Missa da Meia-Noite

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.

Though Midnight Mass has Christian and biblical aspects, it's also crazy and amazing. As an atheist, I tend to stay away from most religious based shows/movies that promote religious dogma, however, this show does none of that! Mike Flanagan did it again, showing his brilliant imagination and putting it down on paper. The cast was fantastic as well!

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.

I am generally not a fan of religion mixed in with my horror but this was extremely well written. Maybe more of a thought provoking somewhat disturbing drama than horror. It was definitely worth the time. I never ever want to watch it again though. In fact I don't think I want to hear any sermons or speeches for a long while. However, unlike a lot of reviews I have read on this site I feel that the sermons were justified in making the story more impactful.