Midnight Mass - Mike Flanagan Sets Next Netflix Series

[Deck Rickard]

I struggled to get through this. I was really into it at first but once it was revealed to be

Spoiler

a vampire, my interest dwindled quickly. Even though it was well acted all around I just found it a slog to get through towards the end. I guess it’s just because I wasn’t expecting a vampire story and I was hoping for something more demonic. I mean, the vampire might ultimately be a demon but… meh. I also found the “rules” of this particular vampire story confusing. I gather that you can drink his blood and heal/get younger/whatever but you have to actually be killed to become a vampire? I guess that’s original but it makes the whole thing kinda WTF as it’s all unfolding. There were some other choices that left me scratching my head, like how NO ONE in this entire blue collar, hard working island community has ever considered repairing a building after 20+ years of neglect. I will say that the cast was good, particularly Siegel, Gilford, Linklater, Kohli and Soyan.

 

[Erik20]

I struggled to get through this. I was really into it at first but once it was revealed to be

Spoiler

a vampire, my interest dwindled quickly. Even though it was well acted all around I just found it a slog to get through towards the end. I guess it’s just because I wasn’t expecting a vampire story and I was hoping for something more demonic. I mean, the vampire might ultimately be a demon but… meh. I also found the “rules” of this particular vampire story confusing. I gather that you can drink his blood and heal/get younger/whatever but you have to actually be killed to become a vampire? I guess that’s original but it makes the whole thing kinda WTF as it’s all unfolding. There were some other choices that left me scratching my head, like how NO ONE in this entire blue collar, hard working island community has ever considered repairing a building after 20+ years of neglect. I will say that the cast was good, particularly Siegel, Gilford, Linklater, Kohli and Soyan.

I assumed that

Spoiler

you slowly get poisoned by drinking the blood. So you'll always end up becoming a vampire eventually, unless you stop drinking, and the blood will go out of your system.

Also my first thought wasn't even vampires. I had the impression this was going to be like The Green Mile or Carnivale, because Father Paul kept getting sick after "healing" people. So I did like the twist.

 

[titansupes]

As most posts in this thread seem to start out-- Just finished this.

Really liked it overall, probably my fave of the Flanagan stuff I've seen (that or Doctor Sleep, but currently leaning toward this). Much better than Hill House, which did have really high highs, but was mostly a long ramp up for me and this hooked me much sooner. Skipped Bly Manor entirely.

Loved the overall themes about faith, delusion, community, mistakes etc. most of the visual style, most of the characters. Riley, while I enjoyed his arc enough, sorry to say I found the performance one note and plain. Just felt like a stock TV actor, reminiscent of the drug addict brother from Hill House. Father Paul's actor was phenomenal, Erin and the Sherriff were good, Bev's was great. Also that dude who plays Joe Collie I just can't help but find so darn likeable, even in things where he's playing a jerk.

The old age make up was distracting. Once I combined that and Father Paul's first one or two appearances, plus the crate in his house...I called those twist right there. But I guess it was necessary given where those characters went. Those one or two twists were the only ones I called though, the rest in the back half of the season really got me good.

The monologues. Ooohhhhh man those monologues. They got grating in Hill House and he took it to a whole new level here. I actually yelled out loud in exasperation during the big Riley/Erin one. I consider it a genuine weakness for Flanagan now. It's gone from briefly being a feature, to an annoying excess, to an outright rambling flaw. Particularly as they tend to follow the same sort of pattern in terms of writing, performance and direction all the way back to HH. Have to agree with the other posts-- there's more to character development than just having them talk at you.

Overall really happy and while I don't consider myself close to being a Flanagan fan, I'll continue to keep an eye on his work if it grabs my interest.

 

[Sawyer]

Praise Gawd.

 

[Brother Jack]

Funnily enough I just rewatched this with my SO who hadn't seen it. This is a truly special piece of work. It resonates on a deeper, transcendent level in how it depicts both the beauty and the horror of faith and organized religion. In that way I've never seen anything quite like it before, and it's something I can see myself returning to again and again. I'm just really thankful to Flanagan for making it.

 

[-Arya-]

I was only familiar with Mike Flanagan from Hush( which I liked) and Doctor Sleep (which I didn’t like) so kinda mixed response from me. Haven’t seen his Haunting series yet, but Midnight Mass was really good. There are some scary implications about religion rationalizing ominous events as something beneficial and good. Acting across the board is amazing and the writing is generally very well done. There was some repetition that annoyed me here and there, and the pacing seemed off at times. In any case I’m looking forward to Hill House next.

 

[Iceman]

I struggled to get through this. I was really into it at first but once it was revealed to be

Spoiler

a vampire, my interest dwindled quickly. Even though it was well acted all around I just found it a slog to get through towards the end. I guess it’s just because I wasn’t expecting a vampire story and I was hoping for something more demonic. I mean, the vampire might ultimately be a demon but… meh. I also found the “rules” of this particular vampire story confusing. I gather that you can drink his blood and heal/get younger/whatever but you have to actually be killed to become a vampire? I guess that’s original but it makes the whole thing kinda WTF as it’s all unfolding. There were some other choices that left me scratching my head, like how NO ONE in this entire blue collar, hard working island community has ever considered repairing a building after 20+ years of neglect. I will say that the cast was good, particularly Siegel, Gilford, Linklater, Kohli and Soyan.

I can understand that. The post-reveal was fine for me but even as watching it I felt it might not work for many who had otherwise enjoyed the show to that point.

 

[Iceman]

Funnily enough I just rewatched this with my SO who hadn't seen it. This is a truly special piece of work. It resonates on a deeper, transcendent level in how it depicts both the beauty and the horror of faith and organized religion. In that way I've never seen anything quite like it before, and it's something I can see myself returning to again and again. I'm just really thankful to Flanagan for making it.

Yes agreed, I will definitely watch this again after giving it enough of a gap. Linklater was very charismatic.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

I think this was a 10/10 show.

I didn’t really enjoy Haunting of Bly Manor, but Haunting of Hill House was good. But Midnight Mass was Flanagan’s best series so far. Looking forward to The Fall of the House of Usher and Midnight Club.

 

[Iceman]

I think this was a 10/10 show.

I didn’t really enjoy Haunting of Bly Manor, but Haunting of Hill House was good. But Midnight Mass was Flanagan’s best series so far. Looking forward to The Fall of the House of Usher and Midnight Club.

It’s my favourite out of what I’ve seen from Flanagan so far.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

Yeah same, but I sure did love Doctor Sleep!

 

[:eek:]

Horror Master Mike Flanagan Shares The Stupidest Note He Ever Received From Netflix (slashfilm.com)