‘Midnight Mass’s Respect to Religion Is Revolutionary for Horror

Horror has always had an odd relationship with religion. On one hand, no genre references God or talks about the afterlife as much as this one. On the other, it’s hard to look at all these possessions and trips to hell as anything more than plot devices at best, or another fantastical flourish from Hollywood at worst. Yet despite transforming an angel into an actual vampire, Midnight Mass deftly avoids those pitfalls. For all of its jump scares, blood, and body horror, the limited series always remains respectful of both the Christian and Muslim faiths at its center. Mike Flanagan is one of the few creators who has accomplished the seemingly impossible, creating a show that’s critical of religious faith, without ever being cruel. Spoilers ahead for Midnight Mass. 

Hell and Christianity are near-constant themes in horror. They appear in the best of the genre, such as The Omen, Poltergeist, and The Exorcist; as well as the very worst, like the critically panned but commercially successful Ouija. But more often than not, religion serves as a set dressing for these projects. At their root, most religiously-focused horror movies deal with the same question: What would you do if something bad happened to someone you loved and you couldn’t explain it? The best of supernatural horror navigates this question without paying much attention to the theological debates circling this subgenre. The worst turns real people’s faith into a cartoon. That’s never the case in Midnight Mass because faith and religion are never a backdrop in this universe. They’re the entire point.

This is mostly seen through Father Paul (Hamish Linklater), a man whose blind faith nearly results in the end of humanity. In fact, it was his faith that first led him to Jerusalem. Though it’s never explicitly stated, Father Paul’s pilgrimage was something he never should have attempted in his diminishing mental state, yet he went because he believed it was what God wanted for him. It was his faith that drew him to this country. And when he was attacked and made young again by a mysterious creature, it was his faith that allowed him to believe that the being that attacked him was an angel, and not a demon.

Father Paul’s conviction is evident when he spoke about the creature during confession. “Behind him, the entrance of the church, I thought it must have been a church, it was an ancient church hiding an angel behind me, an angel of the Lord, afraid of the light, hiding in shadows. And I bowed, and I wept,” Father Paul says in Episode 3.

Even the most cynical reading of Father Paul’s decision to bring this monster back to Crockett Island echoes his faith. It could be argued that Father Paul actually knew that this creature wasn’t an angel, something that he alludes to in Episode 7. But instead of running from the being that restored his youth, he packaged it up, confident that it could help the dementia-addled mind of his secret love, Mildred (Alex Essoe). Even if Father Paul deep down knew that he wasn’t dealing with an angel, he had hope and faith that this creature was somehow part of God’s plan. That blind belief, rather than anything ordained from God, was what led to the murders and bloodshed that followed.

Repeatedly, that’s the question Midnight Mass explores: When is blind faith good, and when is it the result of human desperation? It’s a question that doesn’t dismiss or finger wag at Christianity. Rather, it holds a mirror to these characters’ selfish desires and, in turn, ourselves. Every time Crockett Island fell into chaos, it was the result of people being blinded by temptation, rather than the fault of religion itself. Father Paul was blinded by the hope he could get a second chance at his life and family.  Likewise, Bev Keane (Samantha Sloyan) leading the congregation on a blood-filled rampage was the result of her thirst for power, not any higher calling.

The corruption of man by earthly desires is something that almost all religious texts talk about at length. That’s what Midnight Mass dissects time and time again, not the validity of any one religion. By the end of the series, it still remains unclear if the creature Father Paul found was an angel, a demon, or something else entirely. And it ultimately doesn’t matter. It was the congregation’s response to this being that mattered most.

This respectful treatment also applies to how the show treats Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli). A devoted Muslim, the only things that Sheriff Hassan wanted were the safety of the island and for his son to be raised in the same faith as him and his late mother. When Bev challenged this by distributing Bibles to her students, Sheriff Hassan explained why that was a problem in Episode 3. Over the course of only a few minutes, he broke down some of the biggest misconceptions about the Muslim religion, explaining that he knows about Jesus, believes in the word of Jesus — known as the Gospel of Injeel — believes that the Bible contains some of the original word of God, believes that the Quran is the literal word of God rather than a text that has been corrupted by man’s interpretations, and that Muslims encourage everyone to seek knowledge and come to their own conclusions about religion. Throughout Sheriff Hassan’s explanations, he is the one presented as the voice of reason, never Bev. Once again respect and compassion to people are the traits Midnight Mass highlights, never who is “right.”

On that same note, Sheriff Hassan is one of the few people who is lifted as model for how religious devotion can be positive. Whereas Father Paul, Bev, and even to a lesser degree Erin (Kate Siegel) made big shows of their faith, Sheriff Hassan never did. He always remained kind and humble even as he dealt with those who were prejudiced against him and helped those his community had forgotten. Respect, humility, kindness in the face of hatred, and helping the needy are some of the biggest lessons that appear in religious texts time and time again. These often-preached tenets of Christianity are displayed through a Muslim man.

Ultimately, we don’t know what happens when we die. No one can say for a fact whether or not there is a God or what he or she deems to be right. Midnight Mass is the rare show that’s able to look that uncertainty in the eye and dissect it in a way that feels emotionally honest and fair. It’s never religion itself that’s on trial in Midnight Mass, but our relationship with it. That quiet respect to all people marks one of Mike Flanagan’s greatest creative strengths.

Watch Midnight Mass on Netflix