---
title: "Midnight Mass"
year: 2021
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/midnight-mass"
fi1m_score: 72
critics_score: 73
critics_reviews: 10
published: "2026-09-17T13:52:39.016592+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-17T13:52:39.537051+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Midnight Mass (2021)

Created by Mike Flanagan · MPA TV-MA · Mystery, Drama

**Fi1m score: 72** · Critics 73 from 10 reviews

*In a sentence:* Every soul on this island gets a six-minute speech about death, and the new priest gets all the good ones

> Mike Flanagan’s seven-part island mystery is his most personal work and his most talkative. Hamish Linklater’s new priest is worth the whole run and the craft is patient and handsome, but there are more speeches here than seven hours can carry.

## Synopsis

Crockett Island, a fishing community in slow decline. Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) comes home after four years in prison for killing a young woman while drunk at the wheel. The same boat carries a stranger, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater), sent to stand in for the elderly Monsignor Pruitt, who has not returned from a pilgrimage. Erin Greene (Kate Siegel) is teaching at the school and expecting a child. Bev Keane (Samantha Sloyan) runs the parish and most of the people in it. Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli) keeps his head down. After a storm, dead cats wash up along the shore.

## Review

After [*The Haunting of Hill House*](https://film.one/tv/the-haunting-of-hill-house) (2018) and *The Haunting of Bly Manor* (2020), Mike Flanagan has made a series about a church. *Midnight Mass* puts a new priest on a dying island, fills the pews, and then asks, over seven episodes, what people are prepared to believe when they are frightened and what belief costs the people standing next to them. It is good, and it is worth your evening if slow, serious horror is your evening. It also talks more than any television we have sat through in some time, and we mean that as a fair warning.

Hamish Linklater is the reason to start. His Father Paul arrives soft-spoken, slightly rumpled, delighted by everything, and his first Mass is a small marvel of a man who loves the words and wants you to love them too. The show pairs him with Zach Gilford’s Riley in a one-man Alcoholics Anonymous meeting held in the parish rec centre, two folding chairs under strip lights, and those scenes are the best writing in the piece: a priest who believes and a man who has stopped, neither trying to win. Gilford plays Riley as somebody holding very still so as not to break anything. Kate Siegel gives Erin a plain steadiness that makes her the one person on the island you would trust with a secret.

Michael Fimognari shoots the island in long, unhurried takes, often from far enough away that the houses look like something left out in the weather. Night scenes are lit by whatever is actually there, a porch bulb, candles, the glow from the church windows, so the dark between them is real dark. Steve Arnold builds St Patrick’s as a small clapboard box with water stains on the ceiling and a rec centre that smells, through the screen, of coffee and damp. Andrew Grush and Taylor Stewart keep the music low, mostly held notes under the sermons, and hand the hymns to the congregation, who sing them badly and beautifully.

The supporting cast is uniformly strong. Samantha Sloyan’s Bev Keane is the parish bully, a woman who can quote scripture at you in a tone that suggests you have already lost, and Sloyan never once winks at us. Rahul Kohli’s Sheriff Hassan, the island’s outsider, does most of his work with a face that has learned to expect the worst and be polite about it. Annabeth Gish’s Dr Sarah Gunning carries the medical plot with tired good sense. Henry Thomas’s Ed Flynn, a fisherman who cannot forgive his son and cannot say so, gets the quietest performance and one of the two or three scenes we will remember.

Now the speeches. Five writers are credited, Flanagan among them, and between them they have given nearly every character a monologue about God, death or the universe, and several of them two. Some are wonderful. There is one, late on, in which two people sit and describe what they think happens when we die, and it moved us more than we had any right to expect, because it is written simply and played without a single tear. The next one, half an hour later, we agreed with entirely and found ourselves looking at the clock. By the fifth episode we had started to brace whenever anyone sat down.

What begins to happen in the church from the second episode on we will not describe. We will say that Flanagan is more patient with his reveal than most, that the last two episodes move faster than anything before them, and that the speed costs some of the people we had come to like. One critic found the whole thing absurd. We can see why, and we did not mind; a series this sincere about faith was always going to look ridiculous to anyone who arrived unwilling to kneel.

*Hill House* had the discipline. This has the heart, and it shows it to us at length, sometimes at the expense of the fear it is supposedly selling. Watch it with someone who will argue with you about God afterwards, and keep the remote to hand for any sermon you have already heard.

*Fi1m score 72, published 17 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like Midnight Mass, and more than one calls it Mike Flanagan’s best work. The praise gathers around the performances, with Hamish Linklater’s Father Paul picked out more than once, and around the decision to treat faith seriously rather than as set dressing for the scares. Reviewers describe it as more a meditation on religion and death than a straightforward horror, and most think that is a strength.

The reservations are about length and talk. Even admirers concede that the monologues run long, that scenes repeat themselves and that the middle episodes drift before a ferocious final stretch. Variety finds the series has passion but not the precision of Flanagan’s earlier work. The one clear dissenter is The Guardian, which argues the meditation collapses into absurdity and bloated dialogue, skilful jump scares and long takes notwithstanding. The spread is wide, from strong approval to flat rejection, with the argument turning on whether the sermons earn their running time.

