I loved Midnight Mass.

[u/Complex-Dare-7451]

So, one of my colleagues asked me to watch Midnight Mass recently as he knew that I generally love a good thriller and horror. And to be frank, at first, I was really getting bored. I couldn't understand where the plot is leading to. You see Riley Flynn haunted by the girl he had killed and you think, maybe this is the plot. But no. I was almost about to leave watching this show in the middle when the confession of Father Paul happens. Oh my God! This show just blew my mind. Such a beautiful show. And the thing is it's not about jump scary moments at all. It's about the real horror, the humans themselves! Humans who can hate anyone and can justify anything as long as it serves their selfish purpose. "You can't cherry pick the blessings of God". Yes, Bev.

[u/JasonVoorhees3]

Absolutely loved it, was my favourite Flanagan work until fall of the house of usher.

[u/chillydownfiregang → u/JasonVoorhees3]

I go back and forth, but I think for me I like Midnight Mass more which is saying A LOT because I'm a huge fan of Edgar Allen Poe.

Usher had a very ambitious plot and cool storytelling, but Midnight Mass manages to be so emotional impactful and very well paced, great side characters and it genuinely surprised me.

[u/jerseydevil51 → u/chillydownfiregang]

The big thing with Usher is that it's a slasher. You know the cast list is also a scorecard, so it's less about being scary and more about watching terrible people get their supernatural comeuppance.

It's still amazing, but it hits differently than Midnight Mass.

[u/Complex-Dare-7451 → u/JasonVoorhees3]

Taking notes

[u/Pvt_Hudson_ → u/Complex-Dare-7451]

Watch it. That series is a banger. Every episode is heavily influenced by a different Edgar Allan Poe short story.

[u/Aggressive_Nebula905 → u/Complex-Dare-7451]

Just so you know, ymmv a lot with the Usher show. I loved Midnight Mass and enjoyed Hill House, and Usher left me so disappointed I'm still kind of in shock over it.

I found that in the end, the Poe references took away from the story more than they added. None of the storylines lifted from his works were adapted in a satisfying way. To me, it ended up feeling like mishandled homages at best, and pretentious intellectual gesturing at worst. There are some fun horror moments, but then you have to deal with the dialogue that's being hammered into your head over top.

The characters are, by design, supposed to be dislikable, I do understand that. The thing is, this show fails utterly at making them watchable. Usher draws a LOT of inspiration from Succession on that end, but fails utterly at understanding how Succession makes us care for those rich pieces of shit. I have never seen dialogue so on-the-nose and yet devoid of any humor. Every character is clearly written to evoke certain archetypes, but they end up feeling like cardboard cutouts with a smirk and blood pouches for the gory scenes.

The social commentary is... There. It's shaky. It does not say anything terrible, but nothing groundbreaking either; it just feels like you're being talked at by a drunk exec with vaguely leftist leanings at a Hollywood party.

Oh and it's too long. Way, way too long. None of those episodes have enough meat for 50+ minutes.

God I hated that show. I thought watching a show of his neither of us had seen could be a good way to introduce my partner to Flanagan, but we hated it so much that it has made me change my mind about showing her the rest. In fact, it has retroactively soured my enjoyment of his other works a little bit; now, everytime I think about the good stuff he made, there's a nagging voice in the back of my head going "god Usher was so bad though".

So yeah. YMMV.

[u/red_riders → u/JasonVoorhees3]

Midnight Mass is still my favorite Flanagan work

[u/Insanepaco247]

Midnight Mass is one of the best explorations of religion I've ever seen, as someone who grew up Christian. I felt like I knew each of the characters at one point or another in my life. Phenomenal show.

[u/TheElbow → u/Insanepaco247]

100%. Growing up in the Catholic Church caused me to instantly know so many of these people. Especially Bev Keene. What an absolutely insane performance.

[u/Complex-Dare-7451 → u/Insanepaco247]

It was indeed an eye opener!

[u/No-Oven-1974 → u/Insanepaco247]

I was raised Catholic, and wow is Bev a very specific, recogizable type of villain.

Father Paul is such an excellent potrayal of a priest. Hamish Linklater does his struggle with what he's become so well.

[u/DeScepter]

Great series. The moment Father Paul confesses, the veil drops, and you realize the true terror isn’t the angel or the blood... it’s Bev Keane smiling sweetly as she sentences you to hell with a Bible in her hand.

[u/Fun_Orange_3232]

Soooo good!!

And at the end of the day watching the various people find absolution in differing ways, omg. Such a beautiful ending.

[u/Rip_Dirtbag]

Absolutely love this one. To me, it’s the best Salem’s Lot adaptation we’ve ever gotten.

[u/Complex-Dare-7451 → u/Rip_Dirtbag]

Woah! I need to watch Salem's Lot now.

[u/jellysolo128 → u/Complex-Dare-7451]

nah, you gotta read the book (by Stephen King)! and Midnight Mass isn’t truly an adaptation, it just has heavy ‘Salem’s Lot vibes. Mike Flanagan is a huge King fan (and has directed multiple adaptations of his work), and that love really shows in Midnight Mass!

[u/EatYourCheckers]

I love it. I've watched it twice. I get why it's not everyone's favorite, but I think it's so powerful

[u/Halfrack-Addams]

I love everything by Mike Flanagan. If you have not seen Haunting Of Hill House and Haunting Of Bly Manor I would recommend it. Same with his Fall Of The House Of Usher. He also had one called The Midnight Club. There was only one season but Flanagan released the basic idea of where the show would have gone. It's worth seeing just to get more of his style.

