Some horror stories start in the dark, but this one starts in church.
Midnightmass which is created by Mike Flanagan, it’s not only a supernatural drama but also an unsettling meditation on how faith can heal, divide, and devour. The series places its terror in hymn books, in whispered prayers, and in the deep longing of people who have run out of hope.

Crockett Island is a place that the world has forgotten. The fishing industry has collapsed, there are no jobs, and grief hangs in every living room. Religion is the only thing that people are holding on to. There was a young priest called Father Paul who came to the island to fill in for monsignor, who was the town’s priest.

After a while, miracles start to happen. There was a girl who was paralyzed and started walking again, and an old lady who had memory loss started to remember. The people in the church were shocked but also happy that miracles were happening. For a moment, it felt good until faith started to fill like hunger.

Light spoilers ahead.

The Eucharist is meant to symbolize the body and blood of Christ, but it becomes literal. What should be sacred was turned into something else. Resurrection stopped being spiritual; it became physical, violent, and irreversible. The people in the town did not question anything and continued to believe it was salvation.

The people there were not ignorant or naive; they were just glad that someone finally brought them miracles. Some of them were grieving parents, recovering addicts, tired workers, and lonely believers.

Father Paul was played by Hamish Linklater. He wasn’t a villain in the series since he genuinely loved everyone there and wanted to help them. He thought everything happening was a miracle from God, and the vampire he met at the cave was an angel who gave him his powers. He thought everything he was doing was the will of God and didn’t know that what was happening was not something holy.

Then there is Bev Keane, who was the embodiment of religious pride. She used scripture like a weapon and wrapped cruelty in righteousness. If Father Paul represents misguided love, then Bev represents faith without humility. Together, they show that when belief doesn’t have compassion, it becomes a tool of control.

Riley Flynn and Erin Greene provide the moral and emotional spine of the story. Riley was haunted by guilt after causing a fatal accident and decided to returns to the island to search for meaning, while Erin was grieving in silence and tried to hold on to a gentler kind of faith. They had a late-night conversation about death and the afterlife. One of them believes that when we die, we return to nothing, but the other believes that when we die, we return to love.

Midnight Mass is stunning visually. The candlelight flickered against stained glass, then Fog drifted across the docks like a whispered prayer, and the pace is deliberate. It was unfolding more like a confession than a thriller. Some viewers may find it slow, and Others may find it sacred. The monologues are long, but they carry weight, grief, theology, guilt, and hope.

The performances were fearless, for example, Samantha Sloyan’s who plays Bev, is chilling in her composure, while Kate Siegel’s who plays Erin, is soft but unbreakable, and Linklater, who plays Father Paul, is one of the most emotionally complex portrayals of faith gone wrong in modern television.

Midnight Mass is unforgettable because of its humanity and supernatural twist. The real horror in the movie was not only the creatures in the shadows but also how good people choose not to have compassion and conscience creature in the shadows. It is the moment when good people choose devotion over compassion, ritual over conscience. The series does not mock religion but warns people about what can happen when faith loses its humility.

Even years later after its release, Midnight Mass still resonates because it is current and timeless. Some people fall into fanaticism because they are desperate to be saved.

So, should you watch it? Absolutely, if you’re willing to sit with uncomfortable questions about God, death, and the cost of unquestioned belief.

Midnight Mass ends with a quiet truth: faith can be a beacon. But without love, it can also be a fire that consumes everything in its path.