Martin Scorsese may have started another trend: directors on Letterboxd, as filmmaker Mike Flanagan (Hush, Doctor Sleep) has joined the popular service aimed at movie fans looking to rate, rank and review. And unlike so many of us, Flanagan won’t be basking in the glory of shredding any movie he hates, instead using the website to celebrate cinema.
Mike Flanagan took to X on Sunday to promote his joining Letterboxd, writing, “Finally joined Letterboxd. Only positing positivity, and it’s going to take me a few weeks to catch up on building my profile, but here’s a start:” along with a screenshot of one of his top four favorite films, The Shawshank Redemption. The other three are All That Jazz, Lawrence of Arabia and Jaws.
In addition to those classics, Mike Flanagan also has several lists so far on Letterboxd, including a 77-film list of All Time Favorites, an extensive 86-film list of My Favorite Horror Movies and a short, running list of his favorite movies of the year so far. He even has a special list of movies and series he has worked on, noting that Hulu’s The Midnight Club isn’t listed on Letterboxd. Of these, Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House has the highest user rating, with 4.3 stars from 309,000 views.
But Mike Flanagan has a long climb if he wants to even sniff Martin Scorsese’s number of followers, which sits at just under 280,000, the most of any user. As of publication, Flanagan has a bit more than 20,000; interestingly, Flanagan is not one of Scorsese’s followers. Really, if Scorsese can popularize Letterboxd as a place for filmmakers to share what they’re watching, I’m not sure it matters who signs up, as it’s pretty cool to see what those who make movies are screening on a regular basis. It’s like Steven Soderbergh sharing his annual viewings, except we don’t get to see how many episodes of Below Deck he’s watched…
Mike Flanagan’s most recent project, The Fall of the House of Usher, arrived last month and currently has a 4.0 on Letterboxd.
Which other directors do you want to see join Letterboxd? For me, I’d love to see Paul Thomas Anderson, Guillermo del Toro and Quentin Tarantino rank their recent watches. Edgar Wright would be another choice but he has at least shared his 100 favorite comedies on the site.