Mike Flanagan and Netflix’s collaborations are nothing short of successes. From The Haunting anthology series (The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor) to Midnight Mass, the filmmaker has brought a lot of horror to the streaming platform. A teaser trailer for Flanagan’s new series, The Midnight Club, recently dropped, and the premiere date was also announced: October 7. The series appears to have a different feel to it, but it is still very much Flanagan’s work.
The show is based on the nineties book series by Christopher Pike (pseudonym of Kevin McFadden). Pike’s novels are usually compared (due to their similarities) with another YA horror author, Goosebumps writer R. L. Stine. Stine’s book series, Fear Street, was also adapted by Netflix into a film trilogy. Flanagan will bring Pike’s unique horror story to the small screen. Following a group of teenagers with terminal diseases, they meet every night to tell scary stories and look for evidence of the supernatural. The group decides to make a pact: the first one to die has to contact the others from the beyond.
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Flanagan’s TV series movies are able to time and time again connect deeply with audiences while still scaring them. He has an innate ability to bring deep emotion and great characters into traditionally scary stories Here is why he is the best person to make this adaptation and how his style is already seen in the trailer.
Mike Flanagan’s Horror
Netflix
Flanagan’s series and films have some elements that are particular to the filmmaker’s way of telling a story. His stories tend to have deeply flawed characters that have undergone some sort of trauma in their lives, and are trying to deal with them. The horror either comes as a manifestation of the trauma or the barriers on the long road toward healing. It can be addiction or alcoholism, like Luke in The Haunting of Hill House or Riley in Midnight Mass, or dealing with death and loss, like Hannah in The Haunting of Bly Manor. All his stories are deeply embedded with emotional plot lines and heavy subjects. So, there was no one better to adapt a tale about terminally ill teenagers that are searching for ghosts.
Another element of his work is the carefully constructed atmosphere, which is already visible in his new project’s teaser trailer. The setting is crucial for Flanagan’s stories, and most of the time, it can even be considered as a character of the story (the island in Midnight Mass, the house in Haunting of Hill House, the bedroom of Gerald’s Game). The place where the characters of Midnight Club live, Rotterdam Home, a hospice where people live for teenagers with a terminal illness to die, is a crucial aspect of the narrative and the group of teenagers. The big fireplace, the dark corners, and the elongated windows intrigue the viewer and, at the same time, disclose a lot about these characters and this story
Also, Flanagan is known for his work with adaptations. The Haunting series is based on different classic works of horror literature, The Haunting of Hill House and The Turning of the Screw. But the filmmaker also adapts modern novels, especially if they were written by the king of horror himself, Stephen King. Flanagan adapted and directed Stephen King books with Gerald’s Game (also produced by Netflix) and Doctor Sleep. Because he already has such a vast knowledge of how to make an adaptation work, The Midnight Club has everything in its favor to be not only good but great.
The Midnight Club Teaser
The teaser trailer starts with an ominous mansion during the night, which appears to be one of Flanagan’s preferred elements of ambiance. The chilling chanting (“To those before. To those after. To us now. And to those beyond. Seen or unseen. Here but not here.”) is also something that has a ring to Flanagan’s other work, like when Dany saves Flora in the finale of The Haunting of Bly Manor chanting the deadly “It’s You. It’s Me. It’s Us.” The hidden shadows that appear under flashes of lightning and booms of thunder, as well as the quick editing, seem familiar in a very good way.
The filmmaker also likes ensemble casts, and in the teaser alone, there are eight characters - not counting the hooded figure that appears for a split second at the end of the table. The teaser trailer, with just a few seconds over the one-minute mark, already explicated a lot about these characters’ personalities. From the way they speak or how they interact with their surroundings to even the different mugs and cups they use to toast, Flanagan’s ability to have characters with very different personalities (disclosed through subtle cinematic gestures) is already present.
The Midnight Club is Different For Flanagan
At the same time, this is the first time Flanagan’s group of protagonists are not adults. The book series belongs to the Young Adult genre, recommended to 14-year-old to 18-year-old teens. It will be interesting to see Flanagan’s horror techniques being used in a more teenage-focused narrative, and how he can do so without minimizing any of his brilliant scares. He has worked with younger actors before in his other projects, but until now, they were not the protagonists.
There is a playfulness already present in the trailer, as the shadow of a monster-like hand tries to touch one of the characters; Flanagan isn’t known for his playful or whimsical nature, but with The Midnight Club, it makes sense. In a project with a more targeted adult audience this choice might not work as well, but in this particular show it does.
Mike Flanagan is one of the most prominent horror filmmakers today. Diving into a slightly different territory with his new series has the potential of adding a lot to his body of work. Flanagan’s other upcoming horror show, The Fall of the House of Usher, an adaptation of a few Edgar Allan Poe short stories, is also expected to air this year, but there have been no updates. Fans will have to wait until October to see more of this unique group of teenagers and their adventures - or at least until the official trailer drops.
