The Midnight Club

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.

The curse of "Stranger Things" means every sci-fi/macabre concept involving teenagers will seemingly have its day on TV, with "The Midnight Club" as the ...

As for the broader secrets, “Midnight Club” is in no hurry to disgorge those, perhaps hoping curiosity will pull viewers into a second season. The diverse makeup of the key group and approach to things like LGBTQ rights give “Midnight Club” a contemporary feel, despite its foundation in the past. Ultimately, such series rely on their characters, and this show comes with a pronounced young-adult spin. Ilonka, for example, is drawn to Kevin (Igby Rigney), who seems eager to comfort those around him and, in the clandestine meetings, keeps stretching out his late-night tale. Georgina Stanton (Heather Langenkamp), tasked with gently guiding these fragile young souls through the process of understanding and accepting their fates. It’s creepy, to a point, but moves at a crawl, while focusing on the provocative if unappealing premise of eight kids with terminal illnesses.

From deep-cut cameos to the 'Oculus' Lasser Glass.

[Igby Rigney](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/igby-rigney/) and [Annarah Cymone](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/annarah-cymone/) play club members Kevin and Sandra following their turn as Warren and Leeza in the dark drama. [See Also](https://www.tvinsider.com/1064118/the-midnight-club-world-record-jump-scares-mike-flanagan/) ['The Midnight Club' Breaks Guinness World Record for Jump Scares](https://www.tvinsider.com/1064118/the-midnight-club-world-record-jump-scares-mike-flanagan/) And I think there are a couple of little nods to [ [The Fall of the House of] Usher ](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/)in there. “It wasn’t quite in the right place to leap out at you, but it’s visible,” Flanagan promises. They’ve also worked on Oculus, Gerald’s Game, Hush, and [The Shining](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/the-shining/) sequel Doctor Sleep. Apart from the cameos, Flanagan points out, “there are a couple little clever turns of phrase and some dialogue that are fun. But yeah, if you can find Hamish, I think that’s a real Easter hunt victory there.” In other words, get out your magnifying glass because there’s an Easter egg hunt on the horizon. Meanwhile, as previously teased, The Midnight Club features easily recognizable Flanagan actors including Attending a press breakfast at the Netflix offices in New York City, TV Insider asked Flanagan and Macy about the hidden details they hope fans find. “I’m not gonna tell you where, but someone will put it up pretty soon,” he followed up, noting that eagle-eyed viewers may spot the piece from his 2014 horror flick. [Hamish Linklater](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/hamish-linklater/), [Carla Gugino](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/carla-gugino/), and [Kate Siegel](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/kate-siegel/) in the show.” [The Haunting of Hill House](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/the-haunting-of-hill-house/) and [The Haunting of Bly Manor ](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/the-haunting-of-bly-manor/)to 2021’s impactful [Midnight Mass](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/midnight-mass/).

Here's what Mike Flanagan fans should know about the ending of Netflix's The Midnight Club and how its season 1 finale changes one character's role in the ...

The Midnight Club’s season 1 finale throws that assumption out the window and forces us to ask: Has Stanton secretly been a member of the Paragon this whole time? Either way, fans will, unfortunately, have to wait until The Midnight Club returns with more episodes to find out the truth about Dr. Therefore, if it turns out that Stanton is, in fact, Athena, that would explain both why she knows so much about the Paragon and why she was so against Ilonka and her friends attempting to replicate the cult’s practices. After all, Stanton takes a hard stance against the Paragon and its teachings throughout The Midnight Club’s first season by frequently admonishing both Ilonka and Julia Jayne (Samantha Sloyan) for their obsession with the former cult. As a matter of fact, the closing moments of The Midnight Club’s season 1 finale even unveil a twist that very few will likely see coming. That said, it’s not like episode 10 of The Midnight Club is an entirely ambiguous or open-ended hour of television.

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.

Mike Flanagan's YA horror series grapples with how a life, or a story, comes to an end.

