In an era of TV thrillers, essentially updated with limited-edition series that told a separate story in one season, two of the biggest horror miniseries that premiered last Halloween revolved around vampires, small endangered towns. Chapelwight adapted Stephen King’s short story “Jerusalem’s Lot,” where vampires appeared in a 19th-century New England coastal town to introduce their dark god.
While Midnight Mass has long been the passionate work of acclaimed horror film director Mike Flanagan, a community in the Pacific Northwest takes on a character mistakenly portrayed as a holy benefactor before the brutal truth is revealed. And each of these limited series has its take on vampires, with a handful of thematic similarities.
Religion and bigotry shape both Chapelwaite and Midnight Mass. The two stories show vampires creating their cult of personality to create a willing army of proselytes and famous people to do their part. This is a little tighter for Chapelwaite as the vampire Jakub makes a cult called the Promised One that worships him and his fellow vampires while helping them acquire the evil Grimoire De Vermis Mysteriis to summon themselves and immerse themselves in the ancient love-making creature The Worm. the world in eternal darkness.
Midnight Mass is more intense in this sense as it explores the darker side of organized religion. At the same time, a secret vampire preacher makes his church believe that a creature accompanying him is an angel — even if he’s a vampire — as the series explores its nature. of faith and spirit how it amplifies the positive and negative aspects of one’s mood.
More than surface similarities on earth, the actual connective tissue between Midnight Mass and Chapelwaite can be found in Stephen King. Obviously, with Chapelwaite – it’s a complete adaptation of King’s work – while Flanagan was a huge fan of King and has adapted several King stories in the past, most notably Doctor Sleep 2019.
Even with Midnight Mass as Flanagan’s original creation, he shared, This Narrative DNA involves similarities in rhythm, with the two stories deliberately starting to put together their respective casts, before the action and horror escalate terrifyingly, ending in something like a grim, blazing victory over the dead, at the expense of the company or family, depending on the story.
The King’s influence in both stories is particularly evident in one simple truth: ordinary people can be just as vicious and monstrous as the real-life monsters the protagonists face. Carrie’s rival is not Carrie herself, but her high school tyrants and their zealous religious mother.
In Chapelwaite, the racist residents of Preacher’s Corners and Promised are more crafty and intimidating than the vampires themselves. Bev Keane from Midnight Mass, beautifully played by Samantha Sloyan, is a worse performer than the old vampire who fired Crockett Island. And finally, it’s the vampires who help save the day, from Chapelwaite to Loa Boone, who turns to Jakub to save his family.
At the same time, Charles’s father plays an immortal price to the Vermis Mysteriis against the forces of darkness. In contrast, in many Midnight Mass, the vampires repent and find comfort in their belief that they realize what has happened.
More than just the story of small towns turned vampire hunting grounds, Chapelwaite and Midnight Mass are meditations on family and faith and how supernatural endeavors can help bring out the best in us all. Midnight Mass is about redemption, while Chapelwaite is about inheritance, the curse of the Boone family, and bloody secrets that concern the victims.
Both limited series are worth checking out, though they’re pretty different if you go beyond the premise and happen to celebrate the identical Halloween in their twisted way, reminiscent of Stephen King’s ghost.
Chapelwaite was developed for television by Jason and Peter Filardi and appeared on Epix. Midnight Mass was created by Mike Flanagan and will air on Netflix.
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