Absentia (2011) – Mike Flanagan

So digging into Mike Flanagan’s work, I found his first horror feature film, which you can source on YouTube. Sure, it’s shot on a digital camera, and looks a little less sleek than some of his later works, but damn if a lot of recognizable elements aren’t there from the off; the use of family…

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) – Mike Flanagan

Mike Flanagan has quickly become one of my favorite writer/directors and I realized that there were still a number of his titles that I hadn’t written about for the blog. So color me happy as I dig into some other examples of his work. Ouija: Origin of Evil is, in fact, a sequel to a…

The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020) – Blu-Ray Review

Writer/director Mike Flanagan has been on my one to watch list since Occulus, I love how he tells his tales of the supernatural, and when he adapted The Haunting of Hill House, I had to share that with everyone, as I was sucked in by each episode, and was left an emotional wreck by the…

Doctor Sleep (2019) – Blu-Ray Review

Mike Flanagan has been a name to watch since he appeared on the scene, and he’s become a huge hero to genre fans for his concentration on character and story as much as scares when it comes to horror films. And with Warner Brothers release of Doctor Sleep (available on blu and DVD today), he…

The Haunting of Hill House (2018) – Blu-Ray Review

Last year Netflix dropped the addictive, binge it all at once series, The Haunting of Hill House from writer-director Mike Flanagan. And now it comes home on blu-ray with extended episodes and commentary tracks to enhance the viewing experience as one of the most famous haunted house tales comes home in a new way. Taking…

The Haunting of Hill House (1963) – Shirley Jackson

Having just finished the amazing Netflix series (seriously, watch it) and loving the Robert Wise film, I felt it was time to re-read the original novel, something I’m sure I hadn’t done for about twenty years. In fact, I think I read it just before that abomination by Jan De Bont was released in 1999….

TIFF 2013: Oculus – Mike Flanagan

Ever since I first discovered the awesomeness of TIFF (1998 or so?), the Midnight Madness program has kind of always been my thing. I used to set up ticket-buying with friends, meet everyone in line, and have a blast at whichever movie we saw. But things started to fall apart after a few years, and…