The Recipe To a Mike Flanagan Movie
If like me you love the horror genre, you’ve probably heard of Mike Flanagan and his work before. Or maybe you spend a lot of time on Netflix and discovered him in 2018 with The Haunting of Hill House (an absolute masterpiece).
However, if you watch a few of his other work you will begin to notice certain patterns and themes being reused. That’s why I got the idea of writing a “recipe” based on his style. Before listing all the ingredients, I just want to add that this is not a way to criticize his work because I happen to love his style (in particular, I would recommend The Haunting serie, Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game).
- Incorporate trauma and addictions in your characters:
Obviously, this is not something only Flanagan does. Using ghosts as a metaphor for a haunting past is nothing new in horror. But I think it’s done subtly in all of his work, and in different forms. As for the addictions, it’s partly due to most of his main characters being conflicted or tortured. For instance the Crain twins in Hill House, who are at the center of the events and both struggle with mental health issues or addiction.
- Add some inner dialogue coming to life:
His work often has 1 protagonist, or in the case of The Haunting serie, each character has an episode centered around them, giving a lot of space in the story to thoughts and feelings. So to prevent the boredom of the viewer, Mike often uses the strategy of making an inner dialogue visual. For instance, a character may find themself talking to a personification of their thoughts. Pretty clever if you ask me, and very entertaining as a viewer.
- Sprinkle with hidden ghosts:
It has now become a tradition when a new season of The Haunting serie is out. You need to rewatch it to try and spot all the hidden ghosts. It’s a very smart move to hide details to a movie or a show, because it makes it very rewatchable (also a great idea to get a show renewed by Netflix).
- Deep fry in a family centric:
Every family has its secrets, making it a great topic to build a horror story around. It’s something easy for a viewer to relate to and therefore making the show even scarier. It also allows to make the characters more lovable.
- Scare by tension, not surprise:
I’m not saying Flanagan would never put in a little jumpscare for his viewers, but most of the “horror” part of his style comes from the tension and mood he sets. With heavy backstories for the characters, and sometimes a few tense relationships, the story feels scary but with a slow build up.
- Boil in one location:
That’s the concept of a haunted house obviously. But the story often really takes the location to the next level, making it a character on its own. The fact that a lot of his stories have to do with family dynamics go hand in hand with that.
- Reuse the same actors:
Similarly to what Ryan Murphy does in American Horror Story (and his other projects), Mike Flanagan likes to work with the same actors, notably Henry Thomas, Carla Gugino or Kate Siegel (who also doubled as screenwriter on Hush). I think this is a great asset for any director, to be able to have a team of actors who trust your vision because the actors/director chemistry is obvious on screen.
- Infused in feminism:
In Hush, Gerald’s Game and The Haunting of Bly Manor, the protagonist is a woman. I must say as a woman, I’m usually quite apprehensive of seeing women in horror movies because they’re often portrayed as either “The Final Girl” or as monsters. Well, Flanagan does quite the contrary. The women in his movies are complex characters, with flaws and strengths (dare I say, like women are in real life ?). And that’s quite refreshing to see for the horror genre.
- Finally, a dash of supernatural:
I insist on the dash. It’s often very subtle that you end up questioning if there was really a supernatural element to it. In particular with all the mental health topics in many of his stories, you end up wondering how much happens only in the characters’ mind. So you may see the movie differently from your friends which makes it only more interesting to discuss with them.
And with all these ingredients, you have all the tools you need to build your own “Mike Flanagan Film” !
It will be interesting to see how this style might evolve or stay the same in the rest of his career, especially now that he is doing a lot of tv shows instead of traditional movies. I wonder what kind of impact this will have on his vision.
