Why Horror Director Mike Flanagan Abandoned Bleak Endings like Oculus and Haunting of Hill House

Director Mike Flanagan has revealed why his recent projects have shifted away from the bleak endings that gained high praise in the likes of The Haunting of Hill House. Despite making a name for himself as the go-to name in horror, Flanagan has shifted his stance on the endings of his newer projects, which include his adaptation of Stephen King’s novella, The Life of Chuck.

Flanagan’s reputation for leaving audiences devastated at the end of some of his most popular and successful movies and streaming dramas began before he brought Hill House to Netflix and propelled himself up the ladder of in-demand directors. While that series, and others, ended on a note that was not exactly uplifting, Flanagan revealed in a new interview that two important personal life changes have altered the raison d’etre of his storytelling.

Speaking with Katee Sackhoff on the Sackhoff Show podcast, Flanagan explained how his new family life has given him a reason to find more hope in his projects. He said:

“When Kate and I got together, my outlook changed a lot. And as we had kids of our own, and the kids started growing up, it started to become more important for me. Someday they’re going to interrogate our work, right, like someday we’re going to be gone, and if they want to revisit us in an interesting way, they have all this work they can look at. And I never wanted them to come revisit those things and be left on a note of hopelessness. And, so, it’s become incredibly important to me that no matter how dark a story gets, there’s always hope and forgiveness and empathy at the end.”

Mike Flanagan Can Bring Hope to Stephen King’s The Dark Tower

Flanagan’s change in approach to the endings of his movies and TV shows can be seen in some of his more recent work, such as The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game, and the upcoming The Life of Chuck. Sharing this new hopeful outlook in the ending of his projects, even if those endings are often still quite dark and not completely “happy,” is something that can help Flanagan on what is likely to be the biggest project of his career; adapting Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.

For fans of King’s magnum opus, the road to the Tower has been full of false starts and disappointment, with rumored adaptations coming and going over the years, and a movie version failing to capture anything that made King’s novels claim a place in the hearts of his readers. While Ron Howard originally planned to bring The Dark Tower to screens in a cross-media universe of movies and TV shows, the idea was said to be too ambitious and failed to get off the ground, but that is now exactly what Flanagan is planning to do with the backing of Amazon Studios.

Related

Mike Flanagan Teases Faithful Dark Tower Adaptation; Shares Heartbreaking Scene He Cannot Wait to Film

Mike Flanagan has named the scene from Stephen King’s Dark Tower he cannot wait to film, and in doing so hints at a completely faithful adaptation.

There is still a long way to go before The Dark Tower can finally get an adaptation that takes in all the genres, characters, time-traveling and meta-details of the eight novels and various short pieces that tell the story of Roland Deschain’s quest, but Flanagan seems like the perfect person to do it. Having confessed his love for the source material, and his desire to give it a faithful adaptation, Flanagan’s “hopeful” outlook in his projects perfectly aligns with the themes of redemption, resumption, and the overarching resilience of the many characters who join Roland on his journey to the Tower.