A Rabbi who is prepared to wear a crucifix if it keeps vampires away. He was the only good guy I believed in. F. Paul Wilson doesn't stop at one set of monsters. He also gives us the Cowboys / Vichy / Serfs. These are the dregs of humanity - biker gangs, drug dealers, violent criminals, city traders - who keep the vampires safe by day and wrangle the human cattle in exchange for being turned into vampires after ten years of service. Midnight Mass, the third Netflix original from the platform’s official horror auteur Mike Flanagan, certainly belongs in the scary section of the Netflix library alongside his two previous series, The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. But as that post-accident exchange implies, this seven-episode limited series, which premieres tomorrow, is less interested in bumps in the night than exploring spiritual questions and the role organized religion plays in uniting and dividing American communities. As the details in Flanagan’s latest limited series, and his best so far, come into focus, it becomes clear that Midnight Mass actually is, in part, an indictment of extreme Evangelical Christianity. But, as in the best horror, this message creeps its way into the storytelling subtly, enabling you to absorb the broader points Flanagan makes about groupthink and moral superiority without feeling like they’re being slammed into your head with Thor’s hammer. Bev’s complete readiness to usher in the book of Revelations might sound over the top, but it really isn’t. As I watched Midnight Madness, I was frequently reminded of Mississippi governor Tate Reeves, who recently defended his leadership of the state with the worst pandemic death toll in the US by claiming that people who believe in the afterlife “don’t have to be so scared of things.” Even relatively mainstream Christian voices have questioned whether the pandemic is God’s judgment. Flanagan, Mike (September 27, 2021). "The Deeply Personal Horror of 'Midnight Mass' – Guest Essay by Filmmaker Mike Flanagan". Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved October 5, 2021.

Flanagan told the New York Times that Midnight Mass is his most personal story yet, based on his own years of religious exploration and “a healthy Catholic upbringing” that was challenged by his personal study of the darker aspects of the Bible, until he ultimately found more affinity with atheism and science. Despite these self-professed doubts, however, there’s very little doubt in Midnight Mass. The show’s overtures toward critiquing America’s Christian majority fall by the wayside. Instead, Flanagan and his Midnight Mass co-writer, his sibling Jamie Flanagan, wrap a tale of religious zeal around a barely veiled allegory for the Covid-19 pandemic. Though Midnight Mass was conceived before the pandemic, it was produced during the pandemic, and inevitably reads as a pandemic-era cautionary tale — one that’s bolstered by an emphasis on individualized faith. There’s so much effusive Christianity here, so many rapt displays of faith, sermons, monologuing through Bible verses, and preaching to the lost, that the horror elements almost feel like window-dressing. Langley, Jonty (October 28, 2021). "Midnight Mass: The Christian horror series with a challenging message for the Church". Premier Christianity . Retrieved January 12, 2022. Midnight Mass' is one of those books that should come with multiple trigger warnings for torture, gang rape, sexual slavery, the murder of children, desecration, executed bodies hung from telegraph poles, and cannibalism. Baxter, Joseph (August 17, 2020). "Mike Flanagan Netflix Series Midnight Mass Starts Production". Den of Geek . Retrieved August 18, 2020.These are not the romantic vampires of Interview with the Vampire or Twilight. That is shown very early in the book, but neither are these the drooling horrors of Nosferatu. Also, each "get" or generation of vampire is different from it's progenitor, a little less human. Critics frequently describe Mike Flanagan, the feted writer-director of The Haunting of Hill House and its follow-up The Haunting of Bly Manor, who also directed Doctor Sleep, Hush, and a bevy of other admired horror movies, as a “horror auteur.” His lofty reputation seems to be tied to his tendency to sidestep the darker elements of horror; as the New York Times noted in a recent profile, “Flanagan has earned a reputation for what might be called humanistic horror ... while never skimping on the nightmare fuel, [he] believes that horror can offer something deeper.” The official art book for the new Netflix/Intrepid Pictures horror TV series Midnight Mass, from creator Mike Flanagan.

