As Mike Flanagan’s new series The Fall of the House of Usher premieres, here’s a ranking of his catalog of Netflix horror shows, including The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and more.
When it comes to creating both emotional and spine-chilling horror mini-series for Netflix, no one is doing it quite like Mike Flanagan.
He’s been directing and writing some of the most inspiring and horrifying shows on the streaming platform for quite some time.
But, which series ranks above the rest? As his latest project — The Fall of the House of Usher — hits the platform, here’s a ranking of Flanagan’s body of Netflix work.
Ranking Flanagan’s Netflix horror shows from good to excellent
So far, Flanagan has directed and wrote five Netflix horror series including his latest venture. Below is a ranking of the shows from good to outstanding.
5. The Midnight Club
The Midnight Club followed a group of eight close terminally ill young adults resides in the Brightcliffe Home, a hospice outside of Seattle run by an enigmatic doctor. They met at midnight every night to tell each other scary stories and made a pact to contact the group from beyond the grave when they passed on.
Though the premise was pretty solid and the performances were very good, especially from the younger cast, the show didn’t get a chance to flesh out the more interesting mysterious like the main two love interests’ connection to the hospital.
This is due to the fact that The Midnight Club was cancelled after Season 1, which is a shame as Flanagan has stated this was the one Netflix show he wanted to continue making.
4. Midnight Mass
Midnight Mass has two parallel stories running through it: young man returned to his isolated hometown hoping to rebuild his life after killing someone in a drunk-driving incident and a charismatic young priest begins to renstates the town’s wavering faith.
Though the two storylines seem like they wouldn’t intersect, both had themes of faith, forgiveness, sacrifice, and doing the right thing. From beginning to end, Midnight Mass kept audiences on their toes as they never quite knew where the intense and dark storyline was going.
Watching a town sacrifice their morals in favor of self-preservation was both fascinating and horrifying to watch. This was definitely the series that focused the most on religion and because of that, it can be pretty hard to watch at times as it feels like the imagery is too on the nose, but it’s still a fun ride regardless.
3. The Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher sees the CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company face his questionable past when his children start dying in mysterious and brutal ways.
House of Usher may be Flanagan’s most recent work, but it’s his scariest and goriest by far. The children’s deaths alone will have you watching from behind your fingers.
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But it’s the emotional heart of the show that’s incredibly beautiful to watch. Flanagan is the master of delivering unforgettable scares while balancing it out with gut-punching emotional beats that will have you reconsidering what’s most important in life: money or family?
2. The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House followed Hugh and Olivia Crain and their five children – Steven, Shirley, Theodora (Theo), Luke, and Eleanor (Nell) – move into Hill House to renovate the mansion in order to sell it and build their own house.
However, due to unexpected repairs, they have to stay longer, and they begin to experience increasing paranormal phenomena, resulting in a tragic loss and the family fleeing from the house. Twenty-six years later, the Crain siblings and their estranged father reunite after another tragedy strikes them, and they are forced to confront how their time in Hill House has affected each of them.
Hill House was Flanagan’s first foray into Netflix horror TV and to say he knocked it out of the park would be a vast understatement. From the well-timed jump scares to the ghosts hiding in every frame, Hill House is a chilling watch from start to finish.
But, as stated previously, the best part about the show is the human connections and relationships running through it. To watch a family torn apart then put back together all under the air of loss and tragedy is such a profoundly human experience.
Hill House is one of Flanagan’s most re-watchable shows because it allows you peel back more and more layers to the Crains and the house each time you binge it.
1. The Haunting of Bly Manor
The Haunting of Bly Manor tells the story of a young au pair hired by a man to look after his niece and nephew at the family country house after they fall into his care. Arriving at the Bly estate, she begins to see apparitions that proceed to haunt the premises.
Bly Manor is truly Flanagan’s magnum opus because it takes his two strengths, scares and emotional moments, and cranks both up to a thousand.
The series highlights the importance of found family, the horrors of abusive relationships, how to handle life-altering losses, and so much more.
But, once again, the best part is the solid bonds made through the show’s nine episode whether it’s between the two children, the cook and the house keeper, or the gardener and the au pair. Each relationship is so rich and deep it could have its own spin-off.
Bly Manor is Flanagan’s power of horror imagination and emotional intelligence at its highest form and it still hasn’t been topped to this day.
You can read more Netflix content in our hub here, Dexerto’s review of The Fall of the House of Usher here, and more TV and movie coverage here.
