I have always been fascinated by religion and why people practice it. As a non-believer the idea that people have attributed such importance and reverence to particular texts and practices is something I want to know more about, I want to understand why people believe that there is a higher power that created us and believes we should behave in particular ways, despite giving us free will.
I’m not sure if they do it anymore but I remember at primary school being made to recite hymns and Bible passages at the start of each day, not participating would often mean you would be held back and spoken to about why it was important that you led a good Christian life and joined in with the hymns and passages, again, despite the school having no outward affiliations to religion. This meant as a youngster I did believe in God within the Christian sense. It was drummed into me and I thought that was normal. It wasn’t until I was a little older and realised that there were more religions and that I couldn’t be forced to read any religious scripts if I did not want to, and that’s where I lost my faith, and where my curiosity about religion began.
This is a very long intro that has so far had no mention of Mike Flanagan’s new Netflix series, Midnight Mass, but I felt it was important to contextualise why I had such a connection with this show, and believe it is one of the greatest TV shows I have ever seen. So, without further ado, here’s my review for Midnight Mass.
Before I delve into the plot synopsis, I cannot stress enough how much I recommend this show and just how much I implore you to go in with as little knowledge about the show as possible. I will delve into spoilers later in the review, but even this plot synopsis could border on spoiler territory.
Crockett Island is a small fishing community whose residents are predominantly practising Christians. The community has recently faced many hardships and as a result the residents have been leaving, as well as faith in God slipping. But their world is once again thrown into disarray when a charismatic new priest arrives, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater).
The priest seeks to reunite the community of Crockett Island once again under God’s house and will do whatever he can to restore faith in those who have lost their way. But when a series of unexplainable phenomena occur it splits the community among those who believe that they are miracles and that God has chosen them for something greater, and those who feel there is something sinister at play.
I’m not sure if they do it anymore but I remember at primary school being made to recite hymns and Bible passages at the start of each day, not participating would often mean you would be held back and spoken to about why it was important that you led a good Christian life and joined in with the hymns and passages, again, despite the school having no outward affiliations to religion. This meant as a youngster I did believe in God within the Christian sense. It was drummed into me and I thought that was normal. It wasn’t until I was a little older and realised that there were more religions and that I couldn’t be forced to read any religious scripts if I did not want to, and that’s where I lost my faith, and where my curiosity about religion began.
This is a very long intro that has so far had no mention of Mike Flanagan’s new Netflix series, Midnight Mass, but I felt it was important to contextualise why I had such a connection with this show, and believe it is one of the greatest TV shows I have ever seen. So, without further ado, here’s my review for Midnight Mass.
Before I delve into the plot synopsis, I cannot stress enough how much I recommend this show and just how much I implore you to go in with as little knowledge about the show as possible. I will delve into spoilers later in the review, but even this plot synopsis could border on spoiler territory.
Crockett Island is a small fishing community whose residents are predominantly practising Christians. The community has recently faced many hardships and as a result the residents have been leaving, as well as faith in God slipping. But their world is once again thrown into disarray when a charismatic new priest arrives, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater).
The priest seeks to reunite the community of Crockett Island once again under God’s house and will do whatever he can to restore faith in those who have lost their way. But when a series of unexplainable phenomena occur it splits the community among those who believe that they are miracles and that God has chosen them for something greater, and those who feel there is something sinister at play.
I’m going to talk a bit more about the later developments of the plot and the characters in a bit. But before I delve into spoiler territory, I just want to say how much Midnight Mass affected me. This show is bound to offend a lot of people, but unlike most stories that handle the dark side of religion Midnight Mass doesn’t feel like it’s actively trying to offend people. Instead, it villainises the people who twist it to serve their own wants and needs, and takes a very philosophical stance at dissecting what drives people to believe in a higher power. Unfortunately, I have been exposed to a lot of people in my life who do take Biblical passages or Christian teachings out of context and turn them into something that gives them an excuse to spout hatred, commit crimes, or just generally be a nasty person; and its these people that make Midnight Mass so terrifying. The show goes to great lengths to show that all it takes is someone to say the right phrase at the wrong time to turn sceptics into fanatics, and that all cults grow from someone abusing their power within a religious context.
It’s no secret that Midnight Mass has been a passion project of Flanagan’s for a long time now with references to it cropping up in almost all of his previous film and TV work, and the meticulous craft of this show is a testament to how clear his vision was for this story. It will absolutely hit you much harder if you have been adversely affected by religion in your life, but even if you haven’t the show does an excellent job of conveying how something that you considered normal and safe can become dangerous and scary without you realising until it’s too late.
The camera work, editing, and score are all incredible. Midnight Mass is definitely a horror series, and whilst it does include supernatural elements, I would argue that it is for the most part and extremely grounded drama about losing or finding your faith. The way the show is presented keeps you on your toes all the time, it’s exhausting at times with just how on edge it makes you. Jump scares are few and far between but it means that when they do happen they will definitely leave you shaken because the tension has been wound so tight, and the scares usually happen when you don’t expect them. This is horror filmmaking at its best because all the mechanics involved in making something scary just mesh so well, and until the credits of the final episode roll the only thing keeping your fear at bay is the desire to uncover more of the mystery.
Hopefully I’ve said enough to convince you to watch the show now if you haven’t already. But if you have already seen it, or don’t care for spoilers, this is the point of no return.
It’s no secret that Midnight Mass has been a passion project of Flanagan’s for a long time now with references to it cropping up in almost all of his previous film and TV work, and the meticulous craft of this show is a testament to how clear his vision was for this story. It will absolutely hit you much harder if you have been adversely affected by religion in your life, but even if you haven’t the show does an excellent job of conveying how something that you considered normal and safe can become dangerous and scary without you realising until it’s too late.
The camera work, editing, and score are all incredible. Midnight Mass is definitely a horror series, and whilst it does include supernatural elements, I would argue that it is for the most part and extremely grounded drama about losing or finding your faith. The way the show is presented keeps you on your toes all the time, it’s exhausting at times with just how on edge it makes you. Jump scares are few and far between but it means that when they do happen they will definitely leave you shaken because the tension has been wound so tight, and the scares usually happen when you don’t expect them. This is horror filmmaking at its best because all the mechanics involved in making something scary just mesh so well, and until the credits of the final episode roll the only thing keeping your fear at bay is the desire to uncover more of the mystery.
Hopefully I’ve said enough to convince you to watch the show now if you haven’t already. But if you have already seen it, or don’t care for spoilers, this is the point of no return.
Ok so addressing the elephant in the room, yes Midnight Mass is a vampire story. Something that took me totally off guard when I put the pieces together, but despite having a literal vampire in the show things never feel absurd or beyond belief. In fact, I totally bought that someone could stumble across a long-forgotten tomb during a sandstorm and uncover a creature like what we see in the show; then with some misguided religious beliefs think that this creature was an angel sent by God.
The metaphors for the church being bloodsucking monsters is a little on the nose, but with the immensely slow and terrifying build we get to that grand finale I feel it pays off fantastically.
Linklater delivers a completely captivating performance as Father Hill with him often having multiple long monologues in each episode. These insightful ramblings cover so much ground in explaining faith, why people can lose it, and how people can find it in the unlikeliest of places. He’s equally charming and terrifying, and whilst he certainly becomes the harbinger of doom for Crockett Island, the show goes above and beyond in making his story sympathetic and his vision understandable.
The true villain of the show is Bev Keane (Samantha Sloyan). If this woman doesn't strike fear in the heart of every single person who watches this show then I don’t know what will. Sloyan transcends performance to the point where I honestly don’t think I could look this woman in the eye and not feel disgust for the things her character does in this show. She is the personification of religious persecution and self-righteousness.
The island’s inhabitants are all interesting, well fleshed out, and have their own philosophies as to what God and religion mean for them. Riley (Zach Gilford) is a recovering alcoholic who lost his faith in prison; Erin (Kate Seigel) is a schoolteacher who has recently rediscovered her faith but perhaps for the wrong reasons; the Hassan’s (Rahul Kohli & Rahul Abburi), a Muslim father and son who recently moved to the island; and Sarah (Annabeth Gish), the island’s doctor who cares for her dementia ridden mother.
Everyone delivers a fantastic performance and you begin to get drawn in to this community as a result. You very quickly understand who people are, what their role is on the island, and their level of involvement with the church. Flanagan also pulls off some major Game of Thrones level deaths throughout the show, proving nobody is safe and that anybody can be bumped off at any moment.
Midnight Mass is an incredible show and at seven episodes long there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be watching this if you even remotely enjoy horror. Even if you’re not a big horror fan, the performances and writing are so good that I’m sure you’ll enjoy something that’s just so satisfying to sink your teeth into. It really does feel like the stars aligned for Midnight Mass as there’s honestly nothing, I can think of that I disliked about this show; everything from the story to the sound design and everything in between just works together so incredibly well to produce a show that I certainly will never forget and look forward to revisiting again sometime soon.
The metaphors for the church being bloodsucking monsters is a little on the nose, but with the immensely slow and terrifying build we get to that grand finale I feel it pays off fantastically.
Linklater delivers a completely captivating performance as Father Hill with him often having multiple long monologues in each episode. These insightful ramblings cover so much ground in explaining faith, why people can lose it, and how people can find it in the unlikeliest of places. He’s equally charming and terrifying, and whilst he certainly becomes the harbinger of doom for Crockett Island, the show goes above and beyond in making his story sympathetic and his vision understandable.
The true villain of the show is Bev Keane (Samantha Sloyan). If this woman doesn't strike fear in the heart of every single person who watches this show then I don’t know what will. Sloyan transcends performance to the point where I honestly don’t think I could look this woman in the eye and not feel disgust for the things her character does in this show. She is the personification of religious persecution and self-righteousness.
The island’s inhabitants are all interesting, well fleshed out, and have their own philosophies as to what God and religion mean for them. Riley (Zach Gilford) is a recovering alcoholic who lost his faith in prison; Erin (Kate Seigel) is a schoolteacher who has recently rediscovered her faith but perhaps for the wrong reasons; the Hassan’s (Rahul Kohli & Rahul Abburi), a Muslim father and son who recently moved to the island; and Sarah (Annabeth Gish), the island’s doctor who cares for her dementia ridden mother.
Everyone delivers a fantastic performance and you begin to get drawn in to this community as a result. You very quickly understand who people are, what their role is on the island, and their level of involvement with the church. Flanagan also pulls off some major Game of Thrones level deaths throughout the show, proving nobody is safe and that anybody can be bumped off at any moment.
Midnight Mass is an incredible show and at seven episodes long there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be watching this if you even remotely enjoy horror. Even if you’re not a big horror fan, the performances and writing are so good that I’m sure you’ll enjoy something that’s just so satisfying to sink your teeth into. It really does feel like the stars aligned for Midnight Mass as there’s honestly nothing, I can think of that I disliked about this show; everything from the story to the sound design and everything in between just works together so incredibly well to produce a show that I certainly will never forget and look forward to revisiting again sometime soon.