Mike Flanagan is probably my favourite writer/director working in the Horror genre at the moment. I absolutely adored THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and I’ve been meaning to watch his most recent miniseries – MIDNIGHT MASS – for way too long. I finally rectified that a few days ago and thought it would be worth writing up a little review of it. Long story short, it’s excellent.
It’s a story of a young man returning to his family home, in a small isolated island community. After spending several years in jail for killing someone in a drink driving accident, he’s now he’s trying to patch his life back together and make amends. At the same time, a charismatic young priest arrives at the island, replacing the ageing Monsignor Pruitt who made a pilgrimage to the holy land that he never returned from. This young priest brings out a new sense of religious fervour in the community, rekindling their faith and before long actual miracles seem to occur. But dark powers are at work and a terrible supernatural threat looms in the shadows.
This was a passion project for Mike Flanagan, one he described as deeply personal and based on his own childhood in the Catholic Church as well as his struggles with alcoholism and his eventual acceptance of atheism. It’s a very talky script, filled with a lot of long philosophical monologues about faith and the afterlife. Some people might struggle with the sheer density of this, but for me it was completely absorbing. It works well as a counterweight to some sudden, shocking jump scares and classic horror moments.
There’s a seriously creepy vibe to the series, especially in the first few episodes while you’re trying to work out what’s going on. It reminded me a lot of Steven King’s classic early works like SALEMS LOT. It’s a slow burn, but man – it really does build well, ratcheting up tension. The cast features many recurring actors from the director’s other films and shows, but the standout has to be Hamish Linklater as the priest at the heart of this story. He’s neither a villain nor a hero – but presents a nuanced, believable character with consistent motives.
So yes, highly recommended. It’s a 7 part miniseries and each episode is about an hour long, so you don’t have to give up too much time to watch it all. And despite some long dialog scenes, it does feel like fairly lean storytelling – there’s little in there that doesn’t contribute to propelling the story forward to its thrilling conclusion. HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE had more overt scares in there and some classic scenes, but this feels like a slightly more cohesive tale that shines brightly from start to finish.
I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Mike Flanagan’s projects in future – one of which is a new adaption of the Fall of the House of Usher. Yeah, that could be good!
