The Midnight Club

Mike Flanagan's new Netflix show is a full-on love letter to Christopher Pike's unflinching horror sensibilities.

Each of these kids is waiting to die, some with humor, some with disaffection, others with defensiveness, and many with a sense of anger. Instead of death being the worst thing that can happen to these character, what’s instead made important is the loss of their stories. We’ll allow the name-dropping in this instance, as it’s a pretty fantastic way to look at the body of Flanagan’s work up to this point, and gives remarkable insight into Flanagan’s own state of mind as he finishes up The Midnight Club. Set in the ‘90s and built from Flanagan’s memories of purchasing brightly-colored Pike novels (the colors, he mentioned, were the reason he chose his shirt for NYCC–a vibrant teal bowling shirt with neon-pink pockets) at Scholastic book fairs, Flanagan recalled reading them and passing them around to all his friends, feeling like they were getting away with something. “I hate jump scares,” he said after accepting the award, “now, whenever anyone asks me to put in more of them, I can tell them, ‘You know, as the current world record holder for most jump scares in an episode of television… “I want to leave something for my kids,” Flanagan said at the breakfast. “Having witnessed the following episode of The Midnight Club,” the judge said, holding the plaque in his hands, “I have determined that the first episode of The Midnight Club has beaten the previous world record of 14 scripted jump scares in a single episode of television.” The new world record is now 21 scripted jump scares. Midnight Club is a series that is not as prone to monologues as his previous work, but it is just as weighty, full of gravitas, and working with subject matter that in a way that in unflinching, honest, and darkly funny. During a breakfast meet and greet with io9, Flanagan said that he often reflects on a piece of advice he received from Guillermo del Toro, “Filmography,” del Toro apparently said to Flanagan, “is biography.” But when she arrives, she begins to see visions of ghostly presences in the home, and her nightmares start to haunt her waking moments. As terminally ill children meet up nightly to tell each other stories as part of their bonding ritual while staying at hospice, something begins to stalk them in the night, pulling stories out of the shadows. By contrast, The Midnight Club has been written as open-ended and is aimed at a younger audience.

The series based on Christopher Pike's '90s horror books has scored a Guinness World Record for the most jump scares in one episode — 21 in fact. And 17 of ...

[ if you can't handle jump scares,](https://mashable.com/article/fear-of-horror-movie-jump-scares) maybe turn the volume down on this scene. In one story, in episode 1, Natsuki tells a tale inspired by Japanese horror films that involves a school girl ghost that simply will not stop jump scaring a boy just trying to walk down the street. Each night, they sneak into the library and tell each other spooky stories they've created, in order to reveal more about themselves to their friends but also just to scare the shit out of each other.

Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong's new series might be grim and even depressing sometimes. Still, by the end of the season, it becomes clear this is another horror ...

Georgia to have a long talk with Ilonka about accepting death and living the most out of the time she still has. It’s a tender moment that underlines how life goes on at Brightcliffe, with all the members of the Midnight Club getting support from their found family while they try to do the most they can with the bit of time they have left. By night, she takes the statue to the Midnight Club, shares the news with her friends, and confesses to her crimes. In the middle of the ritual, Shasta tells everyone to drink a cup of tea. For a moment, Ilonka believes the ritual saved Sandra and that the Midnight Club only needs to get all the procedures right next time. In the basement, Shasta sits in the middle of a circle, surrounded by the three women and Ilonka. So, she’s not ready to face the harsh truth that the magic of Brightcliffe might not be real. Julia indeed was healing and is the only patient ever to get out of the hospice alive. Ilonka’s research leads her to believe Julia’s miraculous recovery was the fruit of a ritual inspired by the Paragon. And since so much happens in so little time, it might be easy to feel a little lost about the fate of every main character. While every patient of Brightcliffe is there to have a death that’s as peaceful and painless as possible, Ilonka chose the hospice after learning of a terminal patient who survives, Julia Jayne. Editor's note: The below contains major spoilers for the ending of The Midnight Club.The Midnight Club has a depressing background, as it tells the story of a group of terminal young people who meet at a hospice, a place they go to wait for death.

The Midnight Club is the latest horror series on Netflix from Mike Flanagan, creator of shows like Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House.

