Series Review: "Midnight Mass" (2021).

"From the creator of The Haunting of Hill House" comes Midnight Mass. This supernatural horror series created and directed by Mike Flanagan. The series tells the tale of a small, isolated island community whose existing divisions are amplified by the return of a disgraced young man and the arrival of a charismatic priest. When Father Paul's appearance on Crockett Island coincides with unexplained and seemingly miraculous events, a renewed religious fervor takes hold of the community – but do these miracles come at a price?

In early July 2019, Netflix announced a seven-episode horror series, with Flanagan serving as writer, director and executive producer.  By March 2020, Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Hamish Linklater, Annabeth Gish, Michael Trucco, Samantha Sloyan, Alex Essoe, Rahul Kohli, Kristin Lehman and Henry Thomas were cast. Principal photography was originally scheduled to commence at the same time, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually principal photography commenced in mid August and wrapped in mid December. Filming took place in Vancouver, Canada.

The series stars Gilford, Siegel, Linklater, Gish, Trucco, Sloyan, Essoe, Kohli, Lehman and Thomas.
Despite the incredible performances given by the entire cast, the most interesting characters are not the leads but the zealous and overbearing church goer, the Muslim sheriff, and the enigmatic new priest.

The show offers plenty of potent scares and narrative twists to keep you guessing while wrapping its story in a fresh set of themes. The show is more of a slow burn than Hill House and Bly Manor but, like those shows, there's plenty to fall in love with, especially if you love gothic stories. The show lacks some of the horror found in Hill House and Bly Manor, but that's fine, it works as a story about love, loss, and yearning. It doesn't sound so much like a horror story when it's laid out like this, but it is one of the most intriguing horror stories told in a long time. It's also hard to deny Flanagan's visual eye. The dialogue and pacing may falter at times, but the look of the show never does. While you may go into watching the show for the ghosts and potential horror aspect, the reality is that this is a beautiful, dark gothic story of love and loss. Even though it doesn't reach the heights of Hill House and Bly Manor, the show is still a grim and entertaining ghost tale with a talented cast, grat direction and flawless aesthetics. If nothing else, the fact that the show doesn't totally measure up to some of Flanagan's best work is a testament to how consistently good the emerging auteur can be. Entertaining to watch even during the times it's not trying to scare the audience, and that's something that not many horror series can do. The show ultimately finds its strength by foregoing on typical scares to tell an intimate, captivating, and regret-filled story. The show should make fans of Flanagan feel right at home, even if the focus is on an entirely new ensemble of characters.

Simon says Midnight Mass receives:

Also, see my review for The Haunting of Bly Manor.