What Is the Story About?
An adaptation of the 1994 novel of the same name written by Christopher Pike, The Midnight Club follows a group of eight emotionally close and terminally ill young adults residing in the Rotterdam Home hospice run by an enigmatic doctor. They meet at midnight every night to narrate sinister stories to each other. They also have an under-running pact that the first one to succumb to their disease will have time communicate with the others from after-life. As one of them succumbs to illness, supernatural events start taking place around the surviving seven.
Performances?
One of the strongest highlights of the show is the fact that every single actor in the cast has moments to shine. Iman Benson as Ilonka breathes life into the most hopeful and cheerful amongst the lot, while Ruth Codd shines through every scene of hers. Her trauma, her hallucinations and her moments of stubbornness makes her one of the most well written characters of the show. Igby Rigney plays Kevin, the most charming character in the show with moments of beautiful vulnerabilities.
Analysis
One of the biggest victories of Mike Flanagan is how he renders jump-scare horror futile with a single episode in The Midnight Club. The Guinness World Record winning pilot episode has around 21 useless jump-scares thrown at the audience one by one to assert the fact that being startled is different from being scared.
After the audience is done with the most overused and laziest horror trope, the writing takes full charge and carefully induces mystery and supernatural in every of the forthcoming episodes. The story each one of the patients narrate is scary from a philosophical and emotional perspective. There’s fear, pain, loss and grief in all of them. Every episode sets up clues and mysteries surrounding an ancient cult that functioned in the hospital, followed by stories of duality, time-travel, serial killer story, death and beyond…
One of the most appreciable things about The Midnight Club is its screenplay. The narration manages to hook you up with stories that you’ve heard or seen before in movies with ease. Almost like a horror anthology, the audience self-questions the concept of after-life and beyond very much like a bunch of cocky teenagers who are terminally ill.
In particular, the fifth episode is the most intriguing one. For it establishes the side of sinister cultism and superstition while also managing to induce fear in the audience in a Flanagan way. It’s nothing new than Mike Flanagan’s horror is traumatic and philosophical. His treatment doesn’t function in single dimension. Be it The Haunting of the Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor or Midnight Mass, Flanaverse is all about coming to terms with grief, pain and loss.
Akin to all his previous works, The Midnight Mass also is about how each one of the dying kids manage to come to terms with their illness, their togetherness, their last moments once one of them dies, how far they would go for each other from life and beyond and questioning faith and the existence of the supernatural. And the show succeeds in being everything from entertaining, intriguing to emotional wreck.
But, the best part? The Midnight Club does all of that and more without romanticising terminal illness. However, despite being 10 episodes long, the finale episode appears to be a little cold as it doesn’t gather an emotional high like Flanagan’s previous works. Nevertheless, Netflix’s Horror Auteur has created another must watch gem of a series in The Midnight Club.
Other Artists?
Besides the actors essaying Ilonka, Anya and Kevin, Heather Langenkamp who plays Dr. Georgina Stanton churns out a very layered performance as one would suspect her to be mysterious and mostly loving. Aya Furukawa as Natsuki, Chris Sumpter as Spencer, Adia as Cheri, Sauriyan Sapkota as Amesh and Annarah Cymone as Sandra also have their own well written and well performed acting moments throughout the show.
Music and Other Departments?
Music and Other Departments? The Original soundtrack of The Midnight Club is one of its strongest assets. The Newton Brothers smashed it out of the park once again after their successful stints in The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep, Midnight Mass, The Forever Purge, Life of Crime and The Walking Dead: World Beyond. The camera work and editing throughout the show is exceptional as well. Each one of the frames, poignant and equally eerie when it has to be.
Highlights?
Performances from the Cast
Screenplay
Soundtrack
Cinematography & Editing
Drawbacks?
A less fruitful finale
Too much altruism
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes. Totally.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes. Definitely.
The Midnight Club Series Review by Binged Bureau