Midnight Mass 2021

I still have Absentia and Before I Wake of his non-obscure works left to see, but I find this the best thing Flanagan has done to date. It turns out "original work + heavily literary-influenced" is the ideal middle point of this director, so his preoccupied philosophical/religious ideas don't feel as grafted on as sometimes happen in his adaptations (like the last episode of Hill House), and the influence helps stressed the emotional/thematic resonance further than his more purely formal genre exercises (like Hush or Oculus).

The complexity here feels very much Stephen King-influenced (agreed with some comments of "best King novel that he has never written"), but being original work means Flanagan starts off with pure atmosphere and characterization of his own creation, which is why I don't find the pacing and monologues of early episodes to be too much like others do. They feel like carefully crafted momentums that deepen this rich world and cast of characters to parallel the horror-tinged mysteries taking place alongside them.

In fact, the only time they truly feel their length is when the other shoe drops a full reveal at the series' midpoint in Episode 4, because as good as its "after death" discussion and others are, they now feel in the way of a clear forward narrative now gaining steam proper. This problem persists a bit into Episode 5, but the devastating ending finally has the characters caught up with the audience, leading into the last two episodes that are the best landing in either of Flanagan's films or series. Horrific, supremely crafted, and surprisingly tender, the ending of series sees Flanagan has the characters confront their past traumas and current beliefs (whether firm or wavering) alongside the horror taking place, and the way he clearly grapples and ponders along with his own characters onscreen during the final stretch is the most moving filmmaking this director has ever done.

I came into it expecting a horror and it is definitely much more of a drama and discussion of religion and community with some supernatural/horror elements to it. And for what it was, I enjoyed it. The first half of the series was better than the second in my opinion, which was a bit of a bummer, but I think that depends on personal preference. I can imagine a lot of people preferred the second to the first half. The revelations came maybe a bit too quickly and too sudden after giving only hints of it in the first few episodes. Killing off the "main" character certainly didn't help. That was a choice. Overall the series is well made, the actors are excellent, and the atmosphere, setting, and cinematography complement the story nicely. The pacing is rather slow with a lot of dialogues, which is definitely not for everyone, but it's the heart of this series and makes it what it is.
So, decide for yourself if that sounds like something you might enjoy.
If you're looking for a fun, no-thinking, horror show with lots of action and momentary shock elements, yeah, this isn't the one for you.

Mike Flanagan continues to channel his love of Stephen King into a miniseries that's actually better than most King TV screen adaptations we see. I wasn't totally won over by his Haunting of Hill House and haven't bothered with the follow up series yet, but this is in a totally different league.

Midnight Mass is absolutely steeped in thematic material. This could be a bit much if it didn't sit so well alongside the characters, the writing and the narrative. The series has hell of a lot to say about religion but it's never coming down for or against it. It allows each character's religious beliefs (even if they have none) to let us understand them and what their faith means to them.

I highly recommend going into this knowing as little as possible. Suffice to say that there are horror elements which creep in and it certainly fits into the classic Stephen King story mould. There are twists which are telegraphed from the start (if you notice the actors in old-age makeup in the first episode then it's a bit obvious where things are going) and some which are much more subtle.

But the show really shines through the performances. Just about every episode has at least one scene which is completely mesmerising. It's not afraid of letting it's characters have discussions and letting us be there for the whole thing. More films and TV could benefit from this approach. I need to highlight Hamish Linklater in particular as doing an incredible job.

If I have any criticism it's that the visuals are a little frustrating. The series has that weird "modern" undersaturated look with minimal lighting which leads to things looking a bit flat. This is offset by some gorgeous cinematography and strong editing.

Also, Bev is the worst.

