---
name: "Mike Flanagan"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/mike-flanagan"
roles: ["Writer","Director","Producer"]
born: "20 May 1978"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 0
updated: "2026-09-17T13:51:51.980824+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Mike Flanagan

Writer and director. Born 20 May 1978 in Salem, Massachusetts, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Director, Producer
- **Born:** 20 May 1978, Salem, Massachusetts, USA
- **Active:** 2018–present
- **Also known as:** Майк Фланеген, ไมค์ ฟลานาแกน, מייק פלאנגן, 迈克·弗拉纳根, Μάικ Φλάναγκαν, مايك فلاناغان, マイク・フラナガン, Майк Флэнеган, माइक फ़्लैनगन, 마이크 플래너건
- **Frequently works with:** [Kate Siegel](https://film.one/person/kate-siegel.md), [Dani Parker](https://film.one/person/dani-parker.md), [Jamie Flanagan](https://film.one/person/jamie-flanagan.md), [Jeff Howard](https://film.one/person/jeff-howard-1224355.md), [Kathy Gilroy](https://film.one/person/kathy-gilroy.md), [Samantha Sloyan](https://film.one/person/samantha-sloyan.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 80 (1), 2020s 68 (2)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Flanagan_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19668417, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1093039/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/551463

## Coming up

- *Carrie* (2026-10-07), Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/carrie-2026.md)
- *Clayface* (2026-10-21), Story — [page](https://film.one/film/clayface.md)
- *The Exorcist: Martyrs* (2027-03-10), Producer

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*The Haunting of Hill House*](https://film.one/tv/the-haunting-of-hill-house.md) (80), [*Midnight Mass*](https://film.one/tv/midnight-mass.md) (72), [*The Fall of the House of Usher*](https://film.one/tv/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher.md) (65)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Mike Flanagan

> Flanagan makes horror the way other people make family dramas, and the ghosts arrive late and stand at the back. When he keeps them quiet he is as good as television horror gets; when he lets his characters explain themselves, the fear drains out.

Somewhere behind the talking there is usually a figure. A shape on the stairs while a child chatters. A face in a doorway nobody uses. Mike Flanagan puts it at the back of the frame and does not cut to it, and more than once we did not see it until the second viewing. Nothing jumps. He has said as much himself: "I hate jump scares. I really hate them." The camera waits, and the waiting is what does it.

He started small, with *Absentia* (2011), which he wrote, directed and cut, and *Oculus* (2013), a mirror and a family coming apart, which is the shape he has kept ever since. Then a run of features, *Hush*, *Gerald's Game* (2017) and *Doctor Sleep* (2019), two of them from Stephen King, and then television, where the extra hours suited him: *The Haunting of Hill House* (2018), *Bly Manor* (2020), *Midnight Mass* (2021), *The Midnight Club* (2022) and *The Fall of the House of Usher* (2023). The subjects barely change. Grief, drink, a house, a family that has not spoken since the thing happened. The ghosts stand for something and he is never shy about telling us what.

*Hill House* is the one to start with. It throws out most of Shirley Jackson's novel and keeps the house, and it is a family drama for long stretches before it remembers to frighten anyone, which is why the frights work when they come. Michael Fimognari shoots the place in browns and blacks and leaves the corners unlit. Twice we were properly frightened, both times by things that moved slowly, and the tall figure in the hat coming down a corridor without touching the floor kept us awake after the episode had finished. The sixth episode, 'Two Storms', plays out in a handful of unbroken takes with the past arriving inside the same camera movement, and it is the best hour he has made. Henry Thomas, Carla Gugino, Kate Siegel and Katie Parker turn up in project after project, and they know his rhythm, which is slow, and his weakness, which is words.

Because the words are the trouble. *Hill House* talks too much at its end, and the complaint most often made about *Midnight Mass* is the monologues, people sitting by a fire and saying what they have understood, at length, while the ghost waits outside. Flanagan writes his scripts as dramas first and adds the horror afterwards, and it shows in both directions: the people are real, and they have opinions about death that they want to share. Sometimes it lands. Often we found ourselves wishing the figure at the back of the frame would take a step forward and shut everybody up.

Next is *Carrie* (2026), King again. We will be watching the back of the frame, and hoping the speeches are short.

## Biography

Mike Flanagan is an American filmmaker who writes, directs and edits horror films and television series. Born on 20 May 1978 in Salem, Massachusetts, he is the founder of Red Room Pictures and has worked extensively with Netflix and Amazon Studios.

