Netflix’s resident master of the macabre, Mike Flanagan, is back with yet another horror TV series that is sure to be the highlight of the streamer’s spooky season celebrations. In the wake of The Haunting duology and Midnight Mass, the Doctor Sleep director’s latest show for the platform is about to drop in a few weeks’ time. And you can catch the first trailer for The Midnight Club above.
As based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Christopher Pike, The Midnight Club follows eight terminally ill teens who become friends after being sent to the same hospice, Brightcliffe. Reminiscent of the similarly named Midnight Society from 1990s classic Are You Afraid of the Dark?, the adolescents meet up every night at the stroke of midnight to share scary stories, as well as making a pact that the first to die will contact the others from beyond the grave.
As you would expect, once one of them does pass over, strange things start happening at Brightcliffe, and the kids may regret messing with the spirit-world. If this hospital-themed horror is giving you Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors vibes, that’s likely deliberate as Flanagan has brought an icon from that seminal slasher franchise on board this project. Heather Langenkamp, most known as Nancy in the Elm Street movies, features as the enigmatic doctor in charge of the hospice.
This one is a real passion project for Flanagan, as he’s been trying to adapt this property before he even had the rights for it — leading to him landing a cease and desist notice. The series will skewer somewhat younger than his previous efforts for Netflix, however, as the writer/director has stressed that there will be fewer of his patented lengthier monologues this time around due to fears young adults would be bored by them.
Also starring the likes of Iman Benson, Adia, Igby Rigney, and Annarah Cymone, all 10 episodes of The Midnight Club are coming to keep you up at night on Oct. 7.