Midnight Mass is a Midnight Miss

I prefer to laugh than scream, so I don’t watch scary movies or tv shows. However, it’s October and I’m willing to risk being scared in order to enjoy a good story.

This week, I watched Midnight Mass, which is the third season in the Haunting of Hill House series on Netflix. Similar to American Horror Story, each season is a new story, but many of the same actors have portrayed different characters each season. The first two seasons, which I was somehow talked into watching were indeed scary, but their stories were worth the fright.

The same cannot be said for this season. Other than one or two jump scenes, Midnight Mass was not frightening. It’s possible that it is scary and I’m just not afraid anymore, but that would probably be giving myself too much credit. I actually set up my camera and filmed myself watching the first few episodes to try and get footage of me being scared, but got nothing. I’m not that upset that it wasn’t scary though because the story wasn’t good enough to be worth being scared over.

There are seven episodes, about 1 hour each. The first 6 episodes are all a slow build up to the finale, each with its own 5 to 10 minute monologue from one of the characters in order to explain who they are and why they do what they do. It doesn’t feel natural at all and it reminds me of the long drawn out speeches you’d hear in an Aaron Sorkin show like The West Wing or The News Room. After a few minutes of listening, I actually became less interested in the characters. The season feels pieced together with many things not being explained and the finale is just another long drawn out episode with no real climax, which makes the first 6 episodes feel even more meaningless. All in all, just not worth watching as it fails on both counts. Thankfully, with the way the show is set up as different series, this season doesn’t take away from the first two. If you’re looking for a good scary story, watch one of the first two seasons or take a chance on something else. Midnight Mass is a Midnight Miss