Midnight Mass, the limited horror series by Mike Flanagan (Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor) is no longer listed in the top ten on Netflix, but it still did great numbers. Nielsen is reporting that it was the second most streamed show across all platforms during the last week of September. I watched it and I’d like to talk about it, but first here’s a quick overview from ComicBook.com about how well it did.
According to new numbers from Nielsen, measuring from September 27th to October 3rd, Midnight Mass was actually a massive hit for Netflix. The religious horror series was streamed more than 1.1 billion minutes over the course of that week. That was good enough for second amongst all streaming programs. Squid Game was the only series to best it, with a whopping 3.2 billion minutes streamed.
As Comicbook noted, everyone was focusing on Squid Game so Midnight Mass kind of got lost in the shuffle. It was wildly popular though, and for good reason. It was a solid horror series and I liked it overall.
I’ve seen Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass and part of The Haunting of Bly Manor. Flanagan creates disturbing and enjoyable horror that doesn’t feel manipulative. Midnight Mass was unique in the way it used religion as horror. I’m a lapsed Catholic and found the way that he weaved Catholicism and Biblical lore into a gothic vampire story genius. It was also a treatise on how religion can be weaponized and used to judge, control and manipulate. The Atlantic’s Matthew Cressler wrote a thought-provoking article about how Catholicism was portrayed in MM. Religious figures typically serve as saviors in horror movies, but MM turned that trope on its head.
Midnight Mass suffered from the same issues as Flanagan’s other series. It was overly long and needed editing. Some of the dialogue was interminable and made me eye roll. It could have been cut by the length of one or two episodes and would have packed more of a punch.
In an essay for Bloody Disgusting, Flanagan explained how MM came about. It was a deeply personal story inspired by his Catholic upbringing and his battle with alcoholism. Maybe that’s why it resonated with me so much, and why I expected more from it despite being thoroughly entertained.
Also I didn’t realize that Flanagan was married to Kate Siegel!
Photos credit: Avalon.red and Eike Schroter for Netflix
Watched it and really enjoyed it.
Me too 🙂
Netflix needs to capitalize on this by immediately starting production on my crossover show, “Squidnight Gas.”
Oooh, tell me more!
I’m so glad to see it more here. I loved that show. Hamish Linklater and Rahul Kohli are getting so much well-deserved love, but Samantha Sloyan killed it. She was so reprehensible and made me want to spit, but that’s really speaking to her acting skills. Just amazing all around.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
It also took me a second viewing to realize that she had poisoned Father Paul. I just completely missed that until my husband pointed it out. God, Bev was awful.
Oh wow I missed that!! I didn’t realize she did this.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who missed it! When my husband pointed it out I was floored. I think she put it in the pipes! Remember when Sturge had to fix them?
Same here !
Damn, Bev was awful. It takes a truly great actress to make you almost wish for another appearance of her character so you can CONTINUE HATING HER.
I loved the series overall, but then I’m a huge Flanagan fan. Hill house remains my absolute favorite, but Midnight mass is almost as good.
WHAT? WHEN? I completely missed that! But after poisoning the dog nothing surprises me.
I re-watched it with a friend this week-end. I’d noticed Bev had poisoned him but my friend, who guessed everything else by the 2nd or third ep, missed it so I pointed it out to him. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to see Samantha Sloyan without my blood boiling.
Normally, I hate the super slow roll but as the story progressed I actually appreciated it for this show especially as it did a phenomenal job weaving religion/religious zealotry and scripture in. I did think it was ironic that the character of Riley had posters of 2 horror movies on the walls of his bedroom but everyone in town seemed blissfully unaware of a specific type of villain.
Hamish Linklatter did an amazing job as did Rahul Kohli.
Yes, she did, he died the same way the dog that she poisoned did.
The show creator actually stated that she did not poison him. I thought so, too. But apparently him dying like the dog was meant to show that the vampire’s blood was poisonous in larger quantities.
Love the series.
My SIL theorized that the vampire was drinking the cat’s blood, which had traces of poison, and after consuming a large amount of the vampire’s blood, Father Paul was poisoned to death himself.
Love all the discussions and entertaining all theories!
Using religion as a weapon was something I felt very poignant,especially because of all of the “religious “right wingers and how evangelicalism is not anything more than a political party in this country at this time.Seeing what has been going on from the 2016 election ;to the anti mask,anti science, anti vax,that has been caused by so many anti abortion “right to life”supposed religious people who also want to do seemingly all they can to kill people by giving them covid.All out of religious freedom,which is their excuse to weaponize religion for their own empowerment or whatever.
