Photo courtesy of Netflix, wiki.
Mike Flanagan, best known as the creator of highly successful Netflix horror miniseries “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” returns to the same streaming service with another supernatural — and this time quite religiously themed — episodic journey by the name of “Midnight Mass.”
The story takes place on the isolated Crockett Island and follows its small community facing the arrival of a new priest Father Paul Hill and a return of Riley Flynn, who was just released from prison.
This highly bingeable and tense mystery unravels over the course of seven episodes, most of which are over one hour long, and end in ways that basically beg the viewer to click “Play Next Episode” and await sunrise lost in the world of the show.
The direction of “Midnight Mass” retains the signature Flanagan filmmaking tricks, the most noticeable one being the long take, which reappears several times throughout the show’s runtime. That specific technique is as effective as ever pulling the viewer deeper into the uncomfortable atmospheric undertones seeping through whatever screen one watches this show on.
Sadly, the special effects, most notably the ones involving water (which is everywhere since the show does take place on an island), are quite often noticeably of low quality, and clearly distract from whatever scene is playing out at the moment.
On the other hand, special effects that involve the show’s horror elements are usually consistently on a satisfying level, and reward the audience’s patience with some visually striking spooks and scares. Unfortunately, those moments can be counted on one hand, so any viewer who is hoping for a consistent fright-fest could come out of this experience disappointed.
The biggest hurdle that the show basically gives to itself is the overuse of monologues, especially when it comes to setting up the lore of Crockett Island and the backstories of most of the main characters.
Overall, the writing is mostly successful, and presents the show’s slowly developing themes and motifs in a satisfying manner. While the monologues might detract from some viewers’ engagement, everybody should be satisfied with the journey that leads to a narratively fulfilling conclusion.
Thankfully, the acting is visibly impressive all across the board, with perhaps the exception of Brit Rahul Kohli (an alum of Flanagan’s “The Haunting of Bly Manor”), who gives a wonderful performance with a horribly inconsistent American accent.
Still, two performances do stick out in their quality, both in terms of the character’s writing and the actors’ thespian abilities.
Hamish Linklater (most recently seen as a regular on FX’s “Legion”), who plays the aforementioned Father Paul Hill, delivers a powerhouse of a performance, chewing the scenery with every religious monologue—no matter how overdrawn the writing might be at times. The evolution of his character is both terrifying and satisfying to watch, and most of that is because of how naturally and believably Link performs the transformation.
The other highlight is most definitely Samantha Sloyan (previously appearing in Flanagan’s “The Haunting of Hill House”), who plays Bev Keane, the most beautifully portrayed evil character on screen since Imelda Staunton made us all love to hate her Dolores Umbridge in the “Harry Potter” series.
If you just skipped to the end of the article to see the rating, and take only one thing out of this review, that should be the following: “Midnight Mass” is a must see for any fan of Flanagan’s previous work, but not essential viewing for horror fans, even despite its overall quality and the occasional jump scare.
4 out of 5 stars
lmarjano@ramapo.edu
Mike Flanagan, best known as the creator of highly successful Netflix horror miniseries “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” returns to the same streaming service with another supernatural — and this time quite religiously themed — episodic journey by the name of “Midnight Mass.”
The story takes place on the isolated Crockett Island and follows its small community facing the arrival of a new priest Father Paul Hill and a return of Riley Flynn, who was just released from prison.
This highly bingeable and tense mystery unravels over the course of seven episodes, most of which are over one hour long, and end in ways that basically beg the viewer to click “Play Next Episode” and await sunrise lost in the world of the show.
The direction of “Midnight Mass” retains the signature Flanagan filmmaking tricks, the most noticeable one being the long take, which reappears several times throughout the show’s runtime. That specific technique is as effective as ever pulling the viewer deeper into the uncomfortable atmospheric undertones seeping through whatever screen one watches this show on.
Sadly, the special effects, most notably the ones involving water (which is everywhere since the show does take place on an island), are quite often noticeably of low quality, and clearly distract from whatever scene is playing out at the moment.
On the other hand, special effects that involve the show’s horror elements are usually consistently on a satisfying level, and reward the audience’s patience with some visually striking spooks and scares. Unfortunately, those moments can be counted on one hand, so any viewer who is hoping for a consistent fright-fest could come out of this experience disappointed.
The biggest hurdle that the show basically gives to itself is the overuse of monologues, especially when it comes to setting up the lore of Crockett Island and the backstories of most of the main characters.
Overall, the writing is mostly successful, and presents the show’s slowly developing themes and motifs in a satisfying manner. While the monologues might detract from some viewers’ engagement, everybody should be satisfied with the journey that leads to a narratively fulfilling conclusion.
Thankfully, the acting is visibly impressive all across the board, with perhaps the exception of Brit Rahul Kohli (an alum of Flanagan’s “The Haunting of Bly Manor”), who gives a wonderful performance with a horribly inconsistent American accent.
Still, two performances do stick out in their quality, both in terms of the character’s writing and the actors’ thespian abilities.
Hamish Linklater (most recently seen as a regular on FX’s “Legion”), who plays the aforementioned Father Paul Hill, delivers a powerhouse of a performance, chewing the scenery with every religious monologue — no matter how overdrawn the writing might be at times. The evolution of his character is both terrifying and satisfying to watch, and most of that is because of how naturally and believably Link performs the transformation.
The other highlight is most definitely Samantha Sloyan (previously appearing in Flanagan’s “The Haunting of Hill House”), who plays Bev Keane, the most beautifully portrayed evil character on screen since Imelda Staunton made us all love to hate her Dolores Umbridge in the “Harry Potter” series.
If you just skipped to the end of the article to see the rating, and take only one thing out of this review, that should be the following: “Midnight Mass” is a must see for any fan of Flanagan’s previous work, but not essential viewing for horror fans, even despite its overall quality and the occasional jump scare.
4 out of 5 stars
lmarjano@ramapo.edu
