Midnight Mass Review: A Personal Redemption Story Turns Into A Stunning Horror Story

Netflix horror series Midnight mass It begins with an act of immense cruelty. A drunk driver, Riley (Zach Gilford), crashes into another car. The young woman he hit is thrown out the window and lies dying on the rain-slick pavement as he sits on the sidewalk with hardly a scratch. When he realizes that she will not survive, he turns to God and begins to pray, but gets no answer. These grieving cruelties, both human, in Riley’s fatal lack of care for others, and cosmic, in the abjectly random nature of his victim’s death, are an absolutely perfect tone for Riley’s new horror series. Gerald’s game and Sleep doctor director Mike Flanagan. While the show is filled to the brim with supernatural scares, it is more concerned with the terrible things people do to each other and the ways that acceptance and responsibility can bring change.

Flanagan has established himself as a horror storyteller who consistently uses genre as a vehicle for deep emotional exploration. His personal touch and willingness to delve deeper into abuse, addiction, and loss made his programs The curse of Hill House and The curse of Bly Manor in massive hits for Netflix. His new series continues those threads, albeit with a completely different setup. Viewers’ effectiveness will surely be influenced by their own experiences with addiction, recovery, and most importantly, religion. But even viewers with no personal connections to the things that so clearly shaped Flanagan’s new series can get lost in the dark fairy tale he weaves.

It’s hard to talk about the show’s supernatural elements without spoiling its secrets, but the story begins when Riley returns to Crockett Island, the small Maine fishing town where she grew up. Like most of Flanagan’s work, this is a story about redemption and forgiveness. Since we know what Riley has done, it is clear that he is our anchor for that idea. But the isolated community of Crockett Island holds many secrets, along with a shrinking group of inhabitants, each of whom has a journey to travel to find their own form of self-acceptance. As the season progresses, it is most powerful when examining who creates that space with kindness and responsibility, and who embraces and wields violence. within themselves. Something terrible is coming to Crockett Island, and it lives or dies the way others are willing to hurt.

The specter of human cruelty and the impact of choosing to think of others is at the center of Midnight mass. Crockett Island is a pressure cooker fueled by a dying fishing industry, which has ripped apart the island and its people. Riley’s arrival is mirrored by that of a new priest, Father Paul (Hamish Linklater). These two seemingly disconnected new inhabitants unleash a series of events that pit neighbor against neighbor and father against son. Before that, however, Riley is greeted by his mother Annie (Kristin Lehman), and more reluctantly by his father Ed (Henry Thomas). He’s the returned prodigal son, which is appropriate and a completely intentional setup for the religion-laden horror that follows.

Crockett Island is kept safe thanks to the caring, kind and consistent Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli), a practicing Muslim. Usually that wouldn’t be a noteworthy thing, but his recent move to the island has shocked the small Catholic community. While it seems friendly on the surface, the island throbs with thinly veiled racism and regular micro-attacks. These are directed and animated by the terrifying Bev (Samantha Sloyan). Sloyan creates a legitimately despicable villain, hiding her virulent hatred behind a morality of her own fueled by her closeness to the Crockett Island church and the former monsignor.

Among those unfolding tragedies are people who are simply trying to live their lives on the island or trying to escape from it. School teacher Erin (Kate Siegel) is a rare calm voice who also receives some of the most vital and moving moments in the series. Pious young wheelchair user Leeza (Annarah Cymone) finds comfort in the ruined church that most villagers ignore, at least until the arrival of Father Paul, who introduces a fervent new kind of faith to Crockett.

Midnight mass it vibrates with a very specific kind of religious dread. Flanagan presents the Church as a safe space and an absolute threat. Using Catholic ritual and tradition as a way to unsettle viewers is perversely effective and subversive. Some viewers may find comfort in familiar religious ornaments, until things are no longer familiar at all.

When Father Paul offers Riley a personal AA meeting on the island, he seems like an example of that healing. But it quickly turns into something much more insidious. During an amazing sequence, Paul talks to Riley about how alcohol is neutral, and it only gets bad or good connotation from the people who consume it. It’s a smug speech delivered with a haunting disconnect from any human emotion. Riley contradicts him quickly and correctly, but he has put on the glove. On Crockett Island, Riley, and everyone else, becomes the sole architects of their own destiny and future, to hell with the context.

That could be a mission statement for the entire program: religion can be a source of support and nurturing, or it can be used to foster prejudice and violence. Leaders can be both inspiring and divisive. Love can be used to encourage or control people. However, in the case of Crockett Island, Flanagan and his co-authors are quick to suggest that the people who are most willing to be vicious are the most likely to make it to the top. Bev rules the small island community with an iron fist and a sharp tongue. He has channeled his faith in a bat to beat up his neighbors, but then when they, led by Father Paul, embrace the religion he claims to love, his animosity means he has to find a way to undermine and harm both himself and himself. them. And Father Paul only convinces the faithful with an act of savage brutality that takes advantage of one of his most loyal followers.

When Midnight mass reveals his hand, it is a revelation. It also completely changes the show for anyone absorbed in the atmosphere of dread-filled anticipation. The curtains are pulled back so fast it’s jarring. This is Flanagan’s most ambitious project yet, but it also ends up being one of the most ambiguous. The opening episodes draw viewers in by presenting the city and its inhabitants in a way that feels organic, with each scene drenched in pent-up emotion and unresolved trauma. The quick switch to a more traditional horror story doesn’t lessen that tension, but the final episode is likely to be divisive.

Midnight mass It feels like Flanagan’s most challenging work yet, both for him and his audience. The show has been in the works for a decadeand it’s an intensely personal story for Flanagan. That is nothing new to him. Hill house and Sleep doctor skillfully explored addiction and recovery through the lens of horror. And Flanagan has spoken of your trip with sobriety and how he shaped it Midnight mass widely. That vibrant and personal exploration, Flanagan worked on the scripts for all seven episodes, including the four co-written with his brother James, is what makes the show feel so powerful and alive, but also what presents some of the most difficult aspects. to analyze. moments.

By exploring things as subjective as religion, faith, substance abuse, and guilt, Midnight mass makes some strong statements. There are many good things to take away here, including the impressive final line, which contradicts what most horrors or fiction say about disability, in a downright radical way. At its best, the series is a terrifying genre offering that also doubles as an often overwhelming but effective meditation on faith, death, life, hope, and acceptance. But at times, navigating Flanagan’s deeply personal reflections on these topics can leave viewers feeling disconnected or even insulted by the stark way the series portrays those who exercise religion and their trappings as a weapon.

But the overall message, about how personal responsibility and acceptance can change your destiny and the lives of others for the better, is powerful. Fans looking for the visceral horror chills that Flanagan is known for will certainly get their fix, especially in a blood-soaked episode, which is a highlight of Flanagan’s career. But Midnight mass goes beyond tension or excitement, presenting a dense and somewhat hopeful epic that leans toward the existential terror of being alive.

Midnight mass it’s streaming on Netflix now.