Series Review: "The Midnight Club" (2022).

"Death is a Rite of Passage" in The Midnight Club. This horror mystery-thriller streaming television series created by Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong, and based on the 1994 novel of the same title by Christopher Pike. At a hospice for terminally ill young adults, eight patients come together every night at midnight to tell each other stories – and make a pact that the next of them to die will give the group a sign from the beyond.

In May 2020, it was announced an adaptation of Pike's 1994 young adult novel would be created for Netflix by Flanagan and Fong. Flanagan revealed that he was profoundly inspired by Nickelodeon’s horror anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1992-96). Pike drew inspiration for the novel from a true story. In 1993, a young cancer patient asked him to write a story about her and the kids in her ward, who had started a "Midnight Club". "They would meet at midnight and discuss my books," Pike said in a Netflix press release. Pike gave Ilonka Pawluk a Polish name in honor of the young patient, who also had a Polish name. In the series Ilonka is not Polish. By mid March 2021, Flanagan confirmed the cast in a series of tweets on Twitter, which included Iman Benson, Samantha Sloyan, Zach Gilford, Heather Langenkamp, Emilija Baranac, Daniel Diemer, William B. Davis, Henry Thomas, Alex Essoe, Rahul Kohli, and Michael Trucco. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early September. Filming took place in Burnaby and Vancouver, British Columbia. In October 2022, on the series' release, Flanagan confirmed that the series would also adapt all "twenty-eight books" of Pike's, having pitched the series as "The Midnight Club — but the stories the kids tell [each other] will be other Christopher Pike books", planning for multiple seasons. However, in early December 2022, Netflix canceled the series after one season. Following its cancellation, Flanagan revealed what was planned for later seasons on his Tumblr, including the ultimate fates of the various characters and answers to the show's lingering mysteries.

The series stars Benson, Sloyan, Gilford, Langenkamp, Baranac, Diemer, Davis, Thomas, Essoe, Kohli, and Trucco. Flanagan and the cast always put the characters ahead of the stories. It's an approach that adds depth and insight to a finished product, especially here.

An interesting take on this kind of show that was supposedly dead. This shows we need to wake up some ghosts that are asleep. Far from just an opportunity to cash in on the name, the series respects and loves its audience, as they used to be that audience and know what a show like this means to them. The series is well-done and pretty scary for preteens and teens. And if you watch it with your kids, you may get pretty creeped out, too. It stands out as a show that is just as enjoyable for the young horror geeks as the nostalgic horror geeks looking back on where they came from.

Simon says The Midnight Club receives:

Also, see my review for Midnight Mass.