Is it even possible not to love Mike Flanagan’s Netflix thriller The Haunting of Hill House? In 10 episodes, the filmmaker created a world where ghosts are real, and it’s hard to escape your childhood fears. Although that sounds miserable (and the show is definitely sad), Flanagan told such an impressive story that you have to smile while watching, even with all the tragic storylines.
The Midnight Club is not only one of my favorite Flanagan series, but a favorite in general. It has a creepy hospice setting, and the main characters tell intriguing, scary stories in the dark. Although watching young adults who are dying sounds too upsetting, Flanagan made sure there were some uplifting moments. And when comparing The Haunting of Hill House and The Midnight Club, it’s clear that the latter deserves just as much credit for telling a genuinely moving and tragic story.
Mike Flanagan’s ‘The Midnight Club’ Explores the Same Themes as ‘The Haunting of Hill House’
Most rank The Haunting of Hill House as Mike Flanagan’s best Netflix horror show, but I think it’s Midnight Mass. But I also don’t think enough people talk about how impressive The Midnight Club is. It’s a more interesting depiction of family (in this case, found family), death, and forming emotional connections than Hill House.
While the Crain siblings grew up in a haunted home and have a challenging dynamic as adults, the teenagers at the heart of The Midnight Club create a family. They’re all in the same situation (knowing they’re going to die), and they are raw and vulnerable with one another. People often joke about how you can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends, and you can pick friends who feel like family. That’s what Illonka (Iman Benson) and the others do once she arrives at Brightcliffe Hospice.
There are countless examples of complicated families in pop culture, and it can be compelling to watch siblings who still fight and relatives who never let each other grow or change. But I think it’s even more interesting to watch characters who create connections with each other and who aren’t just naturally in each other’s lives because they’re related. Nell Crain (Victoria Pedretti) is definitely traumatized by the Bent-Neck Lady, and her siblings’ lives are ruined by death and the way that Hill House forces their parents to neglect them.
However, perhaps The Midnight Club explores the concept of losing people you love even more powerfully. It’s hard to imagine the pain of being a teenager and knowing you don’t have many years left, and that you might only have a few months. Knowing you’re going to lose several good friends who have become family is even worse. The Midnight Club characters do what a caring, supportive family should: help each other through the bad days and try to find something to smile at, even if it’s a scary story in the middle of the night.
‘The Midnight Club’ Almost Had a Second Season (Unlike ‘Hill House’)
What’s more impressive: a good thriller miniseries, or a TV series that can continue for another high-quality season? Thankfully, we don’t really have to choose, since there are so many great streaming and network shows of various lengths.
If I had to decide whether The Haunting of Hill House or The Midnight Club should have gotten a second season, I would have to say the latter. No matter how good the former is, most would likely agree that it ended nicely. At the conclusion of Episode 10, the Crain siblings are doing much better. Another season would have ruined the happy ending, and it wouldn’t make sense to create more obstacles, tragedies, or ghosts for the family to deal with. If Mike Flanagan turned it into an anthology series and made a second season about new characters, that wouldn’t feel necessary, either. (After all, that’s kind of what he did with his five Netflix series).
I liked reading about the storyline that Flanagan wanted to include in The Midnight Club Season 2. When Netflix canceled the show, Flanagan wrote in a blog post that he wanted to adapt the Christopher Pike book Remember Me. Ilonka would tell a scary story based on this novel as she’s thinking about her death, and Anya would portray Ilonka. Flanagan wrote:
“Because this is how we live on, isn’t it? In the minds of those we leave behind. And Ilonka would use REMEMBER ME as a way to imagine her dear friend Anya, waking up as a ghost, navigating the afterlife.”
I’ll admit that I became emotional while reading Flanagan’s words, and it would have been tricky to watch these episodes without tearing up. While I was okay to leave the Crains in the past after finishing The Haunting of Hill House, it’s hard not to think that The Midnight Club could have kept telling spooky stories forever.
- Release Date
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2022 – 2022-00-00
- Network
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Netflix
