Every year since The Haunting of Hill House aired, I have sat awaiting the next Mike Flanagan horror series. I was disappointed by The Haunting of Bly Manor, although Dani and Jamie’s tragic romantic story stayed on my mind for a time afterwards. I was extremely impressed by Midnight Mass, but that may have been because of how attracted I was to Hamish Linklater playing a vampire priest. Flanagan’s latest, The Midnight Club, was released on Netflix on October 7th. I finished it in a week and, while watching it, jotted down a few of my thoughts in the Notes app on my phone.

The first thing that I noted was that the show plays on the most basic fear – the fear of our own mortality. The show takes place in a hospice for terminally ill teenagers. Every night, at midnight, they sneak down to the library to tell each other ghost stories that are actually just ways for them to cope with imminent death. The premise itself is interesting. I have spent the majority of my life fearing death and oblivion. The thought that everything just stops and there is no more art, no more thoughts, nothing, is absolutely terrifying to me. There is also something inherently very wrong about dying young – nobody’s parents should have to bury their child. Although I enjoyed the plot, I found the very few jumps cares quite cheap and it took at least three episodes before I decided I was maybe enjoying it. I would not watch this show in daylight. The very few jump scares rely on darkness to even remotely scare the audience. 

I will say Ruth Codd’s performance as Anya was absolutely spectacular. When I heard that an Irish Tiktoker was going to be one of the stars of The Midnight Club, I was a little sceptical, although I do always trust Flanagan’s casting abilities. As a disabled student, there is also something very satisfying about seeing a disabled character actually be played by a disabled actor. Although I think her name should be spelled Áine, she quickly became my favourite character and around ninety percent of why I finished the show. Iman Benson stars as Ilanka, a thyroid cancer patient who is the latest addition to Brightcliffe Hospice. Flanagan often casts the same people in each of his shows and The Midnight Club is no different. Familiar faces include Samantha Sloyan (Midnight Mass), Igby Rigney (Midnight Mass), Annarah Cymone (Midnight Mass), Henry Thomas (Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor), Alex Essoe (Midnight Mass. The Haunting of Bly Manor), Matt Biedel (Midnight Mass) and, the most astonishingly gorgeous person on the planet, Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Bly Manor). I was shocked not to see Flanagan’s partner, Kate Siegel, or the usual Annabeth Gish, but I was impressed by all the new editions to the cast, nonetheless. There was also an incredible amount of diversity, and I was not disappointed by the representation. 

It did take me a little while to figure out that the show was set in 1994. It was around the seventh or eighth episode that I noticed the Dazed & Confused and Robocop posters. I probably should have realised it was the 90s when they started talking about the release of the Nintendo, but I think because it was during a group therapy session, I zoned that out. 

The stories that were told during each episode, for the most part, turned out to be my least favourite part of every episode. This was possibly because I kept finding narrative inconsistencies in their stories. I still can’t move past how in one story a character hides in the bath in scuba gear with an oxygen tank to escape a fire. A tank of oxygen to escape a fire? Be serious. I don’t think the stories are really meant to be taken seriously, anyway. The stories are used to comfort other characters or to give the viewer insight into particular characters rather than to push the plot forward narratively. This review may seem negative, but I actually did enjoy the show. I rooted for the characters, I wished for Ilanka to discover all the secrets that Brightcliffe held, and I was utterly fascinated by whatever was going on with Samantha Sloyan’s character. 

Like every Flanagan before it, with the exception of Midnight Mass (that finale was a masterpiece), it stayed consistently decent until the very last episode. Without spoiling anything, I will say do not expect anything to be resolved. I have never been so irritated by a finale in my life. I have been racking my brain trying to find a deeper meaning. Loose ends are rarely tied up in death, so why should a show about death tie up its loose ends? 

If you enjoy contemplating death and crying a lot (this show does have many tear-jerker moments), then The Midnight Club may be for you. If you enjoyed the finale of The Haunting of Hill House, then this entire show is definitely for you. If the scariest thing you’ve ever experienced is a lack of a decent conclusion, definitely give it a miss.