‘The Midnight Club’ Season 1 Review – A Spooky Teen Series With A Mystery That Unfolds Slowly

Netflix’s new teen horror series, The Midnight Club, meshes the supernatural intrigue and teen melodrama of Stranger Things with the spooky ghost stories of Nickelodeon early 90s series, Are You Afraid Of The Dark. For those of you who have no idea how the latter relates to this new series, it borrows the concept of a group of teens sitting around and telling each other creepy stories.

A group of terminally ill teenagers living out the short remainder of their lives in hospice gather nightly to tell each other creepy stories. Along the way, several mysteries unfold, and the kids come across a mysterious cult that may or may not hold the key to their salvation.

The series opens on highly intelligent and ambitious teen orphan, Ilonka (Iman Benson), being diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Her plans to attend an Ivy League school are quickly derailed as her diagnosis becomes more and more grim. Much to her adoptive father’s chagrin, she finds Brightcliffe, hospice for terminally ill teenagers that allows them to live out their remaining days with dignity and on their own terms.

After she arrives, she’s quickly inducted into the mysterious Midnight Club, which has existed for generations. Each night, the sickly teens gather in the morgue and tell each other creepy stories. These meetings serve as a backdrop and a way of propelling the series main mystery forward, as the kids come across a story that implies that their illnesses can be cured using an ancient ritual. They’ll all soon discover that nothing is as it seems, and that they shouldn’t tamper with forces beyond their comprehension.

Iman Benson does an excellent job of acting an audience surrogate and character who exists at the center of this talented ensemble cast. Ilonka is a smart and capable heroine whose curiosity lands her, and the others, is dangerous situations, but allows the story to move forward in a believable way.

Ruth Codd’s portrayal of the snarky Anya is also great. While the character initially comes across as a bitchy foil for Ilonka, Codd’s tough, but vulnerable portrayal of the character makes her someone you can’t help but to care about. The episode during which we get Anya’s backstory was one of my favorites, and she emerged as one of my favorite characters overall.

Igby Rigney portrays fellow terminally ill resident and Iloka love interest, Kevin. He acts as a great support system to Ilonka and the fact that the two feel so familiar with each other adds another layer of intriguing mystery to the series. Kevin has a girlfriend back home, and his conflicted feelings on whether to follow his heart and be with Ilonka, or die a good guy by not breaking his current girlfriend’s heart adds an interesting layer of teen melodrama to this grim series.

The cast is rounded out by several other teen characters like soft-spoken Sandra (Annarah Cymone), gamer Amesh (Sauriyan Sapkota), openly gay Spencer (Chris Sumpter), the friendly, but habitual liar Cheri (Adia), and quiet Natsuki (Aya Furukawa). Each is given at least a semblance of a backstory or issues their dealing with ranging from broken friendships to overly religious parents and homophobic parents. All the characters are enjoyable, even if their backstories aren’t fully delved into.

The adult cast is stacked with actors from series creator and showrunner, Mike Flanagan’s, other successful horror properties for Netflix. Samantha Sloyan, Zach Gilford, Henry Thomas, Rahul Kohli, and may others. The adult cast definitely help elevate the series. The greatest piece of casting, in my opinion, is the inclusion of the famed scream queen herself, Heather Langenkamp, as a doctor who treats and watches over the kids. The character is mysterious and there’s a promise that more will be revealed about her as the series moves forward.

One of the best parts of the show was the stories the kids would tell each during the meetings of The Midnight Club. The show’s actors also portray the character in the stories they tell, and many of the stories are very abridged versions of novels written by author Christopher Pike, whose own novel serves as the source material for this series. It’s deliciously meta on so many levels and is the strongest aspect of this show.

If you’re looking for a spooky series with a mix of horror, mystery, and teen drama, check out The Midnight Club. 

The Midnight Club is currently streaming on Netflix.