Truly all that you want during the spookiest season of the year is bunch of scary stories. That’s exactly what The Midnight Club delivers, a drama about a group of terminally ill teens who cope with their mortality with horrific stories to tell in the dark. But Netflix‘s latest thriller is more than just a seasonal good time. With this young adult series, creator and executive producer Mike Flanagan has once again proven that he’s Netflix’s king of Halloween.
Flanagan’s relationship as one of Netflix’s golden creators started before he ever explicitly directed or wrote anything for the streaming giant. In 2016, Flanagan’s stellar Hush was released by Netflix following its South by Southwest debut. It quickly became a big horror hit for the service, and even Stephen King tweeted his praise of it. That was then followed in 2017 by the Netflix distributed Gerald’s Game, an adaptation of King’s novel of the same name starring none other than Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood. It was after these two movies that Flanagan’s relationship with the streaming service became more direct.
With the exception of 2019, there has been a new Flanagan project on Netflix every year since 2016. Hush and Gerald’s Game were followed by The Haunting of Hill House — an adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name — in 2018. That first season currently has a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and was praised by both King and Quentin Tarantino. After this series, Netflix entered a multi-year partnership with Flanagan, Trevor Macy, and Intrepid Pictures. Hill House was then followed in 2020 by The Haunting of Bly Manor, an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw that has an 88 percent on the review aggregate site. That was followed last year by the slow-paced and religiously focused Midnight Mass, which currently has an 86 percent.
That’s the thing about Mike Flanagan’s work with Netflix. It’s not just consistent; it’s really, really good. Every time Flanagan has entered the horror arena, he’s elevated the genre beyond the uninspired jump scares casual viewers have come to expect. Hush was a genuinely terrifying masterpiece that expertly used a lack of sound to capture the experience of its deaf-mute protagonist while commenting on how instrumental audio is to this entire genre. Gerald’s Game acted as a deep dive into the psychological tolls of the survival genre. Hill House told the story of how a fractured family finally learned to come together because of their horror and trauma. Bly Manor was a love story so sweet, it was heartbreaking. Midnight Mass stood as a quiet reflection on the power, importance, and danger of blind faith, especially when it comes to organized religion.
And then there’s The Midnight Club. In a few crucial ways, the young adult thriller is the perfect project for this creative team. In nearly every episode, a different terminally ill teenager tells a new scary story. But rather than merely trying to spook their friends, each of these stories peels back another layer about their narrators. In the process, the series itself questions how we use stories to handle the pain we’re not yet ready to confront. Flanagan’s work has often been defined by a level of sincerity that’s often missing from the quip-heavy world of mainstream horror. In The Midnight Club, that sincerity is more palpable than ever.
It’s nice to have a streaming staple like Mike Flanagan, Trevor Macy, and Intrepid Pictures. Their work is not always the scariest, and — unless you already have a fear of hidden ghosts — it’s not guaranteed to give you nightmares. But in lieu of frights, it’s always honest. These shows and movies never forget how to be human. They understand that we’re drawn to these stories because real life can be horrifying, and it’s comforting to see that horror blown up in a way that mirrors how we experience it. Please keep the hits coming. Our annual dose of Flanagan fear has become one of the best parts of Halloween.
