Kris Ashton

Back in October my essay ‘The Slow Burn Brilliance of Midnight Mass’ took out first prize in the non-fiction category of the Australian Shadows Awards. It was my third nomination, so I was pleased indeed to finally get the gong!

Operated under the auspices of the Australian Horror Writers Association, the Shadows Awards celebrate short and long-form horror fiction and non-fiction that analyses the genre. You can read the full list of nominees and winners here.

If you’re a horror aficionado and you haven’t availed yourself of Mike Flanagan’s Netflix vampire series Midnight Mass, allow me to suggest you ought to. My essay delves into everything from the characters to the show’s subtext and even the mechanics of the horror film. Here’s a sample (if you like it, you can read the whole thing in Aurealis #160):

Like many Gen X/Y writers, [Flanagan] suckled at Stephen King’s creative teat and King wrote the rule book on character-building in a small-town setting without boring the reader. This means the reader invests in the characters and feels more keenly the misfortune that befalls them later. Flanagan uses this as a blueprint for Midnight Mass, often devoting two-thirds of the early episodes to character development and garden variety drama before bringing the supernatural element to bear.

Importantly, though, Flanagan is just as adept at scaring the hell out of the viewer. He understands the mechanics of horror cinematography and how to evoke suspense and terror in his audience. He applies techniques seen in horror classics such as Jaws (jump-scare on the half-beat) and Halloween (half-seen images and background movement) to tremendous effect.