The Halloween season gives us a chance to celebrate all our favorite horror creators. One of the best genre filmmakers of the last decade has been Mike Flanagan. The director is coming off another Netflix hit with The Midnight Club, but horror fans are already clamoring for his next series The Fall of the House of Usher. In a recent interview with The Wrap, Flanagan teased what to expect from this terrifying series. He compares its carnage to a legendary horror sub-genre.

“It’s crazy. It is unlike anything I’ve ever done, but in the other direction,” Flanagan said. "My favorite way to describe it to people is like Hill House is kind of a string quartet, and Bly Manor is this delicate, kind of beautiful piece of classical piano music, and The Fall of the House of Usher is heavy metal. It’s rock and roll.” If that wasn’t enough to make horror fans scream, Flanagan added, “It’s the closest I will get to Giallo. It’s wild. It is colorful and dark and blood-soaked and wicked and funny, and aggressive and scary and hilarious.” The director finished teasing fans, saying:

“I’ve never gotten to work on anything like it. We left everything on the field with it, and it’s just bombastic fun. I’m really excited for that to find its way out because I especially think both The Midnight Club and Usher just go off in their own drastically different directions, and next to each other they’re fascinating to me.”

When anyone has a conversation about the best horror stories, Giallo films are never too far behind. This experimental Italian sub-genre refers to horror films that usually feature mystery killers and a uniquely thick atmosphere. They’re often covered in blood, graphic kills, and erotic imagery. Films like Dario Argento’s Suspiria, Deep Red, and James Wan’s Malignant are great examples of this twisted genre. Many fan-favorite American slashers like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream also share DNA with the Giallo style. That’s why it’s so exciting to see a brilliant mind like Flanagan tackle this type of storytelling. Like he alluded to, every one of his projects have felt very distinct. Hush was his take on a straight-up slasher, Doctor Sleep was a horror epic, The Haunting of Bly Manor was a tragic gothic romance, and The Midnight Club was a unique spin on YA horror that celebrated the value of storytelling. Flanagan hasn’t shied away from extremely dark blood-soaked stories with his masterpiece Midnight Mass being a prime example. However, knowing the director is fully stepping into that bizarrely creative sub-genre is sure to put a smile on any horror fan’s face.

Mike-Flanagan
Image via Netflix

RELATED: 7 Best Edgar Allan Poe Adaptations to Watch Before 'The Fall of the House of Usher'

Especially given its Flanagan’s take on The Fall of the House of Usher. It sounds gleefully crazy and will be the director’s next story based on an iconic horror author. This limited series will be adapting the classic Edgar Allan Poe story along with other works from the author. House of Usher was famously adapted in the 1960 film which starred Vincent Price. Flanagan previously adapted work from Stephen King, Henry James, and Christopher Pike.

The Fall of the House of Usher will consist of eight episodes and will star Mary McDonnell, Carl Lumbly, Willa Fitzgerald, Malcolm Goodwin, and Mark Hamill. They will also be joined by Flanagan regulars Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Henry Thomas, T'Nia Miller, Crystal Balint, Michael Trucco, Zach Gilford, Sauriyan Sapkota, Samantha Sloyan, Katie Parker, Kate Siegel, and Bruce Greenwood. The series will premiere in 2023 with Flanagan recently teasing at New York Comic Con that we could see it as early as March.

However, while we wait for Flanagan’s next potential horror masterpiece, you can stream his newest series The Midnight Club on Netflix now. The streamer is also home to the director's other great genre works like Hush, Gerald’s Game, The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass.