Even though we live in an age where the brand is much bigger than the creatives, anybody who thinks Netflix won’t be left with a cavernous hole in its roster of top-tier original content come October when Mike Flanagan bids farewell to the streaming service when The Fall of the House of Usher drops is kidding themselves.
On the plus side, one streaming service’s loss is poised to be another’s gain after the filmmaker and all-round horror maestro pitched up at Prime Video, where he almost immediately set about starting work on his ultimate passion project by developing an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower that hopefully won’t be anywhere near as horrendous as its predecessor.
Based on the law of averages, House of Usher is destined to win rave reviews, and a quick glance at Flanagan’s back catalogue underlines just how phenomenal his contributions to Netflix’s roster of in-house exclusives has been over the years. Even forgotten horror movie Before I Wake, which ranks as the weakest by far, still manages to secure a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes via a 67 percent score.
Claustrophobic chiller Hush and the stomach-churning Gerald’s Game nabbed 88 and 91 percent approval ratings on the aggregation site, while his episodic endeavors The Haunting of Hill House, spiritual sequel The Haunting of Bly Manor, fanged phenom Midnight Mass, and spine-tingling literary adaptation The Midnight Club all scored between 86 and 93 percent to underline his consistency.
Horror is an arena in which Netflix has always been found wanting, but things are about to get a lot worse when Flanagan bids adieu.
