Summary
A two-year-old story presents the perfect unofficialMike Flanagancrossover thatNetflixnever gave to its audiences.Every Mike Flanagan show and movie on Netflixhas its own distinct voice and standalone narrative. However, despite this, several narrative overlaps and cross-references can be noticed in nearly every Mike Flanagan creation. For instance, Flanagan’s Netflix show Midnight Massshares its title with a book written by the main character inHush.
Similarly, the horror director’s most recent Netflix show,The Fall of the House of Usher, drops a subtle nod toGerald’s Game, which is aMike Flanagan movie based on Stephen King’s novel. Owing to these cross-references, Mike Flanagan’s body of work is often referred to as “Flanaverse.” However, even though many other subtle intersections exist between Flanagan’s shows and movies, the director has never featured a direct crossover of characters or storylines across different projects. Perhaps accidentally, a 2022 novel ends up doing exactly that.
Midnight Mass: 10 Best References To Other Mike Flanagan Projects
Mike Flanagan’s latest project, Midnight Mass is proving a hit and terrifying fans. The show contains several references to Flanagan’s previous work.
It Features The Ushers & The Bent-Neck Lady
Netflix never released a Mike Flanagan crossover show, but Ursula Vernon’sWhat Moves The Deadperfectly combines the story and character beats from two horror shows created by the director. Loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’sThe Fall of the House of Usher, the book features several members of the fictional Usher family as its main characters. It focuses on a retired soldier, Alex Easton, who rushes to the Usher family’s home when he learns that his friend Madeline Usher is on the verge of dying.
Like the bent-neck lady from The Haunting of Hill House, the undead Madeline also comes with a warning for the remaining characters.
When Madeline finally dies, and Easton visits her grave, he notices that she broke her neck before she died. When he later enters Roderick’s room, he finds Madeline sitting on the bed, with her head hanging down her neck,reminding one ofThe Haunting of Hill House’s bent-neck lady. Like the bent-neck lady fromThe Haunting of Hill House, the undead Madeline also comes with a warning for the remaining characters. With this,What Moves The Deadperfectly combines elements from two Mike Flanagan shows:The Fall of the House of UsherandThe Haunting of Hill House.
Here’s an excerpt fromWhat Moves The Deadthat gives a graphic description of Madeline Usher’s bent neck:
“Her head was bent over at a terrible angle, neck horribly askew. She had to turn her whole body to face the door, while her head flopped sideways. She hitched up one shoulder to keep it partly upright and something about that small gesture was so dreadful that it stopped me in my tracks.”
Like most Mike Flanagan narratives,What Moves the Deadfeatures doomed characters who remain in denial of their perils and the encroaching horrors around them before it is too late. Similar to Mike Flanagan’s creations, the book also seems to combine elements from several renowned pieces of horror literature,including Jeff VanderMeer’sAnnihilation, Victor LaValle’sThe Ballad of Black Tom, and Henry James’The Turn of the Screw, to create the most nerve-racking visuals in a reader’s head.
Ursula Vernon wroteWhat Moves The Deadunder the pen name T. Kingfisher.
It also uses its fantastical horror elements as solid allegories for the tainted and strained relationships in a family. Although not all readers may appreciate how it adds a layer of cosmic horror to Edgar Allan Poe’s character-drivenThe Fall of the House of Usher, the book could work incredibly well as a television series, especially if Mike Flanagan is its showrunner. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely thatMike Flanaganwill ever adapt it forNetflixsince he has officially parted ways with the streamer.
The Fall of the House of Usher
Loosely based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher is a horror drama mini-series created by Mike Flanagan (Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House) for Netflix. This modern retelling follows a corrupt pharmaceutical CEO, Roderick Usher, as he is forced to reckon with his past as a curse begins to claim the lives of each of his children.
