#FILMFRIDAYS: Midnight Mass

Year: 2021.

Director: Mike Flanagan.

Hi there — I know. I lied. I didn’t write here once a week or even a month as promised. In fact, I really struggled to write this one. But I am here now and I have learned not to make promises I can’t keep, especially to myself. This will be short and not be anything grand but it will exist and that is all that matters.

My favourite genre projects usually try to transcend typical genre elements, and sometimes even eschew them almost completely. One of the reasons why I am not a big fan of musicals is that most times, the creators think it is about the musical numbers and dance scenes and forget that it is first a film with story and character. This is the same for horror. I don’t mind the scares but I believe these elements should support the story and not relegate it. Mike Flanagan, modern horror auteur and creator of The Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor, understands this very deeply and in Midnight Mass, his new 7-part passion project, he pushes this idea to a glorious and ambitious level.

After fishing incomes have been decimated by an oil spill, members of Crockett Island begin to witness miracles and mysteries when a new catholic priest arrives on the island. Make no mistake, this is a horror show. There are scares, gore and gruesome deaths but the horror is not the point.

Unlike many faith-based horrors, Catholicism is not peripheral in Midnight Mass but a thematic backdrop for the events that unfold. I apply some restraint in analysing plot details as it is best to go in blind for this one but Mike Flanagan brilliantly uses familiar catholic rituals and biblical elements to wickedly explore the unholy and occult. It is in this way that Midnight Mass is not just about a tragedy of faith but of discernment; the horrific consequences of an inability to separate godly aspirations from personal and communal desperation.

It is against this complex canvas of faith that Flanagan also deftly meditates on death, grief and guilt in a way that is both terrifying and hauntingly beautiful. Through these (very very very) well-acted characters, I found myself resolving long-held questions about my (struggling) catholic faith, the persistence of grief and the inevitability of death.

And yeah fuck Beverly Keane (you will understand when you watch it).