Such a setup alone would make for an enthralling YA horror anthology, what with many a tale riffing on everything from Black Swan to The Terminator and wrestling with what it means to let go of those you love and those you wish would in the trappings of self-contained vignettes. On the one hand, this is a serialized story about a group of teenagers grappling with death. (To some of us ’90s kids, the setup will evoke Are You Afraid Of The Dark, even as the themes and gore of some of these late-night larks are decidedly more R-rated—and plenty scarier!—than that classic Nickelodeon series.) This is a series that revolves around a hospice for terminally ill teenagers, so the very idea of how a life (and a story) ends is very much at the forefront of Fong and Flanagan’s adaptation. Every midnight, the teens at the hospice gather at the library to distract themselves from their everyday life and tell each other stories: “To those before, to those after,” they intone, “To us now, and to those beyond. [The Haunting Of Hill House](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/the-haunting-of-hill-house) and [The Haunting Of Bly Manor](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/the-haunting-of-bly-manor), he proved himself adept at exploring every nook and cranny of this centuries-old storytelling device for those who, like him, are interested in the afterlife—both from a narrative as well as a spiritual perspective.

While I am frequently critical of many Netflix originals these days, there's one thing that the service has gotten right, the nurturing of the career of ...

The first two were spins on the concept of the haunted house, laden with family drama and introspection. Fans of his past work will also be glad to know that previous cast members like Rahul Kohli and Zach Gilford are set to reappear. I don’t know if The Midnight Club is destined to shoot up to the top of Netflix’s charts to unseat Dahmer, as that show is a monster (in more ways than one), but it’s been clear that Netflix recognizes the value in their relationship with Flanagan, and they keep letting him do whatever he wants. Here’s the synopsis: One night they make a pact that the first one to succumb to their disease is responsible for communicating with the others from beyond the grave. Flanagan started in horror movies, and you may have seen Oculus or Hush around a decade ago.

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.

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.

Netflix's latest horror series from Haunting favorite Mike Flanagan has officially dropped and the stars stopped by TV Insider and TV Guide Magazine's ...

Sitting down for the interview, above are [Igby Rigney](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/igby-rigney/), Langenkamp, [Aya Furukawa](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/aya-furukawa/), [Sauriyan Sapkota](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/sauriyan-sapkota/), [Chris Sumpter](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/william-chris-sumpter/), [Adia](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/adia/), [Iman Benson](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/iman-benson/), [Annarah Cymone](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/annarah-cymone/), and [Ruth Codd](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/ruth-codd/). Catch the full video, above, and don’t miss The Midnight Club on Netflix. But Furukawa has another idea, noting that “I feel like surprisingly it might be Ilonka and Anya.” “There’s one [scene] of her where she’s walking down a hall, she has this real [b**tchy] face on,” Sapkota apologetically shares and Codd agrees. While they couldn’t spoil plot points, they took time to answer questions about working together and what viewers might think of their characters. [Emily Aslanian](https://www.tvinsider.com/author/emily-maas) features many of the young stars at the center of the series inspired by Christopher Pike’s work, as well as [A Nightmare on Elm Street ](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/a-nightmare-on-elm-street/)vet, [Heather Langenkamp](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/heather-langenkamp/), who plays Dr.

Heather Langenkamp said she connected on a deeply personal level to her role as Dr. Georgina Stanton, founder of a hospice home for terminally ill teens, ...

It's not really surprising that it is a bunch of teenagers having a laugh some of the time." She is extremely optimistic as a whole," Benson said of Ilonka, who also sees ghosts in the house and believes the place holds a secret remedy for the diseases killing her and her friends. "The youth are funny." Everyone thinks I'm so nice and so sweet -- and I play the devil." She is bad, really bad," the actress laughed. How would I live and what kind of friendships would I want to make?'" she said.

"The Midnight Club" is one giant tribute to Christopher Pike; here are all the Easter eggs you may have missed and how they compare to the YA novels.

Based on the 1994 book of the same name by Christopher Pike, creators Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong's "The Midnight Club" primarily focuses on Ilonka (Iman.

