Just finished Netflix's new horror miniseries, Midnight Mass. And I have to say, it was way better than I expected.

It's well acted, very well shot, and features enough twists and turns to keep things interesting without becoming silly.

The cinematography in particular was fantastic. It's set in a small, isolated town on a remote island, and there are lots of gorgeous lingering wide shots of the sea, sunrises/sunsets, coastlines, etc. There are a few extended continuous tracking shots throughout the episodes that were very well done. And great use of set dressing and lighting to set the mood too.

The acting is good overall, with Hamish Linklater as the main priest character being the clear standout performance.

I'll refrain from spoilers, so there's not much more I can say about the plot or its twists.

My wife, daughter, and myself found it to be disappointing and at times downright boring. What could have been an exciting, interesting, and well played story of being isolated on an island with evil turned into a disjointed view of the church, evil, and boring discussions between the characters. I promised myself never to watch anything directed by Flanagan again.

I could see how some would regard it as boring. It's definitely heavier on the dialogue (even monologues) and lighter on the action than most shows/movies these days.

But to me, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

To each their own.

My wife and I liked it.

Yeah, it's not bad.
Not finished with it yet but worth watching.

quote:

Originally posted by k5blazer:
My wife, daughter, and myself found it to be disappointing and at times downright boring. What could have been an exciting, interesting, and well played story of being isolated on an island with evil turned into a disjointed view of the church, evil, and boring discussions between the characters. I promised myself never to watch anything directed by Flanagan again.

I generally like Mike Flanagan's filmmaking. He approaches it with a composed maturity, instead of a shaking camera with constant quick cuts, non-stop snarky banter, and blaring pop tunes on the soundtrack. I think his Hill House on Netflix is some of the creepiest modern horror I've ever seen, despite the fact that it's only very loosely based on Shirley Jackson's book. I also did like a lot of his Doctor Sleep, even though I didn't find it that scary. I wasn't too enamored with Bly Manor. That was too off-beat romance for me.

I totally agree about Midnight Mass though. It had some interesting ideas, but it bogs itself down with its constant philosophical sermonizing. I found it such a slog to get through. Hamish Linklater's performance is decent, but I was so annoyed with his character, and the dude would not SHUT THE F*** UP! It picks up by the end, but I think it might've worked better as a movie than a super-talky miniseries.

I missed this thread and started watching. The acting was quite good and the cinematography was excellent but we thought the series was complete crap.

Man, it went sideways and not at all what we were expecting.

Not quite sure if it was overarchingly calling the Catholic Church a cult?

If it was trying to point out that when humans try to alter God’s plan they screw things up royally for everyone.

The attention to detail in regard to scripture and catholic traditions was very well done.

Though they really really seemed to misinterpret the Biblical accounts of angels. While yes Father Paul emphasized that in every biblical account where humans were in the presence of angels the humans were terrified.
But they are also described as being bright and beautiful. The complete opposite of the dark, ugly, and evil was the angel in this series.

The island was interesting that everyone that stuck to the island was stuck in the late 70s early 80s. The Neil Diamond era I guess you could say. Everyone that spent some time off the island was much more modern.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Though they really really seemed to misinterpret the Biblical accounts of angels. While yes Father Paul emphasized that in every biblical account where humans were in the presence of angels the humans were terrified.
But they are also described as being bright and beautiful. The complete opposite of the dark, ugly, and evil was the angel in this series.

You are assuming that the creature was in fact an angel. While Father Paul thought it was, I don't think his opinion was ever actually substantiated through any other means.

I saw Father Paul as a human being faced with something he could not understand so he attempted to fit it into his current paradigms.

I found it fascinating, loved every episode. So far as the angel is concerned, my thought was that Father Paul was trying to justify his existence and actions by convincing himself and others that the creature was an angel. Deep down he knew it wasn't.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Wish I would have seen the thread as I would not have started watching it as we did not realize it was a horror series.

How do you access Netflix?

With the methods I use - including the Netflix website on my laptop, or the Netflix app on my smart TVs - when you select a show/movie it brings up a screen that shows a brief synopsis of it, along with some of the cast, as well as two other sections:

A) Genre - In this case, Midnight Mass is listed as TV Mysteries, TV Drama, and TV Horror.

B) "This show is..." (Keywords to describe the content) - In this case, Midnight Mass is described as Ominous, Understated, and Scary.


In addition, many of the offerings on Netflix also offer trailers, which you can watch before deciding whether to dive into a movie/show. The trailer for Midnight Mass makes it clear that it is a horror show.


These can help you get an idea of the content before watching.

quote:

Originally posted by Broadside:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Though they really really seemed to misinterpret the Biblical accounts of angels. While yes Father Paul emphasized that in every biblical account where humans were in the presence of angels the humans were terrified.
But they are also described as being bright and beautiful. The complete opposite of the dark, ugly, and evil was the angel in this series.

You are assuming that the creature was in fact an angel. While Father Paul thought it was, I don't think his opinion was ever actually substantiated through any other means.

I saw Father Paul as a human being faced with something he could not understand so he attempted to fit it into his current paradigms.

You are possibly correct. Though I feel that with as much care and detail that they included in the Catholic traditions and theology that a scene indicating he had no clue what it was or a scene possibly explaining it would have been included.
Every time the Angel was directly referenced it was explained to be an Angel with biblical explanations by not only Father Paul but also by Bev referencing Revelation to explain the Angel to the congregation.
If they were just making the Angel fit the bill and not truly believing that is what it was seems like they would have made that known.
Especially since what was happening with the miracles were actually happening due to the Angel. If it were some sort of false miracle or evil spirit or demon then the miracles would have not been the actual miracles they were but some sort of sleight of hand.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Wish I would have seen the thread as I would not have started watching it as we did not realize it was a horror series.

How do you access Netflix?

With the methods I use - including the Netflix website on my laptop, or the Netflix app on my smart TVs - when you select a show/movie it brings up a screen that shows a brief synopsis of it, along with some of the cast, as well as two other sections:

A) Genre - In this case, Midnight Mass is listed as TV Mysteries, TV Drama, and TV Horror.

B) "This show is..." (Keywords to describe the content) - In this case, Midnight Mass is described as Ominous, Understated, and Scary.


In addition, many of the offerings on Netflix also offer trailers, which you can watch before deciding whether to dive into a movie/show. The trailer for Midnight Mass makes it clear that it is a horror show.


These can help you get an idea of the content before watching.

In the bedroom we have a really old Vizio TV that has not updated an app in likely 10+ years. It barely tells anything more than the name of the show and episode.