The Midnight Club Trailer Has Mike Flanagan Fans All Saying The Same Thing
Netflix's undisputed king of horror, Mike Flanagan, is back yet again with another terrifying tale for the streaming giant — "The Midnight Club" — which follows a group of terminally ill young adults as they bond over the telling of scary stories and the supernatural. On Tuesday, September 20, the very first trailer for the new series dropped online, causing longtime Flanagan fans to pretty much all say the same thing.
Geared towards a younger audience, "The Midnight Club" is set to star Iman Benson, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Annarah Cymone, Chris Sumpter, Adia, Aya Furukawa, Sauriyan Sapkota, Matt Biedel, and Samantha Sloyan, among others. Flanagan has said that his aim for the series was to take his sinister writing style and dark undertones and put them on full display for both adults and the underage masses. Using Christopher Pike's 1994 novel "The Midnight Club" as his official inspiration, "The Haunting of Hill House" and "Midnight Mass" showrunner plans to give viewers a serious horror entry that will not only terrify and entice, but also come with the possibility of a high body count, despite its younger target audience.
"[Pike's] work was hugely formative for me," Flanagan told Empire in early September. "He wrote some pretty advanced stuff for his younger readers, and it was not at all uncommon for his teenage characters to die, pretty shockingly. His books were full of things I found really exciting and thrilling and dark. So I became a bit of an addict." When watching Netflix's first trailer for "The Midnight Club," it's easy to see what Flanagan is talking about, especially when looking at all the similar fan reactions.
Social media is ready to have nightmares again with Flanagan's The Midnight Club
The first trailer for Netflix's "The Midnight Club" has pretty much won social media over, with countless fans and viewers saying they are ready to lose some more sleep again thanks to Mike Flanagan.
"I'm in," wrote Marvel writer Ethan Sacks on Twitter. "I'd follow you through the gates of hell after your previous series," he told Flanagan. "Er, that is not to be taken literally though." User @Tisdale Perry tweeted: "Really loved that last shot with the shadow detaching from the kid in the chair! Mike's been putting out consistently good content for horror fans, I feel like this will be another tally. Super hype." User @buiarsgf said: "I can't wait to get scared and cry my eyes out." @dumpsterdarling wrote: "omg looks like the perfect blend of heart and horror. I'm READY."
Speaking to Empire, Flanagan explained that he feels both young people and old can handle the frights being provided in "The Midnight Club." Just don't expect there to be any crazy acting monologues or lengthy speaking performances seen in some of his previous projects, like "Gerald's Game."
"I wouldn't subject a viewer of The Midnight Club to an eight-minute monologue," Flanagan said. The "Doctor Sleep" director has been very vocal about his love for acting monologues, with him once tweeting in October 2021: "Monologues are an art form that's increasingly rare in this fast food, short attention-span marketplace."
In terms of what to expect from "The Midnight Club," Netflix's official synopsis online describes it as a story about eight young adults who live at a hospice for the terminally ill and "come together every night at midnight to tell each other stories — and make a pact that the next of them to die will give the group a sign from the beyond." The 10-episode series is slated to drop on October 7.