Still haunted by The Haunting of Hill House? Queue up these four Mike Flanagan chillers
If The Haunting of Hill House left you craving more Mike Flanagan, four of his thrillers—spanning supernatural chills to psychological dread—hit the sweet spot.
Start with The Haunting of Bly Manor, a 9-episode follow-up that landed in October 2020 and trades Hill House’s family trauma for a full-on gothic romance. Set in 1987 at a mist-shrouded English estate, the story follows Dani Clayton, an American au pair hired to look after two orphaned siblings who are far from ordinary. The grounds are bound by a centuries-old curse where spirits slowly lose their faces and their memories, and the most chilling presence on the property is the relentless Lady in the Lake.
Four Flanagan limited series — 34 episodes — arrived between 2020 and 2023.
Bly is quieter than Hill House but no less unnerving. Watch for kids “dream-hopping” into other people’s memories, a dollhouse that doubles as a danger warning system, and background specters shifting position when you least expect it.
- Victoria Pedretti — Dani Clayton
- T’Nia Miller
- Rahul Kohli
Midnight Mass
Flanagan’s most personal work arrived next: Midnight Mass, a 7-episode limited series from September 2021 set on isolated Crockett Island. A disgraced local comes home just as a charismatic young priest steps in for the aging Monsignor, and soon the town is buzzing with “miracles.” The revival turns nightmarish when those wonders reveal a bloodthirsty source the residents mistake for divine intervention.
Instead of jump scares, the show leans into creeping dread, philosophical monologues, and the slow horror of fanaticism, addiction, and mortality. The transformations are as disturbing as the rituals that spark them.
- Hamish Linklater — Father Paul
- Zach Gilford
- Kate Siegel
- Samantha Sloyan
The Midnight Club
Released October 7, 2022, The Midnight Club jumps to 1994 and a cliffside hospice called Brightcliffe, where terminally ill teens gather at midnight to swap ghost stories — and make a pact that whoever dies first will reach out from the other side. Ilonka, a high achiever facing a terminal thyroid cancer diagnosis, arrives desperate for a miracle and stumbles into something far older and darker than campfire tales.
The scares work on two tracks: the anthology-style stories the kids tell, and a more dangerous threat lurking in Brightcliffe’s past — a sinister occult group that once ran lethal rituals on the property. The show’s sting comes from the existential dread of teens staring down the end while shadow figures creep closer.
- Iman Benson — Ilonka
- Ruth Codd
- Igby Rigney
- Heather Langenkamp
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher premiered October 12, 2023, twisting Edgar Allan Poe into a present-day takedown of corporate greed. Billionaire siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into a juggernaut — then, over the span of a single week, Roderick’s six adult heirs start dying in grotesque, bizarre ways. Each death ties back to Verna, a shape-shifting woman from the Ushers’ buried past.
This one is a wicked, macabre satire rather than a quiet haunt, anchored by a mesmerizing Carla Gugino as Verna. Expect theatrical, stomach-churning set pieces — from acidic rain meltdowns to violent primate attacks — as the family’s sins come due in spectacular fashion.
Across these runs, Flanagan keeps circling grief, faith, love, and guilt — and he’s channeling that same energy into his upcoming film, The Exorcist: Martyrs.