It’s a fair assessment to say we’ve not seen many Muslim sheriffs in modern-day entertainment. Rahul Kohli’s Sheriff Hassan is here to change that perspective. According to the Haunting of Bly Manor alum, it was the combination of two cultural polarities that really excited him to play the part. So who does Wilson set against this growing empire of evil? Sadly the 'good guys' read like the start of a joke and they end up being cliché heavy. The 'good guys' are: The actors filling out the series’ ensemble cast include Flanagan regular (and wife) Kate Siegel as Erin Greene, Henry Thomas as Ed Flynn, Rahul Kohli as Sheriff Hassan, Samantha Sloyan as Bev Keane, Annabeth Gish as Dr. Sarah Gunning, Kristin Lehman as Annie Flynn, Robert Longstreet as Joe Collie, Crystal Balint as Dolly, Michael Trucco as Wade, Annarah Cymone as Leeza, Rahul Abburi as Ali Hassan, and Matt Biedel as Sturge.Wilson describes himself as someone who was raised as a Catholic but is in remission. I was surprised at his very naive portrayal of the two nuns in the book. I've never met nuns quite so unworldly as these two. Seriously, bad characterization and plot development here. The dialogue was embarrassing to read. The vampires have to explain in terrible, cheesy, monologues how truly evil they really are (!). The main character seems like a hopeless self-insertion. He is the manliest man who ever was, and has no flaws. The other characters have to keep repeating how great and admirable he is, because otherwise the reader wouldn't get it. p 144) The Rabbi is thinking about kosher foods and how he had to change to survive. “If he hadn’t changed, he couldn’t sit here and sup with these two men and this young woman. He’d have to be elsewhere, eating special classes of ritually prepared foods off separate sets of dishes. But really, hadn’t division been the main thrust of holding to the dietary laws in modern times? They served a purpose beyond mere observance of tradition. They placed another wall between observant Jews and outsiders, keeping them separate even from fellow Jews who didn’t observe. ... Time to break down all the walls between people... while there was still enough time and people left alive to make it matter.”

Berman, Judy (September 20, 2021). "Netflix's Catholic Horror Story Midnight Mass Is One Hell of a Halloween Binge". Time . Retrieved October 4, 2021. When I was young there were three authors I could also count on, that I considered my three favorite authors whose books I enjoyed over every one else. Those three were Clive Barker, Richard Matheson and Stephen King. As an adult my tastes have changed, the amount of authors I have read have expanded and within the last year I put F.Paul Wilson into my current top three(Today he is with John Shirley and Robert McCammon). The show's creators insisted that the series was not anti-religious or anti-Catholic. [29] A Catholic priest who reviewed the show said its depiction of how religion treats sin was accurate, but the series showed a poor understanding of how religion treats afterlife, [30] while Premier Christianity states that the show "contains some of the fairest treatments of Christian characters I’ve seen on screen" and "also has a prophetic message to the Church." [31] Roots, Kimberly (July 1, 2019). "Haunting of Hill House Creators' Horror Series Midnight Mass Greenlit at Netflix". TVLine. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021 . Retrieved August 18, 2020. Paul’s evangelical energy gives Bev renewed purpose and justification for her lifelong superiority complex, along with an excuse to act out her revulsion for anyone she deems unworthy of God’s love. She’s not fazed at all when she learns the dark supernatural reason for his strange ability to perform miracles; instead, she’s eager to bring on the apocalypse. She and the priest begin organizing their band of believers to make it happen.When the teenage girls of the world (and some of their moms) were dividing into Team Jason or Team Edward, I had already declared for Team Buffy. First of all, it's BUFFY. Second, I've always been more interested in the vampire hunters. Too often, the vampire geeks of the world seem like sad types with low self-esteem, the kind who, in more extreme cases, become serial killer groupies. Wilson takes some shots at Anne Rice novels and goth-type vampire-wannabes who find that getting what you want isn't always so great. (Not every victim gets turned; some just die horribly.) Also, Wilson has a lot of former investment bankers, politicians, and lawyers becoming vampires or the human weasels who help them, a touch that I liked.