Is that a beautiful, moving ending for most of the series’ viewers? Most likely. It’s just that to so many horror fans, a belief in God isn’t a comfort: It’s the ultimate false hope. For me, Midnight Mass’s conclusion feels less like a soothing balm in a moment of crisis, and more like an outright lie. Methodist observations vary as many hold services at 11 p.m. which involve the ringing of church bells when the stroke of midnight is reached. Flanagan does express skepticism over the human-created idea of “God’s plan” early on in Midnight Mass. If he’d leaned harder into that skepticism, perhaps the series’ premise would have more heft. But it seems he would rather pay less attention to what scares and disillusions us (even though in 2021 there’s so much to scare and disillusion us) and spend more time on what connects and unites us. I can see where others might find comfort in that. A small town on an island experiences miraculous events – and frightening omens – after the arrival of a charismatic, mysterious young priest. The cast includes Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas, Zach Gilford, and Hamish Linklater.

Admitting he had a problem with alcohol gave him the clarity needed to make this version of Midnight Mass, he said: “It’s a very different show with three years of sobriety behind me than it would have been before that. I feel like it would have been an incomplete conversation.” In some Lutheran Countries, the People go to Church on the Night of the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour with lighted Candles, or Wax-Tapers in their Hands. The Faithful who are met together in the Church, spend the whole Night there in singing, and saying their Prayers by the Light of them. Sometimes they burn such a large Quantity of Incense, that the Smoke thereof ascends in the Form of a Whirlwind, and their Devotees may properly enough be said to be wrapt up in it. [3] Anglicanism [ edit ] Then came the big news that Flanaganwould be adapting Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher for Netflix. Also incorporating other works from Poe, the standalone limited series will run for eight episodes, four of which will be directed by Flanagan. Flanagan recently explained why Usher isn't part of The Haunting anthology -- simply, it has no ghosts. Still waiting for a premiere date announcement. Is Midnight Mass based on a true story?

Will there be backlash to the religious aspects of the story?

Those conversations were so inseparable in my head, that this show was always where they were just kind of dumped,” he said. “It’s where they lived as a record of my perspective of sobriety through various points of my life — in the full grips of it, in the denial of it, and in the acceptance of it.” MIDNIGHT MASS, on Netflix: Mike Flanagan has created a dense, beautifully photographed terror tale that climbs to a high pitch of horror by the 7th and last episode. I believe it starts in 10 days. The typical Flanagan fare wraps poignant stories of family, community, and unremitting optimism around horror-filled centers. This combo has made him a perfect collaborator with Netflix, the home of most of Flanagan’s recent work. In all of the films and series he’s written for the network so far, Flanagan has created tales whose horror plots draw broad audiences and whose rosy themes appeal directly to middle America. Flanagan’s Netflix partnership has also given him an enormous audience; The Haunting of Hill House, arguably his most successful project, was one of the most-binged series of 2018. As is often the case with such fare, “Midnight Mass” begins as a creepy, provocative horror yarn and finally can’t deliver on its promise. Created by “The Haunting of Hill House’s” Mike Flanagan, the Netflix series deserves praise for its distinctive ambitions and jolting surprises but too often plays like a long-winded sermon, frittering around the edges of its homily.

Yet despite their aesthetic loveliness, tonal tenderness, and popularity, Flanagan’s stories often seem to trade narrative precision and craft for emotionality. There are glaring unanswered questions, incoherent finales, and plots that frequently become muddled by what appears to be Flanagan’s determination to make horror that feels literary and optimistic rather than tropey and dark. His focus on the brighter parts of humanity often creates a sharp, sometimes confusing dissonance between the genuinely scary stories he weaves and the worldview underpinning them. I read to the end of the book because the plot had its hooks in me and I wanted to see how things would work out. With the benefit of hindsight, the knowledge wasn't worth the trauma - which means my experience pretty much mirrors that of the 'good guys' in the story. The Church of Scotland observes a service just before midnight which involves the singing of carols, although it does not include Mass and is called a Watchnight service (held elsewhere on New Year's Eve).Across these events, since the island community was established in the 1800s (according to the old newspaper clipping in the pastor's house), the island's population has diminished. "We used to be hundreds, now we're just dozens. This isn't a community anymore, honey. It's a ghost," Riley's mom Annie says. The combination of fear, misinformation, and disenfranchisement reveals itself as a potent mix that can lead to unspeakable acts under the guise of religious ideology. It’s a bleak idea that resonates with our present-day reality. But remember this is a Mike Flanagan joint: As dark and troubling as things get, he makes sure to imbue his characters with love and empathy, leaving traces of hope along the way. Midnight Mass is no different. It's behind them in the profile [shots] on stage," Flanagan told Entertainment Weekly. "It's all becoming incredibly convoluted, really connected. That's our goal. I want all of [these projects] to just be a big ball of rubber bands by the time we're done, just impossible to extricate from each other." What's next for Mike Flanagan? 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. When I was a kid and in Bible study, the horror elements embedded in the Bible are impossible to ignore,” he said. “You’ve got angels patrolling through Egypt and slaughtering the firstborn. You’ve got the river turning to blood. You’ve got plagues of locusts, and a pillar of fire. And you’ve got a God who’s thrilled to just murder people at will and full of wrath. You’ve got demons, you’ve got talking serpents, you’ve got people being torn apart, torture, and it’s all there.”