He created, wrote, directed and edited the Netflix series *The Haunting of Hill House* (2018) and *The Fall of the House of Usher* (2023), and has directed feature films including *Oculus* (2013), *Hush* (2016), *Gerald's Game* (2017) and *Doctor Sleep* (2019). Flanagan is developing the miniseries *Carrie* (2026) for Amazon Prime Video, on which he serves as creator, writer and director, and wrote the screenplay for the film *Clayface* (2026). He is married to actress Kate Siegel, who has appeared in many of his projects.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

### Directed (3)

- *The Fall of the House of Usher* (2023), Fi1m 65, Director, Editor, Creator, Teleplay, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher.md)
- *Midnight Mass* (2021), Fi1m 72, as Young Priest — [page](https://film.one/tv/midnight-mass.md)
- *The Haunting of Hill House* (2018), Fi1m 80, Director, Editor, Teleplay, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-haunting-of-hill-house.md)

## Complete filmography (38)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Exorcist: Martyrs* (2027), Producer, Director, Writer, Editor
- *Clayface* (2026), Story, Screenplay — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/clayface.md)
- *Carrie* (2026), series, Executive Producer, Director, Creator — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/tv/carrie-2026.md)
- *You Are Here* (2025), Associate Producer
- *The Room: A Tribute* (2025), as Peter, Executive Producer
- *Damned If You Do* (2025), Acting
- *Shelby Oaks* (2025), Executive Producer
- *The Life of Chuck* (2025), Mourner, Editor, Director, Producer, Writer
- *Heart Eyes* (2025), Thanks
- *V/H/S/Beyond* (2024), Writer
- *The Fall of the House of Usher* (2023), series, Executive Producer, Director, Teleplay, Editor, Creator — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher.md)
- *The Midnight Club* (2022), series, Director, Editor, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator
- *Love You, Mama* (2022), Editor
- *Midnight Mass* (2021), series, Young Priest, Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/midnight-mass.md)
- *The Haunting of Bly Manor* (2020), series, Director, Writer, Editor, Executive Producer, Creator
- *Doctor Sleep* (2019), Director, Screenplay, Editor
- *The Haunting of Hill House* (2018), series, Executive Producer, Editor, Director, Teleplay, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-haunting-of-hill-house.md)
- *Gerald's Game* (2017), Director, Screenplay, Editor
- *Dobaara: See Your Evil* (2017), Executive Producer, Original Story
- *Ouija: Origin of Evil* (2016), Director, Writer, Editor
- *Before I Wake* (2016), Director, Writer, Editor
- *Hush* (2016), Writer, Director, Editor
- *Absentia: A Retrospective* (2014), Editor
- *Oculus* (2014), Screenplay, Director, Editor
- *Absentia* (2011), Director, Producer, Writer, Editor
- *Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan* (2006), Ghoul 2, Writer, Director, Producer, Editor, Director of Photography
- *Chainsaw Sally* (2004), Director of Photography
- *Ghosts of Hamilton Street* (2003), Editor, Writer, Director
- *Cold Harbor* (2003), Editor
- *Still Life* (2001), Producer, Music, Director, Writer, Editor
- *Makebelieve* (2000), Music, Editor, Writer, Director
- *The Dark Tower*, series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator
- *The Mist*, Director, Producer, Writer
- *The Dark Tower*, Producer
- *Rot*, Producer
- *Inherit the Earth*, Screenplay
- *Peekers*, Screenplay
- *Epilogue*, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Karen Gillan, actor, at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for the movie The Life of Chuck.](https://film.one/media/person/95578/gallery-207b7b7757df.jpg) Karen Gillan, actor, at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for the movie The Life of Chuck. — Kevin Payravi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Karen_Gillan_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Karen_Gillan_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Mike Flanagan, director, at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for the movie The Life of Chuck.](https://film.one/media/person/95578/gallery-e4f30db09f29.jpg) Mike Flanagan, director, at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for the movie The Life of Chuck. — Kevin Payravi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Mike_Flanagan_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Mike_Flanagan_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Mike Flanagan](https://film.one/media/person/95578/gallery-a4a4ca0df018.jpg) Mike Flanagan — Kevin Payravi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Mike_Flanagan_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Mike_Flanagan_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Mike Flanagan](https://film.one/media/person/95578/gallery-f5bc50ed40af.jpg) Mike Flanagan — Image via TMDB
- ![Mike Flanagan](https://film.one/media/person/95578/gallery-0c173952e707.jpg) Mike Flanagan — Image via TMDB
- ![Mike Flanagan](https://film.one/media/person/95578/gallery-b0b8e76b6269.jpg) Mike Flanagan — Image via TMDB
- ![Mike Flanagan](https://film.one/media/person/95578/gallery-e70cbdb1904f.jpg) Mike Flanagan — Image via TMDB
- ![Mike Flanagan](https://film.one/media/person/95578/gallery-7597ec9b809e.jpg) Mike Flanagan — Image via TMDB
- ![Mike Flanagan](https://film.one/media/person/95578/gallery-761fb588fb20.jpg) Mike Flanagan — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/mike-flanagan