Mike Flanagan, the brain behind Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep, brings you the third instalment of his Netflix Originals horror miniseries, Midnight Mass. A seven-episode story that follows up on the huge success of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. A horror series that, like its predecessors, not only delivers thrills and scares, but a highly engaging and emotional drama, played out by strong and well-defined characters. Not something seen too often in the genre.
And it is this unusual blend that we have almost come to expect of Flanagan that makes Midnight Mass a series to watch.
The Plot
Our story starts off on a painful note. Where Riley Flynn is seen on a sidewalk after he – driving under influence – has crashed into another car driven by a young woman. The woman who is thrown through her car window soon succumbs to her injuries, as Riley who escapes with nothing more than a few scratches turns to God with his prayer as he is attended to by a paramedic.
Serving his four-year prison sentence, Riley, a changed man, who has lost his faith in his years of incarceration. Disgraced, he reluctantly returns to his hometown of Crockett Island – a remote fishing island with a predominantly devout Catholic community. A town that he has tried hard to escape. But he’s not the only one coming to Crockett Island. In addition to Riley, the town is ready to welcome Father Paul Hill. A young priest who has arrived in town, to stand in for the ageing Monsignor Pruitt, who was due, but failed to return to Crockett Island, after leaving the island for the first time at the young age of 80.
As Father Paul Hill presents himself to the town, he sets the stage that will usher a new chapter for the island. Not just by delivering his sermons. But by delivering miracles that change the lives of the people on Crockett Island, igniting new hopes, beliefs, and celebrations. Until the price of these miracles starts becoming apparent…
The Themes behind Midnight Mass
Like a lot of Flanagan’s work, Midnight Mass is a story that is as much about people as anything else. Like Hill House and Bly manor, it explores different aspects of the human nature including personal growth, salvation, abuse, and forgiveness. But unlike its predecessors, Midnight Mass takes on a more religious approach to its entire plot.
As the town’s primary industry hits a steady decline, it’s community’s faith not only remains unshaken, but seems to have grown stronger. Which while friendly on the outside, hides the true nature of its people. Shadowing the racist and passive-aggressive streak among large sects of the town.
Faith, fanaticism, forgiveness, redemption, prejudice, tolerance. Midnight Mass blends them together in perfect harmony to craft a story that is about people above all else. All of whom have a journey of own their own to travel. As a community, and as individuals. Journeys towards self-recognition that will bring out the best and the worst of their true selves.
The Humans behind the Horrors
Before anything else, let’s get one thing cleared off. Midnight Mass isn’t an attack on anyone’s faith in any manner. Even if it sounds like it might be. Especially as it presents the church as a place to be safe, and at the same time, a place to be scared. But that is precisely the point of the story. The horrors Crocket Island faces aren’t because of men of faith or religion. But because of men. Period. Men who want to have their desires fulfilled and are willing to pay a price they do not fully understand.
Midnight Mass uses this as a theme to tell the story about individuals straying into dangerous territories to give life to their deepest desires. No matter how disturbing. Disguising them under a veil that allowed them to justify their actions, even to themselves.
Midnight Mass isn’t about evil spirits, ghosts or monsters that run loose through a city. But about a few people who give these evils a face. Because of prejudice, delusions, selfish desires, and sometimes even good intentions that need poor decisions. At its heart, it is the people of Crockett Island, led – rather misled – by a few misguided minds that forms the true horror behind Midnight Mass.
Midnight Mass: A step forward from Hill House and Bly Manor
For anyone who has watched Flanagan’s previous works, The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, the style, pattern, and story-telling of Midnight Mass should not be much of a surprise. But that’s not to say that this isn’t a show worth your time. By fleshing out the characters – who are played out brilliantly by the cast I might add, building up each theme, with more suspenseful plots and supernatural powers than jump scares, Midnight Mass gives a welcome twist to a vampire-esque tale. Just like Hill House and Bly Manor did to the horror genre. Not to mention some of its filming and cinematography that almost makes some scenes look like stills photographs in motion. All adding that much more intensity to these scenes. But that is best experienced not by reading about it. But watching it. If Midnight Mass is your cup of tea.
Midnight Mass: Watch it or skip it?
A question that is always a tricky one to answer. Whether or not you will enjoy this miniseries on Netflix depends largely on what you are looking for from the genre. The traditional jump scares or a blend of well-narrated horror and drama. If it’s the latter, Midnight Mass is a show give a try. And with just even episodes, it can be a story more than worth your time. A story of horrors and misguided beliefs. And at the same time, like the light at the end of a tunnel, a story of hope.