Sorry for the tangent didn’t mean to thread jack.We watched it;it was entertaining and Hamish Linklater is phenomenal.
Agree with you assessment. Many of the series’ themes feel very, very relevant- which is disturbing for such a classic, almost Victorian goth horror story.
And Hamish Linklater deserves all the praise. Forgot to mention that.
I binged it and liked it, but omg the monologues. He gets a monologue! She gets a monologue! Everyone gets a monologue! ☺️
lol this is the criticism I have seen about this show! Everyone monologues all the time. That is very annoying.
I haven’t seen Midnight Mass but I did see The Haunting of Bly Manor last year and I did enjoy it, though I found Victoria Pedretti’s way of talking in that show a bit annoying. Now I’m wondering if I should watch Haunting of Hill House which I’ve heard is scarier and Midnight Mass. I’m a lapsed Catholic but if it involves demons and possessions and excorcisms, it’s going to be a huge nope for me. I don’t mess with Catholic demonic stuff and stay away from that. One of the reasons I will never watch The Exorcist. I can do horror only in very limited ways.
I’m the same as you, I do not watch the demon stuff. I watched and liked Hill House, it is really really good! Great story, casting, acting.
Stopped watching MM after the first epi. I just didn’t care about any of the characters enough to continue.
It isn’t a demon story. You should give it a watch, you might be surprised!
As a lapsed Catholic, I had visceral reactions to some scenes as it gave me flashbacks. Particularly, one of the hymns. So for me, the horror really was the religious element. Still, I would recommend it if you don’t mind the long monologues. It’s not an exorcism horror story.
LOL indeed, I’ve seen this comment elsewhere and it’s true, it seems everyone gets their monologue at some point in this series.
It did not bother me though. The writing is excellent and there’s so much happening all the time that the monologues feel like a bit of breathing/reflexion time.
I found the writing style heavy with monologues quite appropriate, given the setting within a highly religious community and its serious, emotional/spiritual topics.
SPOILERS:
Two of the characters with the most screen time are a priest and a wannabe preacher (Bev) who interpret everything through long passages of scripture. They’re accustomed to sermonizing, shouting long-winded scripture at people as if they have evidence that their views and choices are correct. They’ve decided they run this town and are so busy trying to “help” people that they don’t see they’ve become dangerous and cultish. When they monologue, it’s manipulative, driven by personal agenda.
Other main characters are also in positions of authority as a teacher, the only doctor and the only police officer; they would naturally step up to the plate to speak as representatives of their tiny community (who also bring some outside perspective) and hope to be listened to. When they monologue, it’s honest, from sincere concern or curiosity.
Morally gray characters like Joe, Riley and his father, etc., are not as chatty, persuasive or confident, and are only really vocal when provoked or when encouraged to honestly express repressed feelings. They exemplify that decent people might make mistakes and struggle with the curveballs life throws at them, but they can still earn forgiveness.
There were some hokey elements, but mostly I loved the show. I found it had many layers of perspective and things to ponder, for anyone open to considering beliefs outside of their own.
I watched all the shows you mentioned. MM made me eye roll so much and some dragged on and on. I do think there were many, many aspects of the movie that provide discussions. I found it FASCINATING how the Bible was used to give legitimacy to craziness unfolding, how the town was following along and not questioning, how those so devout sometimes are the ones most lost and how those most lost have a better ethical compass (because Riley was not religious in my opinion). My daughter walked in during one of the church scenes and commented how it was a cult. We are Catholic, and I pointed out our religion could be viewed and probably was, a cult. Very powerful themes throughout the movie.
*********Spoiler***************
BUT, not sure how they mistook a vampire for angel, but it was a good series leading up to Halloween.
I referenced that above. Apparently the vampire genre must not exist in their timeline considering Riley had horror movie posters (Se7en & Scream) on his walls
I think the purpose of the monologues that people are dragging on was really to reinforce the religious themes & scripture to show religious fanaticism as a form of vampirism.
I think that Father Paul’s dementia played a role, as does the non cherub versions of angels that exist to allow him to not see the vampire for what it was, he was predisposed to believe in miracles, his brain was almost at its end point, so a vampire becomes an angel for him.
