The Midnight Club

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.

I watched all ten episodes of The Midnight Club. What kept me watching? The creative writing. Decent acting. Fantastic atmosphere. Finally, I loved the choice of music.

What I had issues with, I was a Hospice nurse for all ages, and none of my residence looked so...healthy. They were not up all hours of the night, roaming around and climbing stairs. By the time anyone enters Hospice care - it is palliative care. Even my youngest of patients never exhibited the level of energy like the movie. It made it difficult to see them as dying.

The stories within the story were well-written, but took away from the shows main objective. As for the main objective, it can be interpreted in several ways, but I'm unsure what the creators were tying to convey.

I think too many things suffered a high level of ambiguity, and left me feeling like it needed a finish line.

I loved the setup! It's the right amount of grim (and not too over the top horror set ups that we generally see). I also loved the concept of midnight club - stories within the story.

I was hooked to the series for the first 2-3 episodes. Post that it just becomes confusing.

Here are my problems:

• The midnight club stories don't relate to the overall plot. Yeah, they have tried to include symbolism in it via connecting with the lives of main characters but it doesn't come off that well.

• The horror post 4-5 episodes just diminishes and the stories around love and friendship takes over (which is fine but this is supposed to be a good horror series so please!)

• Some characters are very irritating including the main one. You stop liking her as the episodes progress.

• The ending is blah!

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.