The Midnight Club is the latest Netflix horror series from Mike Flanagan, the creator of Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Bly House and The Haunting of Hill House. And it appears that Flanagan has once again delivered the streaming service a wonderfully spooky TV show just in time for Halloween.
Premiering last week (Friday, October 7), The Midnight Club has already climbed into the streamer's most-watched list currently ranking in the No. 2 spot only behind Dahmer, which just become Netflix’s second most popular English-language show of all time.
Flanagan’s latest horror effort is also enjoying a strong critical reception and its first episode broke the Guinness World Record for the most jump-scares in an episode of a TV show with 21 terrifying moments. It's safe to say, The Midnight Club definitely isn’t for the easily frightened.
What is The Midnight Club about?
Based on the Christopher Pike novel of the same name, The Midnight Club centers on a group of eight terminally ill teenage patients at the Brightcliffe Hospice, a mysterious repurposed manor with a dark history.
The teens meet at midnight every night to tell scary stories and form a pact that states whoever dies first must attempt to contact the remaining members of The Midnight Club from beyond the grave.
What started as a harmless agreement between friends quickly becomes something much more sinister after one member of the club dies and bizarre occurrences begin to happen around the manor. Is The Midnight Club being contacted by one of their own or something with darker intentions?
What do critics say about The Midnight Club?
The Midnight Club is enjoying a fairly strong critical reception. The show currently scores 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is coincidentally the exact same score Midnight Mass received in 2021. Unfortunately, its audience score is a disappointing 59%, suggesting that Netflix subscribers maybe aren’t as impressed as critics.
The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus reads: “Mike Flanagan's hot streak of heartfelt horror stories continues strong in The Midnight Club, a tale of terminal teenagers told with jolts and joie de vivre.”
Al Horner of Empire gave The Midnight Club a mostly glowing review, saying: “A departure in some ways and classic Flanagan in others, The Midnight Club is another affecting entry into the prolific filmmaker’s array of stories that make us think differently about mortality and morality.” Meanwhile Brain Tallerico of RogerEbert.com called it a “gateway drug for potential new horror fans.”
Variety’s Daniel D’Addario suggested that the show is for a slightly younger audience than Flanagan’s previous work: “The mix of personal stories among the teens has the power to resonate with anyone, but one suspects this show will find its most attentive audience among high-schoolers with stiff constitutions and strong nerves.”
Nick Harley of Den of Geek wasn’t quite so impressed, saying: “While The Midnight Club has some solid one-off tales within, there’s too much bloat and not enough story to recommend it to anyone beyond fans of the book series or Flanagan faithfuls.”
Should you stream The Midnight Club?
Spooky season is in full swing with Halloween itself only a couple of week away, and The Midnight Club appears to be a great pick for Netflix subscribers looking to binge something scary this month.
Fans of Flanagan’s previous Netflix shows will no doubt want to apply for membership, and horror-fanatics will surely get a kick out of the casting of Heather Langenkamp (Nancy in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) as the enigmatic doctor who oversees Brightcliff Hospice.
Netflix’s The Midnight Club looks to be another horror winner for the streamer, and while the audience reception hasn’t been quite as positive as the critical take, this is still one late-night meeting you’ll definitely want to attend.
