Midnight Mass

I liked the premise and set up of the show. The core characters were also introduced and developed well in the first couple of episodes. However, it starts to lose steam around episode 4-5. The religious sermons and evangelical characters start to get repetitive and tiring. I get that this is supposed to be a commentary on real-life fanatics, but it didn't grab my attention for long given how drawn-out it was. We also don't get the explore the characters after their initial introduction, and a lot of the conflict or story seems superficial and one dimensional. As a result, I am not invested on what happens to any of them and am just waiting for the next jump scare. It's a shame because I like this type of horror (that's not campy or relying on gore), but this lays it on so thick with the religious stuff that it loses its way.

Unlike the trash that Netflix mostly produces this was a surprise. There wasn't much hype before it's release and I purposefully didn't read too much about it. The underlying topic is familiar but the way it has been told here was new. More of this please Netflix.

This show is definitely not for everyone's taste - thus, some of these really bad reviews that ALMOST had me fooled, but I decided to give it a shot anyway, knowing Mike Flanagans marvelous previous work. This is a very deep, intelligent, mostly monologue based drama, and yes it is very slow - but that's exactly what gives this show it's depth and weight. It makes you think and it really leaves you speechles, if you actually understood. If you like an action packed, superficial mind-relief, this is not for you. If you like exploring human mind, depth, faith, etc. - you won't regret it. Weird, yet again, wrapped up in an epic way.

Not a horror fan, but I always appreciate thoughtful sci-fi which is how I'd classify this one. The story roped me in quickly and kept me gripped - at least through 6 & 3/4 of its seven episodes. Very good acting and writing with the exception of a few turns on the soapbox for a couple of the central actors hammering home key points.

One thing I found to be very clever and timely is the depiction of how "normal, everyday people" go way off the rails in the course of their religious beliefs, cultural influences and the effects of "group think". Sadly I was reminded of the current state of the world we live in.

While it could have been condensed, I wasn't bored at any point until the last 15 minutes or so which were unnecessarily heavy on the sap.

Really liked how the story is built up, slow burn and carefully dosed details... meanwhile the characters are also developing.

I was happy to see familiar faces from Hill House and Bly Manor and Hamish Linklater was stellar in the role of the priest.

Flanagan did it again, added an interesting twist to the horror genre and an awful lot to think about - such as what happens to us when and after we die?

Looking forward to his future works.