It’s disappointing that those two sides of The Midnight Club never fully gel together, but the ghost stories and the core group of young stars is enough to carry the show. In comparison to the rest of the show, the overarching supernatural mystery feels both underdeveloped and unfinished. Part of what lured Ilonka to the hospice in the first place was the story of a young girl performing a ritual that ultimately cured her. These tales are the highlight of The Midnight Club. And since this is a Flanagan series, there are also some familiar faces for returning fans (including Cymone and Rigney, who were in Midnight Mass). Flanagan regulars include the likes of Rahul Kohli (Bly Manor, Midnight Mass), Zach Gilford (Midnight Mass), Robert Longstreet (Hill House, Midnight Mass), Samantha Sloyan (Hill House, Midnight Mass), and Henry Thomas, who’s in all of them. This is essentially what’s happening in The Midnight Club, except it feels much more natural and interesting: the monologues are the story. The eponymous club is exactly what it sounds like: at midnight, the kids sneak out to the library, sit at a big table while wrapped up in their housecoats, and as they describe it, “make ghosts” by telling each other stories. Sandra (Annarah Cymone), meanwhile, is the lone religious member of the group, and everyone complains when her stories eventually devolve into “angel porn.” On the one hand, there are the kids and their stories. [The Haunting of Hill House](https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/28/17911720/haunting-of-hill-house-review-netflix-shirley-jackson-mike-flanagan) in 2018, showrunner Mike Flanagan has been on a steady run of dramatic horror series on Netflix. Hill House was about a family growing apart, while [The Haunting of Bly Manor](https://www.theverge.com/21508362/haunting-of-bly-manor-review-netflix) was a puzzle box crossed with a love story.

The Midnight Club begins in Sacramento, California. The year is 1994, and high school senior Ilonka (Iman Benson) is ready to leave high school behind and ...

While everyone heads to bed for the night, Ilonka and Kevin stop in the hallway for a moment to look at the picture of Julia. After sharing her story, Ilonka has to make one more commitment before joining the Midnight Club – if she is the first to die, she has to do everything in her power to reach out to them from beyond the grave. However, now that her “expiration date” is uncertain, she has been cursed with the knowledge of the exact date that other people around her will die. Ilonka follows her to the library, where Spence opens the door for her. Ilonka is such a good kid and student that her foster dad, Tim (Matt Biedel), encourages her to go out and “break the rules” for once in her life. That night, Ilonka has a dream where the other residents of Brightcliffe are lying dead around the table we saw earlier, with the hooded figure still at the head of it. She sees the facility not as a place for teens to keep fighting their illnesses, but rather as a safe place that gives them “permission to leave the battlefield” and go out on their own terms. Tim tries to put on a brave face and keep her in a celebratory mood, but after they learn that the tumors in Ilonka’s lungs didn’t respond well to treatment, and she may or may not survive another year, Ilonka starts to look at other options. Stanton, Ilonka is taken to meet her peer mentor, Spence (William Chris Sumpter), who takes her on a “ghost” tour of the house. She runs to the bathroom, where she sees a flash of spooky images – an old man with black eyes, a house, a boy in a plaid shirt sitting on a cliffside bench, and a hooded figure sitting at the head of a table in front of a roaring fireplace – before fainting. From Ilonka, we learn that it was a halfway house during the great depression and that a cult called the Paragon called Brightcliffe home in the 1940s. She dyes her hair red and practices her salutatorian address in the mirror before “sneaking out” to a college party with her friend Lauren (Taylor Dianne Robinson).

Mike Flanagan's latest Netflix series "The Midnight Club" takes place at a teen hospice.

But even this adult admired “The Midnight Club” as a relatively complete example of the best of Flanagan’s approach throughout his Netflix work — using horror as a way to probe the worst things that might happen to somebody, arriving at a place of curiosity and compassion about grief and loss. (And, more so than on “Stranger Things,” adults are a glancing and occasional presence, with Heather Langenkamp and Zach Gilford playing, respectively, the founding doctor and the nurse practitioner of the hospice.) Ilonka is both a star student and an idealist; she researches Brightcliffe, a facility to which her foster father can take her to be placed into hospice, and holds in reserve a secret hope that there will, there, be a miracle cure for her.

Netflix's The Midnight Club, from the creator of The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, is based on the popular teen book by Christopher Pike.