### Reviews we read (10)

- **The i Paper**, Emily Baker (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it Mike Flanagan's finest work to date, an unsettling, compulsive and gory ecclesiastical masterclass in highbrow horror. They praise the cast's naturalistic performances that keep even the most implausible moments believable. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/midnight-mass-netflix-review-mike-flanagan-1217012)
- **Radio Times** (4/5): The critic finds it a fascinating, imperfect horror triumph that is hugely ambitious and stuffed with terrific performances. They single out Hamish Linklater's standout turn as the enigmatic Father Paul for praise while noting some chaotic elements. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/midnight-mass-review-netflix-comment/)
- **Empire** (70/100, inferred): The review describes it as a worthy, potentially divisive addition to Flanagan's canon, primarily a thoughtful though occasionally verbose satire on religion. It singles out the ferocious climax for praise after a slower build-up. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/midnight-mass/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Daniel Fienberg (70/100, inferred): The critic describes it as more a meditation on faith and religion than truly scary, but very committed to its faith and admirably bonkers. They highlight how reactions will come from a personal and primal place. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/midnight-mass-review-1235015775/)
- **Variety**, Daniel D'Addario (60/100, inferred): The critic notes that the series has passion but lacks the precision of past Flanagan works, calling it meandering at times. They praise its grappling with religious faith and exceptional performance by Hamish Linklater as Father Paul. [Read](https://variety.com/2021/tv/reviews/midnight-mass-netflix-review-1235067341/)
- **The Guardian** (40/100, inferred): The series aims for profound meditation on faith and existence but descends into absurdity and bloated dialogue. Flanagan shows filmmaking skill with jump scares and long takes, but the result is talky and fails to deliver. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/sep/24/midnight-mass-review-netflix-mike-flanagan-haunting-of-hill-house)
- **Collider**, Vinnie Mancuso (A-): The critic describes the series as a dense, profound experience on faith and humanity but occasionally frustrating due to its length and repetition. They single out the exceptional ensemble cast performances for praise. [Read](https://collider.com/midnight-mass-review-netflix-mike-flanagan/)
- **The Ringer**, Miles Surrey (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Midnight Mass as one of the best shows of the year for blending horror with deep spiritual questions and prioritizing emotional character development over scares. They highlight its humane portrayal of faith and community on a remote island. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2021/09/27/tv/midnight-mass-mike-flanagan-horror-series)
- **/Film**, Shania Russell (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it Flanagan's most haunting and personal work yet, praising its deep exploration of faith, religion, and existential dread along with strong performances. They note some repetition and length as minor drawbacks but find the emotional impact worthwhile. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/615139/midnight-mass-review-keep-the-faith-and-follow-mike-flanagan-down-a-haunting-rabbit-hole/)
- **Den of Geek**, Nick Harley (70/100, inferred): The critic finds Midnight Mass an ingenious but imperfect entry in TV horror, praising its ambitious themes of faith and existence along with strong characters and performances. They single out the excessive monologues, slow pacing, and overly ambitious theological musings as drawbacks. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/midnight-mass-review/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Mike Flanagan
- **Creator:** Mike Flanagan
- **Director:** Mike Flanagan
- **Writer:** Mike Flanagan, Jamie Flanagan, Dani Parker, Jeff Howard, Elan Gale
- **Cinematography:** Michael Fimognari
- **Music:** Andrew Grush, Taylor Stewart
- **Production design:** Steve Arnold
- **Producer:** Kathy Gilroy
- **Cast:** Hamish Linklater as Father Paul Hill; Zach Gilford as Riley Flynn; Kate Siegel as Erin Greene; Samantha Sloyan as Bev Keane; Rahul Kohli as Sheriff Hassan; Henry Thomas as Ed Flynn; Kristin Lehman as Annie Flynn; Igby Rigney as Warren Flynn
- **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA
- **Release (the US):** 24 September 2021
- **Genres:** Mystery, Drama
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UV8vmWXlY

## Where to watch in the US

- Netflix: streaming

*Checked 2026-09-17.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Haunting of Hill House* (2018), Fi1m 80: Flanagan’s earlier family haunting, tighter and more frightening, with several of these faces. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/the-haunting-of-hill-house.md)
- *The Wicker Man* (1973), Fi1m 90: A policeman, an island, a congregation that is not what it says it is. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-wicker-man.md)
- *Ordet* (1955), Fi1m 86: Dreyer’s Danish farmhouse drama takes miracles as seriously as this does, and more quietly. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ordet.md)
- *First Reformed* (2017), Fi1m 86: Ethan Hawke’s ailing pastor keeps a diary and loses his footing; Schrader at his sternest. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/first-reformed.md)
- *Calvary* (2014), Fi1m 81: Brendan Gleeson’s Irish priest is given a week to live by a parishioner. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/calvary.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/midnight-mass