RiSE & SHiNE

It’s kind of crazy,” muses Mike Flanagan, a gentle, quietly spoken, unassuming man who is one of the hottest horror directors on the planet right now. “I spent the first part of last year in the foyer of Hill House, and ended it in The Overlook.” He chuckles. “It was a fine way to spend a year.”

‘Fine’ doesn’t come close. For a self-confessed “fanboy” such as Flanagan, it is the stuff that dreams (nightmares?) are made of. Consider, also, that Flanagan successfully unpicked the handcuffs of Stephen King’s ‘unfilmable’ novel Gerald’s Game in 2017, and he must feel like he’s living in a King Extended Universe right now. Think about it: Flanagan’s 10-part Netflix triumph The Haunting Of Hill House was an ingenious reimagining of Shirley Jackson’s seminal 1959 novel, which was the key influence on Stephen King’s 1977 classic . And now Flanagan’s adapting King’s 2013 novel , the long-awaited sequel to . “It’s completely surreal,” nods the writer/director. “The snake eating its own tail.”