The non-believers all knew it was a vampire. The Doctor and Katie Siegel’s character looked at it like, “That ain’t no angel, it’s a freaking vampire.” But Father Paul has convinced himself that it’s an angel because he wants to believe the return of his youth was granted by God, not some horror. The Catholic attendees all want to believe whatever Father Paul tells them. The danger of blind faith.
Loved Midnight Mass! I want to give a shout-out to Zach Gilford who conveyed Riley’s guilt and despair and anger expertly.
I also didn’t know Kate Siegel and Mike Flanagan were married! I love her, and I love her acting in his projects. That’s really cool.
I really enjoyed Midnight Mass. Agree, some of the monologues were too much. It also had that thing I hate, when characters repeatedly address each other by their first and last names in regular conversation. No one does that in real life, Bev Keane.
Watched it when it first came out. There was something so incredibly hopeful and moving during that scene when Neil Diamond’s “Holly Holy” was playing and the church kept filling up because of the miracle. Months later that scene is still banging around in my head. I also had no idea that Father Paul is married to Misty Day IRL.
Whoa, I didn’t know that either! Those two make so much sense together.
Lily Rabe’s mom is Jill Clayburgh? One of my favorite actresses, along with Lily Rabe.
wait, what? I had no idea Jill Clayburgh is her mom
It was the only one I watched. I liked the whole cast except the young pregnant teacher. Her and Riley’s information dump right in the middle of the series was bulky and lacked flow. It was like and atheist manifesto just thrown in. And I get the whole series was a rebuke of religious extremism and fanaticism. I loved the shooting location and I like stories about little communities.
I loved The Haunting of Hill house so much, I cried so hard during the last episode. Just saw it for a second time to show it to my boyfriend after watching Bly Manor a few months back (which was also very good, different, but loved the ending!). Again, cried like a big baby.
For Midnight Mass, I’m only 4 episodes in, but I’m a bit confused. I like the actors but the plot doesn’t seem that interesting to me. I’ll finish it with my boyfriend who loves it and I hope it will improve (only in my opinion of course)
I cried at the end of hill house too. And I’ve seen it a few more times and cried just the same as the first time. It’s so powerful.
I’m glad I’m not alone!
The “always be kind” line gets me every single time. And also the fact it’s the kid from E.T. getting roles as an older actor just makes me love it even more
I liked MM until the final episode. I felt like the priest and his lover did a total 180 on how they acted in the previous 5 episodes. And it just went on toooooo long. It was definitely 2 episodes too long.
…and Lily Rabe is married to Hamish Linklater!
I hated this show. HATED IT. I gave up after episode 4 and I am glad I did after reading spoilers. Nobody talks that much. NOBODY TALKS THAT MUCH! Every monologue was making me roll my eyes. I do not understand the love for this show LOL
Same! It was insanely annoying. They driveled on and on about the kind of topics that middle schoolers think are enlightened or something. It was all so juvenile and preachy. And just rambling! When the buzz-cut dude (can’t remember his name) and the pregnant lady sat on the couch going on and on and the dude was just staring and staring… I thought HOW did this get made and aired? It was so bad. I watched to the end anyway lol. But I kind of hate watched.
At one point the mom of the buzz-cut dude went to the sheriff. The sheriff sat there and rambled on about his life story for ten full minutes. It was like that over and over. Terrible.
Kate Siegel is so beautiful to me though, I think her beautiful face got me through it.
I’ll usually watch about anything but couldn’t stand it after a few episodes so stopped. I like scary, horror but this was so dull.
Same. This show was awful. As was Hill House. Rose Red was better. Seeing people wax poetic about this show is eyeroll inducing. It was so slow, so boring, and my god all of the talking. The writer clearly thinks he’s much more clever than he actually is. Middle schoolers thinking they’re deep is a good way to put it. It’s the ramblings of someone who isn’t well read. I fast forwarded through that scene of them on the couch because it was so endlessly tedious. The show was such a waste of time. There was nothing deep or profound about it. Ooh Catholics are sheep and will turn into cult. Really groundbreaking stuff /snark. Good this show was terrible.
I watched until (spoiler) QB1 bit it and then I read the summaries and that was enough. The monologues were too, too much, but the overall story was okay. I really wish Zach Gilford had bigger roles b/c I have a terrible crush.
