Every Terrifying Mike Flanagan Show, Ranked from Worst to Best

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Despite its promising premise oriented to teens looking for a thrilling scare, Midnight Club didn’t deliver the same scares as the earlier Flanagan series. The show lacked the talent of Flanagan’s usual ensemble cast, and the overarching plot failed to compel in comparison to the individual scary stories each character told. Despite this low ranking, however, it’s possible Midnight Club could have built upon itself in a second season, which it unfortunately never received. That being said, it was still a fun, spooky time, and we as horror fans will always be happy to see Heather Langenkamp back in the genre—where any Nightmare on Elm Street fan knows she belongs. ~ MP

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For the second installment of his The Haunting franchise, Flanagan looked to the work of Henry James and The Turn of the Screw. Bringing back many of his old cast friends (and marking his first collab with future mainstay Rahul Kohli), Bly Manor largely traded in the jump scares and family trauma of Hill House for a story that, essentially, was a gothic romance about self-destruction. It was a thrilling haunted house story, and, like anything else on this list, could rank higher depending on which way the wind blows. This is a fantastic horror series. —ER

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The perfect Netflix send-off for Flanagan, The Fall of the House of Usherdials in on what makes his horror miniseries so great: his skill in reimagining classic literature for a contemporary audience. Featuring almost all of his usual cast collaborators, House of Usher grips you with its Succession-like family and frightens you with Edgar Allan Poe-inspired scares for a thrilling 8 episodes. And with an ending that, essentially, ties everything together… there’s not much horror TV better. ~ MP

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His first show for Netflix, Flanagan’s Hill House still takes the cake as arguably the most arresting series he’s released. Featuring a strong ensemble cast and shocking jump scares, the show delivers on all its promises of spooky family trauma and terrifying death, while showing viewers (for the long haul) that this is also a writer who can infuse some seriously deep stuff within his grisly horror. Seriously, once you see the Bent-Neck lady, you’ll want to sleep with the lights on—and think about the meaning of life right after. ~ MP

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While Flanagan has shown an utter talent for adapting classic horror literature and updating it (look no further than above the list, where he makes great writing into great TV in every other entry), it’s his Netflix series with an original screenplay that tops our list. Midnight Mass is Flanagan at his very, very best; stunningly shot and brilliantly written—with dread that builds with every episode and a central mystery that you can’t look away from—this is the best show he ever made. And along with that brilliant writing comes some truly arresting performances; it’s a crime that Hamish Linklater wasn’t nominated for an Emmy for his role as Father Paul. Flanagan wrote this story from scratch, but think of it as if he was making his version of Stephen King‘s Salem’s Lot—and infusing it with the catholic guilt and reckoning of Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets. It rules. —ER

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