Mike Flanagan has always been vocal about his admiration for Stephen King. His latest Netflix limited series, Midnight Mass, might be the most Stephen King-like thing he's ever created -- and that includes his two actual King adaptations, Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep. A sprawling, often unwieldy story set in an insular small town, Midnight Mass emulates many familiar narrative devices of King -- notably, following the chaos unleashed by a destructive force invading a small town and the outcast resident who returns to oppose that evil.
In Midnight Mass, the evil comes from a seemingly benevolent source, another trademark of King. The small community of Crockett Island has a population of 137 people, but it still has its own Catholic church, which for decades has been presided over by the same priest, Monsignor Pruitt. Now in his 80s, Pruitt's health is declining, so his parishioners pool their resources to send the ailing man on a trip to the Holy Land. In his place, an outsider comes to their parish, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater). Father Paul says that he's been sent by the local diocese to fill in for Monsignor Pruitt while Pruitt convalesces on the mainland, but it soon becomes clear that Father Paul is not being fully honest with the community.
At the same time that Father Paul arrives, Crockett native Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) returns home. After serving four years in prison for a drunk driving accident that killed a young woman, Riley is still haunted by his mistakes, which include harrowing visions of the dead woman every time he tries to sleep. Although Riley's time in prison has led him away from religion, his parents Annie (Kristin Lehman) and Ed (Henry Thomas) are still devout, and they insist that he go to church with them every Sunday after he returns home to Crockett.
Riley also starts attending one-on-one Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with Father Paul, who graciously offers to start an AA chapter on the island so that Riley doesn't have to travel to the mainland each week for the meetings that are a condition of his parole. The two men are polar opposites in their personal beliefs, but they share a haunted quality. The scenes between Linklater and Gilford feature some of Midnight Mass' most affecting drama, as Flanagan explores tough questions about faith, destiny, and rationalism.
But this is a horror series, so those big questions are balanced out by the increasingly sinister plan that Father Paul is putting into motion. Paul's plan starts off with large, heavy crates he brings with him on the boat from the mainland. At church, Father Paul appears to be performing miracles, drawing in more and more residents to each mass. It's not tough to figure out what Father Paul is hiding, although Flanagan reveals the details slowly and methodically over the course of seven lengthy episodes.
Midnight Mass may be slow-paced, but Flanagan, who directed and wrote or co-wrote every episode, fills out the story with distinctive characters, creating a small town to rival Castle Rock or Derry. There's schoolteacher Erin Greene (Kate Siegel), another island returnee from the big city, who rekindles a potential romance with Riley. There's town doctor Sarah Gunning (Annabeth Gish), a scientist and lesbian who feels doubly out of place in this conservative community but stays to take care of her aging mother (Alex Essoe). There's Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli), another outsider who came to Crockett for anonymity but stands out as the town's only Muslim resident. And there's Bev Keane (Samantha Sloyan), the local busybody and religious scold, who becomes Father Paul's greatest ally.
This is a larger canvas than Flanagan worked with on his family-focused Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. Some of the subplots, including references to a devastating oil spill off the coast of this fishing-dependent island a few years earlier, never really pay off. But the characters are complex and compelling, and by the time that Midnight Mass gets to the all-out horrors, there's a genuine investment in what will happen to each of the town residents.
The cast, which includes many Flanagan regulars, is excellent, especially Linklater and Sloyan as the series' villainous figures. Sloyan recalls Marcia Gay Harden in The Mist, playing the religious fanatic whose deeply held beliefs lead her to do terrible things. Linklater's Father Paul is a bit more complicated, although his fire-and-brimstone sermons are suitably intimidating. Gilford and Siegel have sweet chemistry as the show's central romantic pairing, although the tone is so grim and humorless that it can be hard to find joy in their connection.
The specter of death hangs over all of Midnight Mass, in which no one ever utters the name of the familiar horror-movie element that the story is built around. Flanagan repurposes lovely religious hymns for unsettling juxtapositions with terrible acts. Midnight Mass makes fascinating connections between religious traditions and familiar demons while also respecting the value of religious belief. Stephen King fans may spot elements of Needful Things, 'Salem's Lot, and Storm of the Century, but Flanagan takes those influences and makes something all his own.
All seven episodes of Midnight Mass premiere Friday, Sept. 24 on Netflix.