In fact, Rel has been created by Christopher in the future, and he has arrived in the past for a purpose that he doesn’t remember. So, Christopher (the version from the future, of course) needs to kill Rel and ensure that his vision of fearless humanity stays intact. Through that, he learns that the only way to stop humanity from devolving into a race of emotionless robots is if Christopher never goes into robotics and stops seeing humans as machines that can be fixed. Natsuki says that she made it out of the car, and her mother found her in that horrifying state (which reminded her of how Natsuki’s father died by suicide). The rest of the Midnight Club also gets to bid goodbye to a dying Anya by crafting a story of how she marries Rhett and lives in a place in the suburbs where her neighbors are all members of the club. When Christopher goes away to his mother’s place, Rel uses the VCR and learns that Christopher and his mother are about to be murdered. This does lead Imani to the love of her life (Kevin), but it also shows her that she’s going to lose him during a robbery. When Imani’s mother dies while trying to save a girl, she goes searching for answers in the dark of the night (something that witches like her aren’t supposed to do). This practice of crafting a story around what one wants to do for a fellow Midnight Clubber is visible in Ilonka’s story about Imani (Ilonka) and her witch mother, who have healing powers and the ability to see the future. Because that’s a sign of your self-awareness, and you can work on that with the help of others. Hence, she makes a pact with the devil (Stanton) and gives birth to the mirror version of herself. However, his mood is lifted when he bumps into Vincent (Rahul Kohli), and he tells Luke to do a demo run of his new game and succeed in it.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for The Midnight Club season 1 on Netflix. If you binged The Midnight Club — created by the showrunner who brought us The ...

The ending of season 1, however, was left open, with a clear hint that more could be explored at Brightcliffe. But that also means you're probably eagerly awaiting a season 2 announcement, given how much the first season leaves unanswered even as it tells a complete, moving narrative. But this was very much designed to continue.

It's Amesh's Deathday, so everyone is celebrating by taking edibles on the beach. Amesh tells a time-travel sci-fi story. A recap of season one, ...

I’m guessing that’s just a fun, ultimately meaningless little connection, because I doubt Amesh is going to be the Big Bad. The biggest problem is that it’s too much like a real simulation, and it’s impossible to beat. Aceso (named after the Greek goddess of the healing process), had started the group as a naturopathic alternative to the medical establishment. It’s a tantalizing note to end on — a suggestion that we’ll finally get to see some spooky rituals. Anya confesses that she “killed her parents”; they went looking for her one night when she’d snuck out to party, and they hit black ice while driving, leading to a fatal accident. Ilonka later realizes Anya has a DNR, leading to a crisis of conscience, but Dr. Despite Athena’s efforts to get through to her mother, Aceso went through with the large-scale blood sacrifice she was planning, poisoning all the adults to let her live longer. Amesh says that all he ever wanted was to get the girl and save the world. Unfortunately, Becky is dating Ray, the son of a politician, but Luke makes an unexpected connection with his game-genius hero, Vincent Beggs (Rahul Kohli: good as always even with the spotty American accent). Luke, who has a bad heart like Amesh has a bad brain, is a high schooler who designs strategy games and has a crush on a video-game-store clerk named Becky (played by Natsuki, obviously). “See You Later” is generally a strong episode for The Midnight Club’s supporting characters — showcasing Cheri’s generosity and diving deeper into Amesh and Natsuki’s flirtation. In fact, it’s a standout episode for Cheri, who also gives a present to Ilonka: a wig made by a famous wigmaker working with her mom.

It's easy to forget that the Midnight Club members are terminally ill teenagers, what with all the ghostly goings on and all those cult secrets to explore. But ...

In the story a famous video game designer called Vincent (Rahul Kohli) offers Luke the opportunity to play a new, state-of-the-art video game. [Ilonka](https://the-midnight-club.fandom.com/wiki/Ilonka) and [Kevin](https://the-midnight-club.fandom.com/wiki/Kevin) returning to find [Anya](https://the-midnight-club.fandom.com/wiki/Anya) passed out on her bedroom floor. Ilonka starts off proceedings, stating how she saw a ghostly woman looming above Anya and recounts the old music she heard in a drowsy state. His story involves a geeky student called Luke (played by Amesh), who is in love with a girl called Becky (played by Natsuki). [Spencer](https://the-midnight-club.fandom.com/wiki/Spencer) delivers a heartfelt speech and Amesh takes off his funeral clothes, symbolically burying them in the sand. Ilonka believes that everything is linked, the cult, [Julia Jayne](https://the-midnight-club.fandom.com/wiki/Julia) and the Midnight Club. [Cheri](https://the-midnight-club.fandom.com/wiki/Cheri_Ian) gifts Ilonka with a brand-new wig and the gang gather for Amesh’s death day party. [Amesh](https://the-midnight-club.fandom.com/wiki/Amesh)’s party. It is a member of The Paragon’s diary, explaining the history of this unusual cult. In 1931, Regina Ballard formed the group, which was supposed to be a new age health philosophy. This is a series that will have a special place in a lot of fans’ hearts. An emotional party brings the brutal reality of the teens’ situation to the forefront once more.