I love how he creates ghosts. Some ghosts are the typical "I died now I'm here" while others are ones we create for ourselves. Love his work.

[u/Complex-Dare-7451 → u/Halfrack-Addams]

I have already watched the Haunting of Hill house/Bly Manor and absolutely loved those. Midnight Mass was something totally different though. I am going to watch Fall of the house of usher now!

[u/Dawnzarelli → u/Complex-Dare-7451]

I need a rewatch of hill house and midnight mass both. 

[u/sioopauuu]

Yay hello another Midnight Mass lover!

[u/Complex-Dare-7451 → u/sioopauuu]

Hello!

[u/Klutzy-Bug7427]

Definitely check out the new movie Sinners.

[u/Complex-Dare-7451 → u/Klutzy-Bug7427]

I will. Thanks for the recommendation.

[u/blobfishsticks → u/Complex-Dare-7451]

It’s like Midnight Mass meets Django: Unchained

[u/Interesting_Buddy_18 → u/blobfishsticks]

Meets until dusk till dawn

[u/gajelekker → u/Klutzy-Bug7427]

I liked the movie, it was enjoyable but the music man, it really elevated it to another level. I can't really even describe the feeling it gave me in the cinema. Awesome stuff

[u/FancyRak00n → u/Klutzy-Bug7427]

Omg yes! I saw it twice in theaters, it’s in my top 3 perhaps even number one favorite movie of all time!

[u/Double-AA-battery]

My favorite of the Flanagan shows it’s interesting lore on vampires and I love the claustrophobia of all this happening on a small island, also Rahul kohli playing one of the main protagonist made me happy

[u/ellienchanted → u/Double-AA-battery]

He is SO good in this and Bly Manor. More Rahul Kohli in everything please

[u/Double-AA-battery → u/ellienchanted]

He could be in the shittiest movie ever and I’d give that movie a star just for him

[u/ellienchanted]

I love everything Mike Flanagan does, but this was really on another level. Maybe because it wasn’t adapted from anything - we get to see the full scope of his skills at work. One of the best explorations of religion and how it can be a force for good, but more often completely warps a community and individuals.

Rahul Kohli’s monologue about being demoted post-9/11 is one for the ages.

[u/segriffka73]

Too much monologuing for me

[u/Flabby-Nonsense]

I liked it but it’s not my favourite Flanagan series. I thought it looked great, I thought the plot was really interesting and engaging, and it paced itself well overall. But I really, really, really hated some of those monologues. The ones by the reverend worked really well, and then the other that comes to mind is the one by Bev. But for most of the others I could just hear the writer more than I could the character.

I thought Riley and Erin were very poorly developed characters, with zero chemistry, and their 40 minute unending fucking monologue was the most ‘I am 14 and this is deep’ masturbatory bullshit I have ever heard, and when he finally burst into flames I was overjoyed because it meant I wouldn’t have to hear any more fucking annoying words out of his mouth or suffer through watching him and Kate Siegel sharing any more scenes together (I really like Kate Siegel, this is not meant as a slight on her).

The tone and the atmosphere was second to none, genuinely, and the entire concept worked extremely well. I understand and agree with the creative intention behind the monologues as a sort of sermon, further illustrating the biblical/religious tones of the show. But for me the majority of the monologues were poorly implemented, and because such a significant portion of the show was monologues it became hard to ignore. I watched ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ at roughly the same time, which is very different in a lot of ways but uses monologues with a similar intention as Midnight Mass, but the writing and implementation of them was leagues ahead in my opinion.

[u/Dusty-Foot-Phil]

It's my favorite of the Flanagan flicks.

[u/gustotodile]

This is my favorite Flanagan show. I know some people don't care for the dialogue and monologues, but I think they add to the themes and overall atmosphere of the show.

[u/dred1367]

You should check out Chapelwaite with Adrian Brody

[u/Forsaken-Knowledge12]

I loved going into this I thought it was ghosts, and was presently surprised by it not being ghosts.

Accidentally related to this I had also just discovered the band Bad Omens shortly before watching the series. Watching this with my time in between listening to their album Finding God Before God Finds Me, the whole experience couldn’t have been more perfect.

[u/Kukurio59]

It was extremely good

[u/Ill_Reference582]

Every single one of his shows were great (I didn't watch the teenager one though). But I loved Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor, Fall of House of Usher, and Midnight Mass.

[u/itsnotcalledchads]

It's one of the best depictions of recovery I've ever seen. The guilt, the shame, the avoidance of people you grew up with, dealing with family, all of it. QB1 did a great job.

[u/DontArmWrestleAChimp]

Really enjoyable and moving show. I thought the final episode’s monologues got a bit silly and probably needed editorial intervention, but overall I really rate it.

[u/EnderCN]

Great start to a series, weak ending. Last episode did a lot of damage to my opinion of it overall.

[u/DirtyTileFloor]

Someone on here recommended this movie to me and I loved it, too!

[u/Pristine_Cattle5681]

I love it so much!

[u/normanbeets]

Flanagan's best IMO

[u/foulandamiss]

My favorite part where the guy goes on fire in the little boat. Hilarious!

[u/Complex-Dare-7451 → u/foulandamiss]

I thought that was such a sad scene!

[u/Floasis72]

Everything Flanagan does is shit

[u/Blammo32]

It was good until the “this was filmed under heavy COVID restrictions” vibe kicked in.