El club de la medianoche

Not a bad series, some creepy "ghost" moments, but don't buy its boast of "most jump scares in a single episode" (that being the first episode, where I actually found myself saying, "oh, enough already"... my first legitimate jump wasn't until episode 3 or 4, and even that was mild.) Some of the stories the characters tell at their club meetings are good enough. And while their personal stories and issues lend themselves to some touching moments, the series is held back by its highly implausible premise and plot holes (terminally ill kids spending their last months living in a dorm where parents only show up once-a-whatever on Family Day, a grand total of two adults in the entire hospice, neither of whom apparently supervising or checking in on these medically fragile teens at night. A hospice where a teen is left to die in a deserted ward completely alone. And where on Earth are these kids getting bottles of wine every night?) Who knows, maybe too much eye-rolling made me miss all those jump-scares, but after five episodes, I'm passing on the rest.

Mike was seriously becoming my favorite director during Haunting at Hill House. I loved Dr. Sleep and how it finally told the ending to the Shining story. It made me go back and watch every single piece of work he directed and I loved most of them but not all.

Unfortunately, I am not sure if its the producers, Netflix, or some other "entity" out there, but I feel like he is losing his touch or "rinse and repeat". The scare tactics are the same. I don't mind the reusing of actors from time to time as I get it...he has some favorites. The slow melancholy piano music is getting to be the same over and over. I am starting to feel another M. Night Shyamalan coming on with a few great works but it goes down hill from there.

Please, Mike, for the sake of your fans...evolve. You have a gift of story telling that could make you one of the best out there....but your fans need more than "rinse and repeats". Transform the thriller industry. Take a step up and not back, and give us something that we want to watch over and over, tell our friends about, and always come back as one of the classics.

This Midnight Club had some good story telling, some good scares, some good plots, some good emotions, some good acting, some good directing....but you are better than mediocrity. Mike, become what we all think you are capable of.

Starting with the positives. The main actors, although young, are very good. The dialogue remains mainly intelligent. And as the story takes place in the 90s, there are good moments of nostalgia, especially with the use of music among other easter eggs. Like all of Flanaghan's shows, the horror is in the subtext rather than the focus of the story itself.

A group of terminally ill young people, who are guests in a place where they can be themselves while they wait to die, gather at night to tell horror stories. And while the idea is good, the execution loses some coherence as the season progresses.

Midnight Club tries to do many things at once, it's a drama about terminal teenagers dealing with death in a seemingly haunted place and it's also an anthology series with stories ranging from horror to science fiction. And until the last 3 episodes, it's easy for the viewer to get lost in this amalgamation of themes. Unlike Midnight Mass, this series lacks a clear narrative thread. And the experience can be "challenging" at times.

Overall, I would say I liked the series, but I didn't love it. And I have no doubt that many other people will love this series because it has much to enjoy. But personally, I found some episodes a difficult task to overcome. The positive aspects outweigh the negatives. But this isn't my favorite Flanaghan series by far.

I give it 7 stars out of 10.

The Midnight Club is not really horror. It has horror elements but it's mostly teen drama. If you're expecting a series along the lines of Mike Flanagan's previous Netflix horror series', you may be disappointed. But if you go into it knowing that it's based on young-adult rather than classic literature, perhaps you can appreciate it for what it is. The Midnight Club is based on material by highly successful YA author Christopher Pike, not on classic ghost stories by writers like Shirley Jackson or Henry James.

Since I knew going in what the source material is, I was expecting a teen drama with some horror elements, and that's exactly what this is. It started pretty strong, lots of mystery, and the characters drew me in. Most of the cast are very good, and the series is beautifully shot. There's no mistaking that this is 100% Mike Flanagan. And like everything Flanagan does, it's heavy with emotion (at times too heavy).

Unfortunately, it does get slow about halfway through the season, it's a bit hard to follow at times, and it just doesn't have the same magic that Hill House, Bly or Midnight Mass do. I still found it moving and entertaining, but I didn't love it. There are too many unanswered questions and disconnected ideas. Rather than moving slowly and leaving all those unanswered questions for a probable season 2, I would have preferred Flanagan had stuck to his formula of one-season stories that move quickly and wrap up nicely in the end.

I have great respect for Mike Flanagan and his vision and ability to tell a story with both horror and heart. Though by no means terrible, The Midnight Club is not his best. I still have high hopes for The Fall of the House of Usher. Flanagan has proven what he can do with classic horror. I can't wait to see what he does with the works of Poe.

**Unlike some others, this review was written after watching the whole season.

Started off really intriguing and wanted to watch more but as I got past episode 5 I found it rather dull & boring and quite predictable.

Some of the stories were boring too and spent the last few eps on my phone.

I'm glad I watched it but it's not something I'd watch again. Not anywhere as near as good as Midnight Mass but still looking forward to Mikes new show The Fall of the House of Usher.

Shame really as it started off better than it ended but it was great to see Heather L from Nightmare on Elm Street but made me feel a little old!

I'd recommend watching it if you want something to casually view and not get engrossed in.