Midnight Mass is unlike any ghost story we’ve seen before. Its biblical approach to the horror genre and chilling depictions of religion, faith, and addiction are thought-provoking but admittedly reasonable.
The links between catholicism and vampirism are abundant in the narrative and are made perfectly clear. Flanagan, Midnight Mass’ creator, wanted to explicitly highlight how strangely and dangerously similar these phenomena are, in both practice and beliefs.
The ending is heartbreaking but I can’t say it was surprising. The entire claustrophobic premise was leading to this exact moment, a moment of pure heartbreak and sadness. It is like a poetic darkness where you know there’s no escape
The characters, nuanced as they may be, left no room for wondering. Each had a purpose and us viewers knew exactly what that purpose was. You can feel for them or hate them but as a viewer you can’t really deny the effect they had in creating an enthralling story and a sinister ambiance.
Kate Siegel delivered a masterclass performance in misery and heroism. Her acting was goosebumps inducing and absolutely spellbinding. Hamish Linklater, similarly, delivered an outstanding performance. Generally, the entire cast was superb.
Some scenes were purely poetic, both in writing and execution. You see, there’s a certain beauty in controversy and Flanagan didn’t shy away from fully exploring that. Midnight Mass is in fact a big mixture of artful cinematography, insanely creative writing, spellbinding performances and a petrifying score, and as a viewer you can’t ask for more.
The show, which perfectly references Flanagan’ s previous works such as The Haunting series and Gerald’s Game, is an intricate maze of controversy and horror. Thus, proving once again that horror is indeed capable in creating conversations and highlighting the fault within the system.
