Cosy horror for dark nights

Same nightmares. Different stories.

TV series · 2021

Midnight Mass

A mysterious priest arrives on a small, devout island and strange, sacred things start to happen.

Midnight Mass, an After Dark title card
Year
2021
Created by
Mike Flanagan
Starring
Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Hamish Linklater, Kristin Lehman, Samantha Sloyan, Igby Rigney, Rahul Kohli, Annabeth Gish
Seasons
1
Episodes
7
Network
Netflix
Country
United States
Original language
English
Kind of horror
Isolation, Gothic, Cult

An isolated island, a small and devout community, and a new priest whose arrival changes everything, slowly. That is as much as I will give you, because Midnight Mass unfolds so patiently that knowing more than the set-up rather spoils it.

Created by Mike Flanagan, this leans on dread rather than jump scares. Sermons, secrets and a community a little too willing to believe do the heavy lifting, and the horror grows out of faith itself before it grows into anything more obviously supernatural. It sits closer to unsettling than shocking, though it earns its darker turns when they come.

This is one for a long, quiet evening when you can give it your full attention rather than half a glance between other things. It suits anyone who likes their horror to simmer rather than jump out at them, and it rewards patience over rushing.

Go in knowing as little as I have told you here. It really is better that way.

If you like this, try

Film · 1979

Alien

A commercial crew answers a distress call and finds they are not alone on their own ship.

Book · 1897

Dracula

A young solicitor's business trip abroad turns into something he never signed up for.

Film · 2017

Get Out

A young man's visit to meet his girlfriend's family curdles into something far stranger than nerves.

Join the Club, free

The After Dark Top 40

Forty horror films counted down like the charts, from silent classics to new favourites, picked by Erin and sent the moment you join.