The Midnight Club

Not a bad series, some creepy "ghost" moments, but don't buy its boast of "most jump scares in a single episode" (that being the first episode, where I actually found myself saying, "oh, enough already"... my first legitimate jump wasn't until episode 3 or 4, and even that was mild.) Some of the stories the characters tell at their club meetings are good enough. And while their personal stories and issues lend themselves to some touching moments, the series is held back by its highly implausible premise and plot holes (terminally ill kids spending their last months living in a dorm where parents only show up once-a-whatever on Family Day, a grand total of two adults in the entire hospice, neither of whom apparently supervising or checking in on these medically fragile teens at night. A hospice where a teen is left to die in a deserted ward completely alone. And where on Earth are these kids getting bottles of wine every night?) Who knows, maybe too much eye-rolling made me miss all those jump-scares, but after five episodes, I'm passing on the rest.

I loved those three (Hill house, Bly manor and Midnight mass) and have watched each at least 2 - 3 times. This one was boring IMO. I am in episode 6 and already getting annoyed by Ilonka. As others have said, prob will fast forward and skip to the end. Some scary scenes are good, but it is not as gripping as the other previous creations from the writers. It was good to see actors in cameos from their previous work though.

I really hope it gets better from episode 6 and something actually happens!!

PS. Why does IMDB want a 600 word review now? Everyone doesn't need to write an essay, some movies/ series just deserve a few lines!

People go into hospice as a last resort, usually when nothing more can be done medically snd/or when they cannit care for themselves, meds are stopped and people die in comfort. This show has a bunch of kids in a hospice but they all look healthy, act healthy, can move around freely and can care for themselves, and they claim to be on meds but we never see any plus a real hospice stops treatments and uses pain releivers, why are they really there, it makes no sense. This is more like a dorm and kids are up at all hours, sneaking around, snooping, and seem to have no ditection. None are exhibiting sickness or weaknrss...in real life they would not be in hospice.

If you aren't familiar with Christopher Pike books, this won't be a hit for you. It's unfortunate that they tried to make it a teen horror, as Pike's books aren't scary. I'm not upset with the changes to The Midnight Club book, as there is no way they could have made a series from that. Again nothing scary. It was a book about dying teens who told each other stories at midnight. There was no over arching mystery involved. So the parts about the symbol and the patient who was cured are all new for this series.

What I do like about this is that there have been no good film adaptations of Pike's books. At least here were get snippets in the short stories the characters tell.

If you are looking for something more along the lines of Hill House or Midnight Mass, this isn't it. This is more like a more mature version of Are You Afraid of the Dark. For me, that's not a bad thing.

Starting with the positives. The main actors, although young, are very good. The dialogue remains mainly intelligent. And as the story takes place in the 90s, there are good moments of nostalgia, especially with the use of music among other easter eggs. Like all of Flanaghan's shows, the horror is in the subtext rather than the focus of the story itself.

A group of terminally ill young people, who are guests in a place where they can be themselves while they wait to die, gather at night to tell horror stories. And while the idea is good, the execution loses some coherence as the season progresses.

Midnight Club tries to do many things at once, it's a drama about terminal teenagers dealing with death in a seemingly haunted place and it's also an anthology series with stories ranging from horror to science fiction. And until the last 3 episodes, it's easy for the viewer to get lost in this amalgamation of themes. Unlike Midnight Mass, this series lacks a clear narrative thread. And the experience can be "challenging" at times.

Overall, I would say I liked the series, but I didn't love it. And I have no doubt that many other people will love this series because it has much to enjoy. But personally, I found some episodes a difficult task to overcome. The positive aspects outweigh the negatives. But this isn't my favorite Flanaghan series by far.

I give it 7 stars out of 10.