Anyone Watching-Midnight Mass On Netflix?

My only criticism, and a minor one at that, has to do with the way they ignored the time-honored trope that a vampire can't travel over water (unless he's in a container with earth from his burial place, which they seemingly honored at the beginning of the series with the trunk etc.)... of course, they HAD to set it on an island to make the story work, but it irked me to a minor degree that the vampire flew over the water at will... didn't bug me enough, though, to affect my appreciation for the series...

 

I don't have a detailed knowledge of vampire lore but surely hanging around consecrated ground, the blessings, crosses and all the other religious icons would also be a massive problem for your traditional vampire. I think the series was set in a world which hadn't heard of vampires and we never really found out the nature of this particular beast.

 

You're absolutely correct but somehow I was able to ignore those willingly yet not let the water one go as easily....

 

I finished watching this last night. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Strong rumination on the way religions can be used for virtually any purpose, how people can be manipulated and, perhaps, how events may have become misinterpreted over a long period of time( perhaps the scariest concept). And there is also the persistence of love. Here that persistence was disastrous but it may not necessarily be that way in another situation. Anyway, lots of interesting speculation on the meaning of it all…….

 

Great series so far. Shades of Salem’s Lot. The communal doom seems inescapable.

 

I fell asleep during the homily.

 

Watched all of Midnight Mass over a couple of nights. Starts out slow, with lots of theological discussion, before the horror begins around episode 4.

Spoiler

Apparently no one thought *that's not an angel, thats a vampire? The blood-suckling and murdering should have been major red flags.

--Geoff

 

I liked the leisurely pace of this. That was another way it reminded me of Salem's Lot in that it took 80 pages or so before we even found out what the central theme of the show was. Anyway, this one was a bit flawed but on the whole, excellent. I rarely bingewatch anything but I found myself going back to this anytime I could squeeze an episode in. Very well done.

Also, I really liked the music in this. The hymns they used were wonderfully performed & very beautiful especially Hark! The Loud Celestial used in episode six.

 

Just finished it tonight and really enjoyed it. I’m kind of zombied-out these days so it was nice to some good old-fashioned vampires again.

 

The replacement priest is also in Legion. Which is weirder and better.

 

Not too bad of a series. A bit long winded in the monologues. The last 2-3 episodes were very good.
Decent acting from all the lead players.

I do think that the Haunting of Hill House and the Haunting of Bly Manor were better, though.

 

Nicely put!
I watched this a couple of weeks ago, and thought it was much better than most of the Horror shows out there. I recommended it to friends and family who like Horror, and so far have had nothing but thanks. For people who are looking for instant gratification, however, this isn't it. This has an intentional slow, deliberate pace, which goes against the grain of modern Horror, but it works. It starts slow, and gradually adds plot elements that don't necessarily speed things up, but engrosses you deeper in the plot. I see a lot of people on this thread who bailed, but came back, and found they were rewarded when they did.

As for the music, apart from the use of hymns, there really isn't any. I loved that. No background music to tell you something scary is happening, or make you jump. The scariness is from the plot itself. Between the deliberately slower pace, a plot that gets deeper as it progresses, and the absence of background music, I was impressed.

 

Mike Flanagan clearly had a story that he skillfully & lovingly translated to screen. This has put him in my must-see level of writer/directors like Ari Aster & Damon Lindelof that I automatically watch any of their future projects.

 

My wife and I aren’t big horror/suspense fans, but we both thought this was pretty good. Fairly scary in places, but enough good character development to keep my interest between shocks.

 

For those who have already watched Midnight Mass… check out Flanagan’s Hush, also on Netflix, produced 5-6 years ago.

An insanely taught thriller with one hell of a Midnight Mass Easter Egg in the first 10 minutes.

 

We started it tonight, just completed episode 4. The wife likes it so on we go.

 

I recall that there were quite a few Neil Diamond songs used quite prominently in the first few episodes: And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind, Soolaimon, Holy Holy. It was all hymns after that, though.

--Geoff

 

What we seemed to have here was something much more ancient, on which these 'modern' attributes have been introduced.

 

I watched Hush last night ... it features two of the actors from Midnight Mass.

I don't think it's a spoiler to state that Midnight Mass was obviously developed over a long period of time, so earlier productions refer to it, not just as a book that one of the characters has written, but also the first lines of the book ("red and blue lights flash on the jesus fish") describes the first scene in MM, and that the book has the same characters.

--Geoff

 

I never thought I'd buy a CD of hymns but I just did off of iTunes. The soundtrack for this is beautiful. Lovely versions of classic hymns. I think I'm getting old.

 

In episode 6 when Bev Keene starts leading the candlelight procession to the church,

Spoiler

it feels like Bev is leading a group of happy, singing little lambs to their slaughter. I've watched this part quite a few times cause I like the singing, the hymn & the way it was shot was gorgeous. I've noticed though, that she keeps looking back to make sure her flock is keeping up. That sequence is quite unsettling, especially when you know what's coming.

 

My wife and I commented frequently while watching this about how well done arrangements of those old hymns were. We were both raised in church going families, and found ourselves humming/singing along with many of the hymns. We also thought it was interesting that everyone on the island seemed to have such great singing voices and what a tremendous choir they made.

 

I made the same comment that everyone on the island could sing like angels. Whether you’re religious or not, these versions of the old hymns are beautiful.

 

Pretty much exactly what I thought. The monologues were far too long in places and didn’t hold my attention in the way that well written interesting dialogue can. They were just long.

There was one slightly ambiguous bit of the ending that left an opening for a sequel.