(TV SERIES) The Midnight Club Season 1 - A Greatly Done Horror Mystery Thriller Series

After two days release on Netflix more than a week ago, I started watching this series as I was intrigued by the premise. But due to various reasons, somehow I was not able to complete the first season as fast as I would have hoped for. Which is why I only managed to finish it last night. Anyway, let's get right at it.

Brief Story Line

When high school graduate Ilonka (Iman Benson - BlackAF TV series etc) was diagnosed to have thyroid cancer, she decided to enroll in a hospice for the terminally ill young adults called Brightcliffe which was ran by Doctor Stanton (Heather Langenkamp - A Nightmare on Elm Street, Just the Ten of Us TV series etc) and assisted by nurse Mark (Zach Gilford - L. A's Finest TV series etc). In this hospice, Ilonka befriended with other patients that included the kind Kevin (Igby Rigney), his room mate Spencer (Chris Sumpter) and the bitter Anya (Ruth Codd) who later would be Ilonka's roommate. Aside from them, there were also the wealthy Cheri (Adia), the Church faithful Sandra (Annarah Cymone), the playful Amesh (Sauriyan Sapkota) and last but not least Natsuki (Aya Furukawa).

During her stay, Ilonka was informed of the regular activity by the residents every midnight where each would tell scary story and they also made a pact when one of them die first, the person would send a message to the ones who were still living. Things got stranger for Ilonka when she started experiencing scary visions in Brightcliffe. And while she was trying to search for answers, she got acquainted with their neighbor Shasta (Samantha Sloyan - Midnight Mass mini series etc) who seemed to know a lot about Brightcliffe. 

So what would happen to Ilonka and her new friends? You can find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

To be honest, when I started watching this, I only thought that it would be a spooky but standard horror series and not that scary. But as soon as the vision started it actually got me a bit of a shock because of the horrifying jump scare scene enhanced by the great sound effect use. And then came the first story told on that night which was bloody scary because of the continuous jump scare that was really disturbing. Even my wife was complaining because of the loud scream that happened multiple times and made her lose concentration. Fun fact: The first episode broke Guinness World Record for most jump scare scenes in a single episode of TV series. 

That episode made me felt this series to be interesting, even if it was terrifying. Although the jump scare scenes were reduced in the subsequent episodes, but each and every one of them always had something frightening. What really amazed me in the series was how they intelligently combine the various stories told by the hospice resident every night (which actually felt like episode of The Twilight Zone) but still manage to have the large story arc in tact. This is why even till the final episode, I was still hooked by the series.

I noticed on the credits in the beginning that it was based on The Midnight Club written by Christopher Pike. From what I read, the stories told in this series were based on Pike's other works (which were a lot). And if this series is indeed renewed for second season, it would also be telling his other stories. So I am looking forward to that. The series itself was created by Leah Fong and Mike Flanagan (director of Doctor Sleep, Gerald's Game and creator/director of Netflix's The Haunting series). It certainly explained why this series was good and highly praised by critics.

Watching this series though sometimes would give sad feeling, especially looking at the young residents who were supposed to have their lives ahead, managing their expectations and facing the bleak short future. On the other hand though, their resilience and closeness was really amazing and a joy to see. These young actors/actresses actually quite impressed me with their convincing performance. I love their short stories told in the midnight and I also like the relationship of these kids. There were few emotional moments obviously for a series where their main charaters were terminal cancer patients, but I thought the 10th episode was exceptionally saddening but beautiful at the same time.

Overall I enjoyed this series as it was able to combine engaging story with its captivating characters and the various scary/weird stories plus a bit of mystery. Even though the mystery was not exactly concluded (likely to be used for the future seasons), but the ending was not entirely a cliffhanger. So if you have the courage to watch this series, give it a try. If not for the mostly enjoyable short story in every episode, at least for the lovely story of these young adults.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars