Before I get into today's post, I need to send out a special Happy Birthday to my Horror Honey, Miss Dee Dee Delite. 9 out of 10 movies I watch, she is right here watching them with me and serves as my proof reader for my posts. Happy birthday my love, you are the chainsaw to my Texas massacre. Now back to our regularly scheduled program. I noticed that the past few Countdown to Halloween blog-a-thons I’ve binged some stuff. Last year was Stephen King, the year before was Final Destination films, and I think back in ’22 it was a Charles Band year. Well, in true fashion this year seems to be the year of Mike Flanagan. Hill House, Bly Manor, and now here is Midnight Mass. All of them have several hours of commitment to get through. Now imagine my surprise when after Hill House and Bly Manor that I’ve written about in earlier posts this month, I saw Midnight Mass was also available on Netflix. I gave Hill House a nearly perfect score and Bly Manor was three and a half out of four so not much less of a score there really so what the hell, let’s give it a go.
Midnight Mass features Zack Gilford (The Purge: Anarchy, The Last Stand, and Tv’s Friday Night Lights) as Riley Flynn a man who is coming home after being in jail for four years. He served his time for killing a woman in a drunk driving incident. Almost at the same time, the little town Riley calls home welcomes a new priest to the local church as the old priest, Monsignor Pruitt, suffered some health issues while away on sabbatical. The new priest, Father Paul Hill is played by Hamish Linklater. Now Linklater I am familiar with from the time he played Matthew, the younger brother of the titular character in The New Adventures of Old Christine TV show. I know! The difference between characters is night and day, this being the night part as Midnight Mass takes place at night. Did I tell you the town they live in is on an isolated island named Crockett Island? Well now I have. Think of Little Tall Island from The Storm of the Century miniseries that I wrote about last year and you’re on the right path.
Not surprising is the fact that Kate Siegel is the lead actress here playing pregnant schoolteacher Erin Greene. Siegel has also starred in Hill House as well as the Flanagan directed films Hush and Gerald’s Game. She’s also Flanagan’s wife, just to make the connection complete. Erin is Riley’s former childhood sweetheart. Also back for another go around on the Flanagan bandwagon is Henry Thomas (E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and Hill House, Bly Manor, and Gerald’s Game as well; I sort of think if Flanagan hadn’t married Siegel he would have married Ell E Ott. Pronounce that last bit like E.T. and you know what I mean. Thomas plays Riley’s father Ed, a fisherman who isn’t so happy to see his son come home. On the other side of the coin is his mother Annie who is very happy he is coming home. Annie is played by Kristin Lehman who is known more for her TV appearances in Poltergeist: The Legacy, Judging Amy, and Motive.
Rounding out the cast is Samantha Sloyan (Hill House, Hush, and Grey’s Anatomy) as Bev Keane, a highly influential and dedicated member of the church’s congregation. Starring as Sheriff Hassan, the Muslim lawman around town is Rahul Kohli. Rahul is also in Bly Manor but was also one of the main characters in the CW’s police procedural with a twist show iZombie that I have sadly never seen an episode of but I’ve heard great things about. Hassan is very polarizing in town. Some are OK with his different take on religious beliefs while others are very leery and unsure of him. And the final character I want to mention (there’s tons more that I haven’t mentioned but are no less worthy but I gotta pace myself here) is Dr. Sarah Gunning is Erin’s best friend and the islands only doctor. Sarah also takes care of her mother Mildred who suffers from dementia. Ah, screw it, one more isn’t gonna hurt. Mildred is played by Alex Essoe who is also in Bly Manor as well as Doctor Sleep also directed by Flanagan. We’re starting to see a pattern here with Mike Flanagan.
And that’s not a bad thing. I mean why tinker with a successful recipe? Now back to the story: Crockett Island has seen better days; a recent oil spill has caused the local fishing industry to suffer, and the town’s faith has been lacking. After Father Paul arrives the townspeople begin to see a renewal of faith. A few days after Riley and Father Paul arrive Riley sees old Father Pruitt walking along the beach alone at night. As a storm rages Riley watches Pruitt, who seems to disappear in the blink of an eye. The next morning the island coast is covered in carcasses of dead cats. And that my friends is just the first weird occurrences that befalls the island.
Everyone starring in Midnight Mass presents an interesting character. Even local drunk Joe Collie is a great character however I want to bring even more focus on a couple of stars. First I have to say Linklater as Father Paul is one of the best characters I’ve seen in a horror miniseries in a long time. I found myself jumping between loving and hating his character not just over the course of the series but sometimes during a single episode. Also, there’s Sloyan’s character Bev who I didn’t have that same issue with as I disliked her from the start, but she played the character perfectly. Kohli, who I really liked in Bly Manor was just as impressive here. He played the role as only someone who has experienced (as I’m sure he has) the passive aggressive love/hate relationships that his character Sheriff Hassan had with the island’s citizens. I really felt for him as he navigates being a widowed father as well as the town sheriff but still not being trusted nor accepted by everyone. That’s a tough tightrope to walk.
I won’t go into the actual story or mysteries that are present in Midnight Mass, but I will say that it is a fresh new take on an old horror theme. I often found myself pleasantly surprised by the direction the story took. Midnight Mass while containing a lot of religion, it’s not about religion. It’s just a story that happens to include quite a few people who are very defensive of their faith and want to keep it safe. No matter who must suffer for it. Every episode is named after a book of the Bible and while some might be turned off by the lopsidedness of it there is a message here regardless of what your faith is. Did any of that make sense? I hope so. It’s certainly not pro-anything religious wise, it’s more anti-stereotype of the religious zealots that we all know exist.
The special effects while not always perfect support the story nicely. As I said all the actors are above average and the story while a slow burn does grab your attention from the beginning and it quickly rolls downhill gaining momentum. Midnight Mass is not quite as good as The Haunting of Hill House, but I did enjoy it more than The Haunting of Bly Manor. Midnight Mass does prove to us that sometimes the real monsters look just like you and me. With all that in mind I will give Midnight Mass four holy communions out of five.
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