Today’s suggestion for 31 Days of Horror is not a film, it’s a series. Midnight Mass is a Mike Flanagan creation, and in my humble opinion, Flanagan can do no wrong. Still, some of his series are better than others, and Midnight Mass is in the top three.
Flanagan first captured viewers’ attention with The Haunting of Hill House series during the 2018 Halloween season, and it quickly became THE horror series everyone was talking about. The combination of family trauma and haunted house tale was perfectly put together, and it had most of us on the edge of our seats (when we weren’t jumping, screaming or crying).
Again, just my opinion, but The Haunting of Hill House is the best of Flanagan’s series, and Midnight Mass is a very close second (for those keeping score, I consider The Fall of the House of Usher to be number three, The Haunting of Bly Manor number four, and The Midnight Club is in fifth place).
Midnight Mass is set on the very remote Crockett Island, where Riley Flynn has returned home after serving time for accidently killing a woman while driving drunk. His parents Ed and Annie still live on the island, as does his childhood sweetheart Erin, who is heavily pregnant (but single).
Other townspeople include the obnoxiously religious Bev, Riley’s brother Warren, Sheriff Hassan and his son Ali, Dr. Sarah Gunning and her mother Mildred, young Leeza, who is confined to a wheelchair after the town drunk Joe Collie accidently shot her, and the “new” guy in town, Father Paul. He has recently taken over temporarily for the elderly Monsignor Pruitt at the Catholic Church that it seems EVERYONE attends.
One the day after an horrific storm strikes the island, the bodies of hundreds of dead cats are found on the shore, and that’s just the beginning of the very strange events that are about to hit Crockett Island.
At Sunday Mass, Father Paul seemingly heals Leeza, who is quite suddenly able to get out of her wheelchair and walk, and the older residents begin to re-acquire their youthful abilities. Even Mildred, who has been suffering from dementia begins to appear normal again.
Leeza visits Collie, who has been living with crushing guild after he accidently injured her, and gives him some tough love. She tells him how much she hated him, but that she forgives him, and he decides to quit drinking.
Erin’s pregnancy has…well, it’s just disappeared. Not only is she no longer pregnant, there is no medical evidence that she ever was. And eventually a small but powerful group of residents begin to suspect that whatever is happening involves Father Paul and that evil Bev.
The cast is perfection, by the way. Kate Siegal is Erin, Zach Gilford portrays Riley, Robert Longstreet is heartbreaking as Collie, Samantha Sloyan gives a very strong performance as Bev, and Hamish Linklater is definitely the star of the show as the complicated Father Paul.
Look, Midnight Mass is not for everyone. If you are someone who thinks deep, thoughtful, terrifying slow burns are “boring”, you probably won’t enjoy it. But if you like horror that makes you think, and doesn’t just involve gore and butcher knives, give it a shot.
I hope you love it as much as I do!