5 Years Later: Why Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass Still Resonates

The useful part

Mike Flanagan Gave Netflix One Of Its Best Horror Miniseries Streaming Netflix 5 Years Ago Today: Mike Flanagan Gave Netflix One Of Its Best Horror Miniseries By Eammon Parks Jacobs Sept. The series balances heart, tragedy, and horror in a deadly parable about faith and mob psychology.

How it works

• Set on the fictional Crockett Island, it follows a remote Catholic community whose lives are upended when mysterious new priest Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater) arrives to replace their aging monsignor.
• The creature becomes especially terrifying because of how it embeds itself in the community through the church.
• She and her followers then go on a gory rampage against the island's non-believers as Crockett Island burns around them.
• Five years on, he said "Midnight Mass" couldn't be made today because of how Netflix has changed.
• So it's a minor miracle that the show even saw the light of day, but thankfully it didn't burst into flames.

What to take from it

Her religious hypocrisy is displayed repeatedly, especially in her treatment of Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli), whose Muslim faith she disparages before later mortally wounding him. Prodigal son Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) also returns home to rebuild his life after accidentally killing a woman while driving drunk. Their parallel stories allow Flanagan to explore redemption and corruption while taking a fresh bite out of classic vampire mythology.

Example or evidence

• Father Paul secretly uses its blood during Holy Communion, seemingly curing members of his congregation of illness and restoring their youth while strengthening their faith in what they believe is a miracle.
• After the Angel turns Riley into a vampire, he refuses to surrender to his new thirst.
• In Episode 5, he takes Erin Greene (Kate Siegel) onto a boat and allows the sunrise to burn him alive, proving to her what is happening on Crockett Island.
• If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available.

Details worth keeping

24, 2026 8:30 am EST Eike Schroter/Netflix Add TVLine on Google: Midnight Mass puts a Catholic spin on classic vampire mythology Netflix The big twist in Netflix's horror miniseries is that Father Paul is actually Crockett Island's elderly monsignor, restored to youth after being attacked during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In other words, Father Paul has encountered a vampire.

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