Summary
CONTENIDOS DE LA PAGINA
- Mike Flanagan’s horror projects feature bone-chilling villains that contribute to his success as a prominent horror auteur.
- The villains in Flanagan’s stories are often more than just single persons or creatures, but they still serve as driving forces for the protagonists’ twisted journeys.
- While some of Flanagan’s villains have memorable and dangerous qualities, their fear factor may be limited by their backstory, appearance, or vulnerability, which impacts their overall scariness.
Horror genius Mike Flanagan has no shortage of pulse-quickening villains seeded throughout his many film and TV projects. With a slew of films and limited-run Netflix series under his belt, Flanagan is quickly becoming one of the last ten years’ most prominent horror auteurs. A large portion of this success can be attributed to the many bone-chilling villains to have crept across the screen of his projects, with some of the scariest in contention for the most frightening antagonists to ever grace the horror genre.
It’s true that many of Mike Flanagan’s stories have more esoteric subjects at their core. Whether it’s the supernatural wiles of the Hill House or the manifested trauma of Jessica Burlingame’s own mind in Gerald’s Game, it’s rare that a single person or creature is the true antagonist of Flanagan’s work. That being said, he certainly understands the importance of having an identifiable force to drive the action, not underestimating the power of the monster to push his protagonists through their twisted journeys.
11 Rose The Hat
Doctor Sleep
The imposing leader of the gang of psychic vampires, The True Knot, Rose The Hat is a calm, collected presence who carries out the cult’s dastardly plans with grace and purpose. The black magic carried within her namesake hat grants her even more deadly power on top of her already formidable psychic prowess. Certainly memorable and dangerous, Rose isn’t the most menacing villain, her outlandish backstory and stately appearance being more theatrical than frightening.
10 The Lasser Glass
Oculus
As a haunted object, it’s difficult to squarely classify The Lasser Glass from Oculus as a villain in the traditional sense. But there’s no denying that the otherworldly mirror holds a dark sentience, betrayed by the incredible powers of illusion it uses to slowly drain victims of their sanity. While the prospect of not being in control of one’s own senses is certainly terrifying, The Lasser Glass is, at the end of the day, still an ordinary-looking mirror, limiting its fear factor by a considerable margin.
9 The Man
Hush
Known simply as «The Man», the unnamed antagonist of Hush holds a unique spot among Flanagan’s rogues gallery as a lone villain that completely drives the events of his film. The Man commands a frightening presence, slowly stalking his victim before going in for the kill. Though dangerous, The Man is still a fallible human, shedding his creepy white mask early in the film to emphasize that he’s just some guy with a crossbow. In the end, he’s outsmarted by a defenseless woman who doesn’t even have full use of all five senses, undercutting his scare factor.
8 Bev Keane
Midnight Mass
At first glance, Bev Keane might not look like much, coming across as an ordinary, unassuming woman. What makes her so scary is her fervent religious zealotry and psychological manipulation, going to disturbing lengths all in the name of her faith. This is made all the more horrifying by how true to life Keane is compared to Flanagan’s other villains — it’s impossible for a Rose The Hat to exist, but a Bev Keane could haunt your real life. That being said, it’s just as easy to argue that the less supernatural threat presented by Bev makes her more evil than truly fearsome.
7 Poppy Hill
The Haunting Of Hill House
Formerly the clinically insane wife of William Hill, Poppy Hill is the very evil influence of the Hill’s mansion made manifest. Poppy’s instability and drastic mood shifts kept Haunting On Hill House fans on their toes as she rubberbanded between sweet and sinister. The longer she extended her warm facade, the more unnerving it became when she finally did snap, assuming her hideous true spectral form. Watching Poppy truly gives the feeling of walking on eggshells, just waiting to fall through into her bad side, only held back in the rankings by her lack of screen time.
6 Peter Quint
The Haunting Of Bly Manor
Evil in both life and death, Peter Quint combines Poppy’s supernatural capabilities with the all-too-real sociopathy of Bev Keane, resulting in an unforgettable protagonist. At first content to financially abuse Henry Wingrave, Peter is killed by The Lady In The Lake, turning him into yet another ghost haunting the grounds. His abuse then extends to Rebecca, dragging her down with him into the beyond. Peter Quint is a disturbing look into how a morally bankrupt man in the real world would actually abuse ghostly powers if given them, earning him a solid spot in the middle of the pack.
5 Verna
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
The Fall Of The House Of Usher combined elements from Poe’s most famous works into a single digestible horror series. As each of the Ushers perish one by one, they’re met by none other than Poe’s famous raven, in the form of Verna. Beyond her unnerving appearance and mannerisms, Verna is so terrifying because of the death she represents — run or hide from it, death will come eventually, and Verna will inevitably be there to make that point abundantly clear. Still, Verna herself is only a harbinger, more of an ominous omen of things to come than a threat in her own right.
4 The Angel
Midnight Mass
There have been hundreds of depictions of vampires in media, and being well-worn ground, it can be difficult to make the classic monster scary in the eyes of a jaded modern audience. That being said, Flanagan managed to unearth a truly spine-chilling vampire with the inclusion of The Angel in Midnight Mass. The second-to-none creature design commands every scene The Angel is featured in, giving the impression of a truly ancient evil with its delicate yet animalistic movements. The number of jumpscares using the vampire doesn’t hurt its rankings among Flanagan’s villains, either.
3 The Lady In The Lake
The Haunting Of Bly Manor
The first spirit created at Bly Manor and the ultimate primary antagonist of the series, The Lady In The Lake channels the grief of her life as Viola Lloyd into a vengeful ghostly fury. The Lady In The Lake commands an impressive body count among Flanagan’s villains, silently carrying out her murders with a grim determination, thinking nothing of drowning even children. Her haunting, eyeless visage and waterlogged skin culminate in a visually uneasy design that compliments her horrific actions.
2 The Bent-Neck Lady
The Haunting Of Hill House
Eleanor «Nell» Crane stands out as one of Flanagan’s best-written characters, making her ultimate fate as one of his most terrifying specters all the more macabre. The reveal of Nell being The Bent-Neck Lady all along as she hurtles through time, haunting herself throughout the worst moments of her life, is one of the single most breathtaking sequences across all of Flanagan’s work. Though she might not be the true antagonist of the series, The Bent-Neck Lady’s nauseating design and despair at her own actions makes her stand out as a truly blood-curdling living nightmare.
1 The Moonlight Man
Gerald’s Game
The Moonlight Man’s slow introduction in Gerald’s Game just might be one of the most visually tense scenes ever put to film, let alone among Mike Flanagan’s work specifically. Appearing at first as only a shadow, The Moonlight Man’s gaunt frame slowly becomes more visible as he haunts Jessica again and again. Jessica struggles to determine if the ghoulish presence is even real, making his silent observation of her all the more ominous as she attempts to rationalize him out of existence.
In the end, the reveal that The Moonlight Man was a very real serial killer retroactively makes Jessica’s encounters with him all the more chilling. Her eventual confrontation with him at his trial proves he’s just as scary in broad daylight, as he reacts by casually breaking his restraints and smiling at her like an old friend, clearly recalling their time together fondly. It’s a rare few horror movie villains that can reach these heights of pulse-pounding terror, making The Moonlight Man stand out as an unforgettably scary antagonist.
