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Midnight Mass

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The typical Flanagan fare wraps poignant stories of family, community, and unremitting optimism around horror-filled centers. This combo has made him a perfect collaborator with Netflix, the home of most of Flanagan’s recent work. In all of the films and series he’s written for the network so far, Flanagan has created tales whose horror plots draw broad audiences and whose rosy themes appeal directly to middle America. Flanagan’s Netflix partnership has also given him an enormous audience; The Haunting of Hill House, arguably his most successful project, was one of the most-binged series of 2018.

As my Year of the Vampire continues, I’m searching for more fangy stories. Midnight Mass was included in the Audible membership and strangely enough, I’ve yet to read any Wilson. This book wouldn’t encourage me to seek out another offering. Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on: The characterizations here are great, though a tad clichéd, and the different perspectives give each personality greater meaning. You'll root for the ragtag rebellion, and laugh and cry along with them as they struggle to regain humanity's hold on the world.When I was a kid and in Bible study, the horror elements embedded in the Bible are impossible to ignore,” he said. “You’ve got angels patrolling through Egypt and slaughtering the firstborn. You’ve got the river turning to blood. You’ve got plagues of locusts, and a pillar of fire. And you’ve got a God who’s thrilled to just murder people at will and full of wrath. You’ve got demons, you’ve got talking serpents, you’ve got people being torn apart, torture, and it’s all there.”

We'll have to wait and see, but it feels like there will be. How did the miracles happen? (Scientifically, speaking) But networks passed on the ideauntil the success of The Haunting anthology saw Flanagan receive the sweet green light from Netflix. I read to the end of the book because the plot had its hooks in me and I wanted to see how things would work out. With the benefit of hindsight, the knowledge wasn't worth the trauma - which means my experience pretty much mirrors that of the 'good guys' in the story. When the teenage girls of the world (and some of their moms) were dividing into Team Jason or Team Edward, I had already declared for Team Buffy. First of all, it's BUFFY. Second, I've always been more interested in the vampire hunters. Too often, the vampire geeks of the world seem like sad types with low self-esteem, the kind who, in more extreme cases, become serial killer groupies. Wilson takes some shots at Anne Rice novels and goth-type vampire-wannabes who find that getting what you want isn't always so great. (Not every victim gets turned; some just die horribly.) Also, Wilson has a lot of former investment bankers, politicians, and lawyers becoming vampires or the human weasels who help them, a touch that I liked.The climax, however, is more puzzling than stirring, proving chaotic in ways that ultimately don’t make much sense. That doesn’t necessarily undermine the more interesting aspects, but as it closes the books, “Midnight Mass” triggers too much soul-searching about whether it was worth the time investment. These are not the romantic vampires of Interview with the Vampire or Twilight. That is shown very early in the book, but neither are these the drooling horrors of Nosferatu. Also, each "get" or generation of vampire is different from it's progenitor, a little less human. In this book, the hunters have their work cut out. The vampires have taken over the entire eastern hemisphere and are well into their assault on the New World. The mortal world needs a savior, and he is Father Joe, a priest with a past. He is helped by his niece an atheist lesbian martial artist, a killer nun, and Zev the cross-wearing rabbi. There is an uncomfortable subtext involving Jewish-Christian relations, what with the efficacy of the cross against vampires and the mass death of Jews who refused the pragmatic step of wearing a cross. Wilson is careful to say that the power of the cross symbol might pre-date Christianity. He also has a Jewish hero and Christian villians (One of the main vampires is a pedophile priest.), and Wilson's main villians, religion-wise, are people who break ethical rules as opposed to theological ones. If there's a theological standpoint in the novel, it's that religious divisions and intolerance are dangerous. Flanagan does express skepticism over the human-created idea of “God’s plan” early on in Midnight Mass. If he’d leaned harder into that skepticism, perhaps the series’ premise would have more heft. But it seems he would rather pay less attention to what scares and disillusions us (even though in 2021 there’s so much to scare and disillusion us) and spend more time on what connects and unites us. I can see where others might find comfort in that. Yet despite their aesthetic loveliness, tonal tenderness, and popularity, Flanagan’s stories often seem to trade narrative precision and craft for emotionality. There are glaring unanswered questions, incoherent finales, and plots that frequently become muddled by what appears to be Flanagan’s determination to make horror that feels literary and optimistic rather than tropey and dark. His focus on the brighter parts of humanity often creates a sharp, sometimes confusing dissonance between the genuinely scary stories he weaves and the worldview underpinning them.

I sat up late and finished this book last night. It's not a "bad book" I didn't hate it, but I had some gripes and it really didn't hold my interest. Vampires control all of Europe, India, the Far East and the major cities in North and South America. It seems that nothing can stand in their way and that humanity will become cattle for the harvesting, the source of the blood of life. I know it sounds like a very bad and probably socially unacceptable joke, but this was my first thought when I started reading this book by F. Paul Wilson. But it actually does this very dark and serious vampire apocalypse fiction a disservice. Midnight Mass is prime example of why Wilson is on my top three list. Compared to a lyrical artist like Barker - Wilson's no frills stripped down prose is perfect for me. Wilson is focused on the important stuff, story and characters. No one plots a novel or epic tale like Wilson, while this stand alone novel doesn't entirely showcase that strength as well as the Secret History of the World stories, this novel is perfectly plotted.The series will incorporate several other of Pike's novels and feature Zach Gilford, Samantha Sloyan and Matt Biedel, who played Riley Flynn, Bev Keane and Sturge respectively in Midnight Mass, along with several moreof Flanagan's growing acting troupe. Unlike with Midnight Mass, Flanagan will direct only a couple of episodes (it's not yet been announced how many there'll be). The vampires were a boring mafia organization of jerks with human goons under their long-nailed thumbs. Oh and the humans on their team were marked by a long stupid earring. What, no weird tattoo or cool scar? Unlike Flanagan’s Haunting series on Netflix, Midnight Mass isn’t embedded in the ghost story aesthetics the writer-director is known for. There is a different sort of insidious nature to the threats here. Wherever faith and religion are, fundamentalism and fanaticism are not far behind. A wild-cat infestation is flourishing on the island, rumored to have been caused by people bringing pets from the mainland. The kitties' diet has been slightly unconventional. Up until the '20s, residents used to bury their deceased family members in their yards. During a particularly major storm, the Uppards area of the island would overflow and corpses would wash up on the beach... and the cats would feed. Somewhat helpfully, this infestation is handled in the days following the Angel's secret arrival.

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