B Movies Blog

“The Rest Is Confetti”: A Spotlight On Mike Flanagan

Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping the work of Mike Flanagan into the ol’ VCR.

On May 20, 1978, in Salem, Massachusetts (I’m so serious), Mike Flanagan was born. 

He spent his childhood moving around the country until graduating from Archbishop Spalding High School and later graduating Towson University. 

During his studies at Towson University, Mike Flanagan made several student films; however, his early films surprisingly weren’t horror films, but rather leaned towards melodrama. 

Then, in 2003, he directed his first horror film, Ghosts of Hamilton Street, followed by his first horror short film, Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan, in 2006. 

In 2011. Mike Flanagan released Absentia, which went straight to video, but found its audience on Netflix (foreshadowing much?) 

After Absentia’s unexpected success, he finally found a studio (Intrepid Pictures) that agreed to let him shoot a full-length version of Oculus, which hit theaters in 2014. 

From there, Mike Flanagan directed films like Ouija: Origin of Evil, Hush, and Gerald’s Game before what’s considered to be mainstream success with his adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. 

After the success of his first show, he went on to release adaptations of Henry James’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, and Christopher Pike’s The Midnight Club, as well as his original series, Midnight Mass (my personal fave). 

Mike Flanagan started his own production company in 2024 called Red Room Pictures and joined Amazon Studios, where he currently has TV adaptations of both Carrie and The Dark Tower series in the works. 

Additionally, his latest film, The Life of Chuck, an adaptation of the Stephen King short story of the same name, releases next month, and his installment for The Exorcist franchise is set to release next March. 

There’s not much more that I can say about Mike Flanagan that hasn’t already been said. 

Mike, if you ever read this, thank you. 🖤

Without further ado, here’s some of my favorite Mike Flanagan content: 

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