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Midnight Mass is a limited horror series written and directed by Mike Flannigan. This Netflix original series was released in 2021 and consists of 7, hour-long episodes. The show follows a small island town that welcomes an intriguing new priest. Upon his arrival, both miracles and mysterious events begin to occur. Midnight Mass was released very recently, and I was immediately interested when I saw it was being written and directed by Mike Flannigan. His Doctor Sleep is one of my favorite movies, and I’ve heard he’s made many other amazing horror projects. Midnight Mass completely lived up to the high expectations I had for it, and it’s easily one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time.
The show’s presentation is great with brilliant visuals and music to accompany the incredible story. The cinematography is great with engaging camera work and effective shots. The setting of this small fishing town is very well crafted and it fits the show perfectly. The practical sets and locations fully immerse you into this small isolated world. The lighting is also very well done. It works to great effect for the horror of the show. That and the framing of certain shots and scenes manage to obscure the horror that is just barely out of view. Overall the show is beautiful to look at and its visuals are very effective.
The score and soundtrack are great as well. Midnight Mass focuses heavily on religion and one major aspect of the score is the Christian hymns that are sung by the characters, mostly in church. These hymns are also used non-diegetically as a part of the soundtrack. This reinforces the tone of the show and the hymns themselves help to illustrate some of the show's themes, and the plot itself. The part of the score that is more traditional is also very good. It isn’t incredibly noticeable most times and mainly serves as an accent to the story. I think it fits the show well this way; the story, characters, and writing work so well on their own that a more reserved score fits well.
The story itself is really great. It combines some classic horror scenarios with new twists and changes that create a really engaging mystery, horror, thriller. The mysteries of the plot unfold naturally, and the reveals are very satisfying. This show wastes no time at all throughout its 7 episodes, and everything serves a purpose. The story requires you to think in order to make certain connections and put pieces together. The finer details of what exactly is going on are left up to the audience to sort out. While I did at times struggle to wrap my mind around some of the “rules” of certain elements in the story it was never too confusing to follow, and always remained engaging. The show does a great job deconstructing religion, the church, and the dark side of those subjects, as well as the good in them. It’s captivating throughout, and I was completely hooked throughout the entire series.
The writing in this show is on another level entirely. The story and plot are written well as I previously stated, but where Midnight Mass truly shines is with its dialogue. The dialogue in this series is some of the best I have ever heard; on the same level as Tarantino’s. Each character is fully realized in a natural way, and fleshed out incredibly well. Their backstories, motivations, and beliefs are shown to the audience perfectly. On top of that, they each feel like their own unique individual. Despite the show having a decently large cast of characters, no one gets lost in the shuffle. The characters have interesting dynamics which conflict with one another. The resulting interactions of these conflicts are perfectly enthralling. The dialogue written for conversations and monologues is gripping. Whether the characters are engaging in small talk or discussing life and death itself it’s beyond compelling. A large portion of the series’ run time is devoted to conversations between 2 or more people, and I could have honestly listened to 20 more episodes of conversations like those. The way each character brings their own personality and beliefs into each discussion, and how that creates conflict and discourse with other characters is just unbelievably good. This is especially great when elements of the plot come forward in these discussions. It puts you on the edge of your seat, and personally, I was hanging onto every word.
That brings me to the second best element of the show, the acting. The performances in this show are absolutely brilliant. There is not a single bad performance in this show, and there are several incredible ones. Zach Gilford, Rahul Kohli, Samantha Sloyan, and especially Hamish Linklater are all outstanding in their roles. Linklater has several lengthy monologues/sermons which he delivers incredibly well. His dialogue with others, and even quieter scenes with just himself are all outstanding. He perfectly balances a more reserved approach and one that is much more powerful. Samantha Sloyan is also really great, and is a perfect antagonist for the show. Overall she plays one of the best antagonists in film or tv that I’ve seen in a while.
All of the characters in this show are great. You understand their motivations and beliefs, and oftentimes they’re either very likable, intriguing, or both. They carry most of the emotion behind the story and add so much more emotion to it. The conclusion to their stories is very emotional and satisfying. These characters do manage to feel real and relatable, but they also feel like characters ripped right out of a book. They feel just slightly stylized to better fit the fictional world they inhabit, and it made me enjoy them and the show as a whole, much more.
I really only have one minor nitpick when it comes to Midnight Mass. That being some shaky CGI present at times. While this can be slightly jarring and immersion-breaking in certain scenes, it’s in very few. While I wish it was better, I’m sure it mostly came down to budget constraints, and again, it’s a very small nitpick and doesn’t really detract from the show at all. I absolutely loved Midnight Mass and everything about it. The story, characters, writing, acting, and everything else was incredible. It shattered all my expectations, and I nearly started watching it again right after I finished it. I did rewatch the first episode again before writing this review, and it was even better after a second watch. The show has great rewatchability and I think most people will enjoy this show. While the show can be very tense and at times graphic, I think those that are relatively new to horror can still enjoy this show. The show has little true action and is very dialogue and character-focused. There are few jump-scares, and this isn’t standard jump-scare infested horror. Midnight Mass is a slow, menacing, enthralling, mystery horror.
Objective Score: 9/10
Personal Score: 10/10
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