- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: Sep 24, 2021
Critic Reviews
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A couple of minor surprises are too easy to predict and there is a whole subplot about dead cats that doesn’t fit in. The series is doomed for ever to be almost great. When the end comes at last, there is a lot of fire and viscera, but no rapture.
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As is often the case with such fare, Midnight Mass begins as a creepy, provocative horror yarn and finally can't deliver on its promise. Created by "The Haunting of Hill House's" Mike Flanagan, the Netflix series deserves praise for its distinctive ambitions and jolting surprises but too often plays like a long-winded sermon, frittering around the edges of its homily.
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While some of the show’s themes are talked to death, others wither away, undeveloped. In trying to cram so many ideas into Midnight Mass, Flanagan has left himself with a jumble of mixed metaphors and overwritten soliloquies with not enough terror to cancel them out.
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With a seven-hour runtime it has plenty of room to roam — too much, in fact — but at about the one-third mark the screenplay starts chipping away at the mysteries with some concrete, recognizable horror elements.
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There’s much to savor here, too, which makes the oversized sense of purpose and meaning frustrating. “Midnight Mass” has something to say. It just can’t help saying it too loudly—and without bothering to stop and spook us out.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 60 out of 73
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Mixed: 9 out of 73
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Negative: 4 out of 73
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Sep 28, 2021
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Sep 30, 2021
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Sep 26, 2021