Reviewed by Minahil Zaki ||

This review contains spoilers for the first 3 episodes of Midnight Mass (2021).

In October 2021, writer and filmmaker Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House (2018) and The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)) released his much-anticipated limited TV series, Midnight Mass, on Netflix. Midnight Mass follows the protagonist, Riley Flynn (portrayed by Zach Gilford), as he returns to his hometown, Crockett Island, after 4 years of serving a jail sentence for killing a teenage girl, Tara-Beth (Ebony Booth), while driving drunk. Paralleling Riley, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater), comes to town in order to temporarily replace the town’s old priest, Monsignor Pruitt, and brings strange occurrences-deemed-miracles along with him. 

One of the most admirable aspects of Midnight Mass is the carefully constructed setting. Midnight Mass takes place on the fictional Crockett Island, located off of the New England coast. During pre-production, the whole small-town community was actually constructed in Vancouver, Canada, before the pandemic caused the show to shut down. Several months later, in mid-2020, the cast and crew returned to the abandoned set to film the show in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic (Simons). The production of such an intricate show amid the difficulties that the pandemic presented is admirable in-and-of-itself. The pandemic also limited the amount of extras on set, helping the show to create an eerie, small-town atmosphere. 

The first episode, titled, “Book 1: Genesis”, introduces us to Crockett Island’s decadent houses, fishing boats, and the single Catholic church as Riley’s little brother, Warren Flynn (Igby Rigney), rides through town on his bicycle with Neil Diamond’s song, “Soolaimon”, playing in the background. The flashes of fishing equipment in this scene create a realistic atmosphere for the fishing town. The song abruptly ends when Warren meets up with his friends at the ferry in order to obtain drugs from Bowl (John C. McDonald), conveying the duality of Warren as both an altar boy and a teenager who does drugs. With the subtle juxtaposition of background music and Warren’s actual actions of buying drugs, Midnight Mass highlights some of the complexity present in some of the religious characters on the show and hints at the religious conflict to come later on in the series. 

Meanwhile, Riley deals with PTSD from the accident; throughout the beginning of the series, whenever Riley lies down to sleep, the camera eerily turns and zooms into his face; there’s a pause before the image of Tara-Beth’s corpse pops up on screen. The scenes flash back and forth between Riley and the girl a few times. In his dreams, Riley sits on a boat, floating in a large expanse of water all alone. The intense jump-scare of Tara-Beth’s corpse contrasts against the vast emptiness of the water in Riley’s dream, creating a jarring and haunting effect reminiscent of the stoic “ghosts” we’ve seen in Flanagan’s other series, such as Dani’s ex-fiancé in The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020). The stillness of Tara-Beth’s “ghost” gives her the realistic quality of not being able to physically hurt Riley, yet intensifies Riley’s psychological trauma.

 The ominous background music and Tara-Beth’s “ghost” are perhaps the scariest aspects of the series, because the rest of it deals more with religious conflict, and the monstrous, yet comical “angel”. Father Paul begins to host Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with Riley, who, as opposed from his days as a devout altar boy, expresses his disbelief in God and organized religion. The conversations between Father Paul and Riley create a tense atmosphere, exacerbated by the characters’ tendency to speak in monologues. Father Paul riddles his monologue with Bible verses in order to explain his view of the universe, while Riley provides his own cynical worldview. The stubbornness of both characters characterizes their dialogue; however, each allows the other to finish his thoughts, giving more of a sense of a religious or philosophical debate, rather than a meeting between the protagonist and the antagonist of a horror series; the stiltedness of these scenes between Father Paul and Riley contrasts against the more mellow and dream-like philosophical discussions between Riley and his love interest, Erin Greene (Kate Siegel). Ultimately, the dialogue at the meetings between Father Paul and Riley slows down the pacing of the show a bit too much for anyone who does not have a genuine interest in religious debates.

[Major spoilers]

Father Paul also begins to deliver passionate sermons and perform “miracles” on the townspeople; his first miracle allows a child, Leeza Scarborough (Annarah Cymone), to regain her ability to walk. After regaining her ability, Leeza confronts Joe Collie (Robert Longstreet), the man who shot her and caused her to stop walking; she delivers an emotionally evocative monologue, conveying how she despises him, yet forgives him for his drunken accident. Annarah Cymone’s phenomenal acting in this scene touches heavily on the overarching theme of forgiveness present in the series. Also, Leeza’s monologue emphasizes her religiosity, showing a merciful side of religion, as opposed to Father Paul’s intense sermons. Unlike Father Paul’s monologues during the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Leeza’s monologue is captivating due to the emotional subjects of forgiveness and trauma and Cymone’s phenomenal acting.

Another emotional, yet politically charged conversation takes place at a PTA meeting between Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli) and Beverly “Bev” Keane (Samantha Sloyan), who plays one of the two school teachers on Crockett Island. Sheriff Hassan, who, unlike the majority of the town, is Muslim, brings up his concerns about Bev handing out copies of the Bible to the school kids, including his son, Ali (Rahul Abburi). Sheriff Hassan delivers his own monologue about the double standard he would face if he were to do the same in a public institution with the Qur’an; when faced with Sheriff Hassan’s well-articulated concerns, Bev scoffs. Sheriff Hassan’s monologue does a good job of presenting his different views without going overboard with philosophy and quotes from religious texts. Sheriff Hassan also does not conform to stereotypical depictions of Muslim characters; instead, Rahul Kohli, through incredible acting, portrays Sheriff Hassan as a complex, dynamic, and realistic character through his monologues, which intensify the theme of religious conflict in the show by illuminating the Islamophobia that he faces. Also, Bev’s dialogue with Sheriff Hassan and her mannerisms exemplify Samantha Sloyan’s good acting; she manages to make a generally disliked character believable with both her boisterous arguments and her subtle facial expressions.

Something that does not work about the show is the “Angel”, who is actually an age-old vampire. Silent jump-scares reminiscent of Tara-Beth’s bring out the scary, mysterious aspect of the monster; however, Father Paul’s consistent referral to this looming, scary, and obviously vampire-like monster as an “Angel” seems so absurd and horrific that one cannot help but laugh. The comical quality of the monster distracts from the emotionally intense aspects of the show.

Overall, the dialogue between the side characters (who really drive the complex emotions of the show) and the phenomenal acting make Midnight Mass a worthwhile watch. What doesn’t work is the monster, although I’ll give Midnight Mass props for its usage of a vampire—a monster known as sacrilegious—to illuminate some of the dangers of religious fanaticism. Perhaps it would have been more effective within the genre of horror had Father Paul not called it an “Angel”.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Works Cited

Midnight Mass. Created by Mike Flanagan, Intrepid Pictures, 2021.

Simons, Roxy. “‘Midnight Mass’ Filming Locations: Is Crockett Island Real?’” Newsweek, 28 Sept. 2021, https://www.newsweek.com/midnight-mass-filming-locations-crockett-island-real-netflix-1633286. Accessed 19 November 2021.