I wonder if either Flanagan’s shows truly thrive with the year or two between them to hide his flaws and tropes, or if Midnight Mass is just weaker on the whole. Self indulgent monologues are a trademark of his, but never have I felt more ‘these people wouldn’t talk like this’. Paul and Bev, sure, they’re Bible freaks who’ve memorized scripture, and so they and their actors are two characters that really thrive. But Mike writes like everyone has this fountain of purple prose to pull from. Maybe it’s more digestible and appropriate when the setting is a mansion or manor. But this is a small town island, and Erin didn’t talk like she does in her final monologue. Hell, half the time I didn’t buy that Riley did. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that as a guy who searched for multiple religions for an answer and atheism was the one he found, that he would feel that way, that he could express those themes. But not like that. It’s like a switch is turned on for his talk about death and he’s busting out electrons and psychedelics and then after the scene it’s turned off. It’s clearly Mike talking and not the characters, and it’s like, yeah, Mike, I read Carl Sagan too.

There’s a lot of heady ideas here, and some strong performances. The worst tendencies of Christianity and Catholicism are on display, emphasizing how the focus of paradise in the next world can lead to horror on this one as God will sort it out, it’s all God’s plan. Tying that to vampirism is a natural but clever throughline. Paul being found after eating Joe is a very striking image, both from the stage design and the cinematography, highlighting the gruesome gore disrupting a holy place and Paul in the corner, shrouded by darkness. Everyone but two characters dying is a nice change of pace for Mike. Paul and Bev shine as the antagonists tying it together: Paul as the tragic messiah letting his pain and Bev’s zealotry edge him further from good intentions into atrocities, and Bev as the selfish fanatic who sees God’s love as her due and his love for anyone else an insult. I’m glad he resisted the urge to give Bev a redemptive end and had her screaming and clawing for a way out, selfish and graceless when faced with her final test. And the third act is kind of fun self serious camp in a Resident Evil way.

I wanna say Mike’s done better with his brown folk and he’s definitely. Trying to. But the Muslim stuff is so much more surface level than all the Christianity. And Hasan’s backstory is very ‘white lib emphasizing with the poor model minority’. His anger’s very downplayed. And it’s once again a cop thing. Trying to be one of the good ones fixing things from the inside, the most noble thing a minority can be, like it’s even worse and extra unfair that all that happened to a cop.

I saw Bly Manor and Hill House years apart. Maybe Midnight Mass would feel fresher if I saw it a while after Hill House. Or maybe it’s just a rougher work and I know Flanagan’s tricks more. Either way, it has a fair share of moments, themes to chew on, a good cast, and a nice atmosphere. It’s far from boring. But it just doesn’t come together the way Bly or Hill did.

Amazing show from start to finish. So unusual and unique and well done. Actors who are mostly unknown yet give compelling performances, cinematography, sound design, even the low budget effects were decent though the makeup is pretty shoddy. The star of the show is the script. Spoiler: Vampire Priest who thinks he's doing the will of God
The pacing at the beginning is perhaps a little slow, but character development is thorough. The 2nd act is brilliant with the revelation of the main plot. Everyone did a splendid job building the tension into revealing the main story. The ending was a little unrealistic, a little chaotic, and a little predictable, but in all honesty, wasn't a horrible way to wrap it up. At least there was satisfying closure even if it was a bit campy. But to me that's what made me forgive it. It was finished. So many shows feel obligated to throw in a cliff hanger in hopes of a continuing story. This story was complete and really well done. I'm so surprised this missed my radar.

I think people who come from a religious back ground will get most of the Bible references, especially if they were brought up devout. To uninitiated, it will be somewhat foreign. Some have complained about the pacing. I think that's a byproduct of current film/tv making. There are uninterrupted scenes that are minutes long. This is unheard of in modern film. Even less so in TV. We are so used to shots bouncing around in under 5 seconds. It's a style I particularly find over-used and annoying (along with shaky cam). But I can see how people find it harder to watch. Try going back to the great movies of the 50s or 60s. 10 or 15 minute scenes. So to me it felt natural and where used it was particularly poignant dealing with heavy metaphysical contemplations.

It was interesting to watch through, but there were many inconsistencies - like how did he get back to the island with a creature in the trunk? Doesn't it go through security checks of some kind between countries?? And what about his passport, he would look nothing like himself anymore and those are 100% checked with international travel. Besides that, the makeup for his older self was awful, as well as the makeup for the older woman in the show. It was way too obvious that they were young actors in makeup to look old, so it was very gimmicky. And then the sheriff's wardrobe was strange. His shirt seemed like a cartoon shirt and not a cop's shirt. And his gun was not a normal sheriff's gun, right? Just too many small things muddled up the atmosphere for me.

