31 Days of Halloween: Midnight Mass

2021, Mike Flanagan (Gerald's Game) -- Netflix

Of note, this writing covers the three episodes (of a 7 run limited series) that we watched over two nights.

Speaking of comfort blankets, its nice knowing that something Mike Flanagan will come along pretty much every year. This is the third of his series for Netflix, but this time not even indirectly connected to A Haunting... But, he does bring back much of the cast from the previous two series, which is rather endearing as it shows he likes working with these people and that they like working with him. 

This time we leave a house for an island, a small isolated island off the coast of New England, not only isolated geographically, but also seemingly lost in time. Gone are the days of prosperous fishing, gone are the days when the young were not expected to leave. The island is emptying and those left behind are stuck in their ways, for better or worse. 

The world building for this island is meticulous, but not in the "look at the details!" way that Midsommar presented, but more in a grand way of filling out the background in which the characters inhabit. The houses are all low and flat, to have the nor'easters blow over them. Everything is weather worn and grey-green-brown. The electric street lamps are from a by-gone era, the roads are still only earth. The Sherriff's office is in the back of the convenience store. There is a bar, but we never visit it, as all our main characters are God Fearing Christians, well all but the recently hired (appointed? elected?) Sherriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli, iZombie) who is a devout Muslim, but one who converted himself. He less plays the odd duck on the island, and more the voice of reason in the furor to come. Everyone else we meet is a Catholic.

Into this small Christian community, there are two returns. Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford, Friday Night Lights) returns from "the mainland" after having spent 4 years (of a 4 to 10 year conviction) in jail for vehicular manslaughter -- he killed a teen girl in a drunk crash. He has lost everything and so returns to the island, to the home of his parents, to meet the terms of his parole. We immediately see that he is truly and wholly haunted by the image of the girl he killed, an eerie image of her face embedded with glass, reflecting the flashing lights of the first responder vehicles. He sees her every night. The second "return" is the arrival of a new priest, Father Paul (Hamish Linklater, Legion) who arrives to replace Monsignor Pruiit, an aging man who fell ill after his return from the Holy Land, and is recovering on the mainland. But things are not as they seem; well duh.

*Spoilers*

Given she is only a seven episode run, Flanagan doesn't leave much room for filler, thank the Lord. In episode one we get hints of something strange going on: Father Paul dragging a massive sea chest into the rectory with him, with a thumping coming from within, the kids hearing and seeing something on the island they canoe to, to drink and smoke, the death of all the stray cats that said island was inhabited it by, each one drained of blood before being washed up on shore by the first episode's storm. He is not going to play the mystery game with us, and by episode three we are secured in our understanding that a vampire has come to Crockett Island, a big leathery creature brought by Father Paul. 

But that is not the horror, the horror lies in the devout Christian faith being subverted by the corruption of this monster. Even Dracula relied on the connection between vampire mythos and Christian mythos. It is no coincidence that one drained by a vampire rises from the dead three nights later. It is no coincidence that a Christian mass involves drinking "the blood of Christ". And Father Paul, nee Pruitt, sees himself as having found not a demon, but an Angel of the Lord, in the Holy Land of all places, and has brought it to Crockett to heal the wounded, and bring youth to the aging.

And fuck, do I hate Bev Keane, the right hand of Father Pruitt and an utter cunt, excuse the word. She embodies all that is wrong with Christianity, all the corruption and bitterness and slander and hate, all masked in a friendly, saccharine, condescending veil.

I hope she gets what's coming to her.