss of her husband who vanished without a trace years prior and her anxieties over an ominous tunnel beside her home. The slow zooms, use of sound and distracted, believable performances are what make Absentia such a quietly unnerving experience.
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2. Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
Perhaps only those of us who knew and understood the power of Flanagan's vision expected Ouija: Origin of Evil to be a superior sequel. The haunted board game follow-up is indeed a Flanagan film through and through, a deft period piece that once more centers its narrative on strong, resilient female characters whose family lives are threatened by a vicious arcane influence. Aesthetically, the film looks and feels exactly like a vintage Dan Curtis TV movie of the period, with handsome, simple framing and bright, saturated colors. And the performances by Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso and Lulu Wilson are stirring and affecting. Despite the Platinum Dunes pedigree, this is no crass jump-scare PG-13 throw-away, rather its a dramatically satisfying and genuinely frightening classic haunted house horror movie. Love those phony "cigarette burns" too!
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1. Oculus (2013)
Flanagan's bigger budgeted follow-up to his first outright horror film, Absentia, is an expansion of his 2006 short film. Marketed with Stephen King's endorsement, Oculus is a masterpiece, dark, stylish, mesmerizing, disorienting and ultimately, hideously sad. Many cited the 1980 slasher flick The Boogeyman as Oculus' inspiration, but we see little connection. The Boogeyman was a simple, post-Halloween body count flick. Oculus is domestic tragedy from Hell. Truly evolved horror filmmaking.
