Movies - TV
The Underrated Stephen King Miniseries That Left A Mark On Midnight Mass
By ERIC VESPE
It’s no secret that Mike Flanagan is a fan of Stephen King and has even brought adaptations of his work to the screen with “Gerald’s Game” and “Doctor Sleep.” Although Flanagan’s Netflix series “Midnight Mass” is the writer/director’s original idea, it’s easy to see how one of King’s works influenced Flanagan while he made his series.
In "Storm of the Century," a 1999 original miniseries penned by King, a strange being with supernatural powers appears on a small, coastal island, and it's up to the town's sheriff, who works out of the community's sole grocery store, and a handful of islanders to stand up to this menace. While this premise may sound identical to “Midnight Mass,” the stories differ in some fundamental ways.
“Midnight Mass” is a much more spiritual story about humans wrestling with their faith and how it can be weaponized against them, whereas “Storm of the Century” is more about a community having to make an impossible choice. Flanagan is the first to admit that “Storm of the Century” greatly influenced “Midnight Mass,” as both share an island setting and a complex moral question at the center.