As for whether or not Brightcliffe is a real place, unfortunately the answer is no. However, the story's origins in real-life make the spooky series even more fascinating. Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. However, that doesn't mean that the idea for The Midnight Club isn't based on something real. The setting also lends itself to the sinister, with hints of the occult and ghosts roaming the halls at nights. Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Sadly, Pike's inspiration didn't live to see the finished product, but the book remains a tribute to the young patient that inspired him. Pike began writing letters and speaking to her on the phone, which is how he learned about the tradition that took place at her hospital every night. However, Ilonka arrives at Brightcliffe believing that the building can help cure her cancer. Whether or not the ghosts are really there or figments of the imagination conjured by strong painkillers is always unclear. The teens make a pact with one another: that whoever dies first will attempt to send a message from the afterlife, in order to keep hope alive for all of those left behind. [Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/08/the-midnight-club-netflix), the main character Ilonka (portrayed by [Iman Benson](https://www.instagram.com/imanbenson/?hl=en)) is, in fact, based on a real person, who was responsible for giving Pike the idea for The Midnight Club.

In an interview with Teen Vogue, Ruth talks The Midnight Club cast, filming experience, and why her disability doesn't define her.

Teen Vogue recently sat down with Ruth to chat about the new series, her favorite horror movies, and the surprising liberation of having her leg amputated. Casting a newcomer was a bold move, but, given the fact that Flanagan cast the Irish actress for his next Netflix series, The Fall of the House of Usher, it’s safe to assume she’s a natural. In the series, Anya is an amputee with a terminal illness, living in hospice with seven other terminally ill youth who meet every night and swap scary stories.

The Midnight Club proves that giving meaning to each chapter makes the whole story more interesting, raising the emotional stakes of an anthology.

Since each individual story connects to the overall drama of The Midnight Club, the anthology format actually serves a greater purpose. Giving meaning to each chapter makes the whole story more interesting, and when the emotional stakes are higher, every wacky horror story hits harder than if it was presented as a self-contained tale. Stories don’t come from the void but our everyday experiences, and at each meeting of the Midnight Club, we can witness how different people process real-life events in their own way. And since everyone has their own idea of what makes a story good, the result is frequently unbalanced. While there’s a lot to unpack in The Midnight Club, the series deviates from Flanagan’s previous works by mixing the expected horror drama with an anthology format, in which each episode presents a brand new story to the audience. Contrary to most anthologies, though, every story of The Midnight Club is excellent.

Heather Langenkamp plays the mysterious Dr. Georgina Stanton. Eike Schroter/Netflix. Just like Mike Flanagan's other horror shows, The Midnight Club is a ...

In 1993, a young cancer patient asked him to write a story about her and the kids in her ward, who had started a "Midnight Club." While a portion of the house's facade was set up on the filming site in Pitt Meadows, Vancouver, the majority of the exterior was created through VFX magic. The story of The Midnight Club is based on Christopher Pike's young adult novel of the same name. Natsuki then shares that her mother told her a story about a "thing," an "eater of years" or "the years eater" which looked like an old woman. (This contradicts Ilonka's research -- she says the house was built in 1901.) Maybe this musical connection is supposed to suggest that Stanton is far older than she appears and that her longevity has something to do with this "marvel" of a house. In the police reports Ilonka reads, Julia disappeared from Brightcliffe for a week. Like Ilonka, Julia was also diagnosed with thyroid cancer in the throat as a teenager. The old newspaper clipping says that the New Freelan Estate was finished in mid-1898 and that it's "truly a marvel of architecture." Maybe Stanton managed to keep Julian alive thanks to the Paragon's methods, but it came at a price: Julian now exists as a sort of in-between being. To keep him alive, Stanton has been using the house and its special properties -- that's why she goes to great lengths to keep Julia and the new Paragon cult out of the picture. The origins of the Paragon cult are all recorded in a diary that was kept by the cult leader's disillusioned 16-year-old daughter, Athena. Aside from Easter egg references to [Flanagan's previous works](/culture/entertainment/netflix-midnight-mass-ending-explained-mike-flanagan-the-haunting-easter-eggs/), the first season of the [Netflix](/culture/entertainment/netflix-the-50-absolute-best-tv-series-to-watch-tonight/) series uncoils an unpredictable mystery with a satisfying ending.