Midnight mass was soooo good! Mike Flanagan is a genius I love all his stuff. Hill house was the best show I’ve seen in ages
I binged MM and enjoyed it, even though the ending really unnerved me for some reason. I couldn’t get that final scene out of my head for several days afterwards. That and the scene (spoiler alert) where everyone started literally drinking the koolaid. Pretty disturbing stuff. But I liked it. Hill House is still my favorite, hands down.
I absolutely loved it. I think it was my favorite Mike Flanagan yet. I don’t mind the monologues… it isn’t realism, it’s theatrical. What I most loved was the slow build, though. Little pieces are revealed here and there, but you don’t (and the characters don’t) really know the full extent of what is happening until it is too late. Most horror movies would have started with the last two episodes, but the real horror was that this town let themselves be led to this place. So good. So creepy.
” it isn’t realism, it’s theatrical”
Yes, perfect way to put it. I enjoyed the performance.
I loved it. I am also a lapsed Catholic so a lot of the church rituals were strangely comforting to me. I just really loved how they turned the whole thing on it’s head. There was a lot of talking but I actually enjoyed that too.
Midnight Mass was great but I did kinda wonder how it avoided outrage and boycotts from the crowd that does such things whenever religion is called into question.
My lapsed Catholic best friend watched it and advised me against it. I have been watching season 2 of Sex Education.
Omg sex education is sooooooo good!!!! I binged season 3 in 2 days
I haven’t finished it, but I like it so far. That’s why I’m not reading other comments – I’m just here to say it blows me away how much Katie Siegel looks like Angelina Jolie.
Ahhh enjoy it! So much fun.
I loved it and the musical score/choices were EPIC. I’m not always a fan of Mike Flanagan, but kudos to him for Midnight Mass, a truly WTF?? series!!! I’d love to see his take on the novel, “A Head Full of Ghosts” by Paul Tremblay.
I really enjoyed the first 3 episodes, then it lost me a bit in the middle with all the rambling monologues (especially when it’s the priest and the main guy in the church during AA – it just went on and on and on, same with Katie’s character and the main guy in her house on the couch) and then I got interested again for the final few episodes. Overall I liked it and thought the vampire was well done, as was the acting, and the set was really cool. Loved the small town look and feel. Definitely gives food for thought about religious fanaticism, judging each other, and the group-think that happens with cults.
The rambling monologues kinda reminded me of the Buffy tv series gag that no one ever survives a soliloquy. Many have tried, many have failed. Anyway, definitely worth finishing the series.
I loved this series so much. Rahul Kohli, Samantha Sloyan and Hamish Linklater killed it. Even the monologues didn’t ruin it for me – and I wouldn’t have shortened a word of Rahul Kohli’s – that was perfection. And loved the slow burn – perfectly executed.
The theme of people committing acts of great evil while performing mental gymnastics to justify their behaviour really resonated with me, especially in today’s climate of growing fascism and covid denial.
I know loads of people believe that Bev killed Monsignor Pruitt, but not according to Mike Flanagan. He actually stated in an interview that Pruitt dies because the vampire blood has reached critical mass in his system (as the Doctor posits) and that’s what kills him.
I watched it and really enjoyed it. Hamish linklater’ s performance as father Paul was truly outstanding. I hope he gets some recognition for it.
He was also really good in Tell me Your Secrets too… Plays crazy characters very well! Him and Lily Rabe together in that show, both so good!
I agree that it was an episode or two too long. It was thoroughly entertaining
As someone who think’s Shirley Jackson’s novel is brilliant, I looked forward to seeing the series it inspired. I thought it had its good points and its flaws, but was overall glad I was watching it…until the final damn line of the last episode. Is that the most angry I’ve ever been at a television show? Probably not, but I haven’t been as angry at one since.
When I started MM I thought I’d give it ten-fifteen minutes or so and probably find something else. I watched the whole thing. Loved it. Loved loathing the characters I was supposed to loath lol. And I thoroughly enjoyed shaking up religion lol. Good story. Good acting. Entertaining. I don’t mind slow builds. Prefer them actually in these types of shows. The creepy thread throughout each episode keeps you.
I liked it, but it wasn’t anything earth-shattering. Everyone’s criticisms are pretty much my feeling too, especially re: the monologues.
For much, MUCH better folk-horror-on-an-island, check out: The Third Day (on HBO) and Apostle (on Netflix).
Squid Game is a much better show, glad people recognized that.