Two midnight stories told early make way for the show's most streamlined, high-stakes, moving storyline yet. A recap of season one, episode six of Mike ...

In general, there’s a palpable sense of love in this core group dynamic, and that makes this ensemble enjoyable to watch, even when the show’s pace is a little too leisurely and its emotional beats a tad too treacly. Cancer may not be about winning or losing, but in light of Ilonka’s healing fantasy and her difference of philosophy with Stanton over the course of this episode, failing Anya feels like the biggest loss of all. Each of them draws blood and leaves a bloody thumbprint on Anya’s forehead, leading to a small but very moving moment when Spence assures her, “You know that you can’t get it this way, right?” (alluding to his AIDS diagnosis) and she replies, full of love, “I wouldn’t care even if I could.” The ritual Shasta suggests requires the blood of five women, like the Five Sisters, so she offers her own in addition to Ilonka, Sandra, Natsuki, and Cheri’s. “I’m waiting on cancer with a Molotov and a machete,” she says, and in the moment, you can get swept up in her determination. Ultimately, your body’s reaction to a virus has little to do with bravery or toughness, and there’s little you can do to swing the odds in your favor outside of finding good medical care. Fortunately or unfortunately, she runs into the devil on her shoulder, Shasta, who uses a silly bug metaphor to “disprove” Stanton’s gravity thesis and offers to help Ilonka try to heal Anya. She urgently asks if there was anything weird when Ilonka arrived; Ilonka did, in fact, see a message written in sheets on the floor reading “DON’T” after sneaking Anya to the basement. Stanton might as well be the scryer in that moment, because by the end of the episode, it’s possible Ilonka has done exactly what Stanton cautioned her against. But before Ilonka can finish her story, Anya passes out right on the desk and the story is dropped entirely. Her vision threatens to come true when they pull up to the familiar liquor store; she convinces Ben not to go in but Scottie (Anya) goes instead. But since both stories are told at the beginning of the episode, getting them out of the way early makes for interesting pacing, with the meat of the plot of this installment going to the most streamlined, high-stakes, moving storyline yet.

In Episode 2 of The Midnight Club, Anya is the one with the story. We recap “The Two Danas.”

The vision once again caused her to faint, and she awakens on the ground with Kevin standing over her, making sure she’s okay. Ilonka knocks on the bathroom door, and Anya tells her to go on without her. Kevin covers for Ilonka so that she can escape with the file, but before she can run away, she has another vision. Tonight, Anya is the one with the story, which she names “The Two Danas.” The story is about a girl from Ireland (who is also played by Ruth Codd) who gets accepted to a prestigious ballet school in America. Ilonka returns to Brightcliffe and finds everyone else in the library folding paper cranes while Cheri plays her cello to provide “ambience.” Amesh’s “before I die” list includes folding 1,000 paper cranes in order to hopefully get a wish from the Gods, and his friends begrudgingly agreed to help. After she and her family move, she starts to resent the pressure she feels to be perfect and wants to experience the fun things in life. Just as Ilonka is about to collect some spring water, she meets Shasta (Samantha Sloyan), a woman who lives on the edge of the property. Stanton reassures him, and the group, that they are free to grieve whatever they may miss after they are gone. Cheri (Adia) is next, sharing that she is grieving the pets back home that she will likely never see again. The theme of this group therapy session is “What do you grieve?” Amesh (Sauriyan Sapkota) shares his sadness knowing that he won’t live to see the PlayStation, as trivial as that may be. Even though don’t know her diagnosis, and we only catch a brief glimpse of Tristan when Mark (Zach Gilford) goes in to care for her, her prognosis doesn’t look great. Anya awakens from a nightmare wherein the shadow completely surrounds her to find Ilonka making tea in their room.