On another note, Zach Gilford's (Riley) performance was top notch. His monologue about death was captivating and well executed. Kate Siegel's (Erin) monologue in that same scene flopped though, especially coming after Gilford's, which would have been tough to follow anyways. She slightly redeemed herself with her ending monologue, but she didn't quite deliver the performance to it's full potential.

This show was actually Filled with monologues, so after a couple it got hard to completely pay attention to each one. Binging all 7 episodes was a lot to take in with heavy monologues, but acting performances all around were well done, it just didn't seem to have a good budget for makeup, wardrobe or special effects and it showed :/

Rahul Kohli also stood out, as he should. His main monologue was well scripted and acted out. And Samantha portraying Bev's character was incredibly cringe worthy. When an antagonist character bothers you to your core, then the actor has done their job, and she delivered in this role.

The script was interesting, which is why I kept watching. The bible verses quoted and the way they were perfectly woven into the theme of the show was well played out, or written out I suppose. There was still something off about some parts of the script but I can't recall those specifics, only the feeling I have about it.

All in all, it was a decent watch. I wouldn't recommend binging it...but, on the other hand, if you don't binge it, you could lose interest.... Try it out anyways and see what you get out of it.

The first episode was superbly slow to me, but it does show all the important characters on the island to keep track of for later. After episode one, every subsequent episode gets better and better. Throughout the show, I would say there are a lot of slow parts and long, verbose monologues and religious tirades - enough that I could just scroll Tw*tter mindlessly while listening to the dialogue and hop back in when something started happening. If they could have cut those parts down and just kept the parts where important things were happening, I think the show would have been a lot more enjoyable overall. But when something interesting does happen, it hits hard.

The ending was pretty touching, left open enough that you can speculate on what happened next. I also thought the mythology was intriguing (again, wish they'd expanded more on this and cut out some of the boring stuff), especially the 'angel'. Maybe I would have liked some speculation from the characters about why the fuck God made his servants so fucking ugly and monstrous??? Honestly, maybe that thing was a demon. How would we know? It never spoke or said "be not afraid" or anything... Maybe it would have been even more interesting for it to have spoken and been more of a ~character~ in the story, though its role is already useful in its own way. There's a lot to speculate about, lore-wise, which is cool.

Overall, I think this is a decent show that needs some real patience to get into. You need to be drawn into it for one reason or another to get through that first episode. Personally, I went in blind and thought this was just a drama or something but once I saw scary events happening, I stayed for the horror (which it does deliver on). I think anyone who wants to watch this also needs a decent mental constitution for death, blood, animal death, cannibalism, vampirism, and those kinds of things. Just lots of death and talk of it - it's a huge theme. Also religion. If you don't have some interest in religion or if you dislike the topic, I think this show would be very off-putting. It's worth it if you can handle all of that.

This is solid and at slight moments brilliant, but like other Mike Flanagan films or shows, it suffers from super white an American stuff that feels very true to Flanagan's hero and major influence Stephen King. But the thing about King is that his works are only amazing when adapted by another artist which will result into something amazing rather than the awkward but solid novels he writes. In other words, this is solid but by no means a horror masterpiece as many claim it to be.

Hamish Linklater, Rahul Kohli and Mildred Essoe (who kinda pays homage to Marcia Gay Harden from The Mist) give some amazing turns here. Zach Gilford is flat as hell, even in Friday Night Lights he wasn't great but it wasn't as distracting here since there he was a football player, here he's supposed to be an ex-con with a huge guilty conscience and most of the heavy lifting of the series is done by Linklater, who should submit to the Emmy's as a lead since he's the biggest head on the poster (a very gorgeous poster btw).

Also, it got predictable. Perhaps Flanagan shouldn't use heavy makeup on actors who aren't elderly, because I kinda wasn't surprised by the big episode 3 reveal. And there's no need to do a Salem's Lot remake, this is technically it and Flanagan pays homage to King in a great way.