Stephen King’s Storm of the Century Quietly Influenced Midnight Mass

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While many consider The Haunting of Hill House to be Mike Flanagan’s best work, his 2021 series, Midnight Mass, delves even deeper into personal and emotional territory. The show quickly became a hit on Netflix, reaching #2 in popularity with 1.17 billion minutes viewed – second only to Squid Game at the time. Midnight Mass earned positive reviews, achieving an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though some viewers felt it was overly talkative, with a tendency towards lengthy monologues, even with strong performances from the cast.

Viewers generally felt that the show Midnight Mass really nailed its characters and their emotional depth, which was clearly a priority for creator Mike Flanagan. While the story is very personal to Flanagan, he’s said he drew a lot of inspiration from Stephen King, especially during the writing and character building stages. You can see King’s influence throughout the series, particularly in ‘Salem’s Lot – the island setting of Midnight Mass, Crockett Island, is actually named after a character from that novel. But another, less famous work by King was just as important to Flanagan when creating the show.

Midnight Mass Owes a Lot to Stephen King’s Storm of the Century

Beyond The Stand, I’m a huge fan of another Stephen King story from 1999 called Storm of the Century. It was originally written as a novel specifically for television, and actually aired on ABC a few weeks after King released it. Interestingly, I think it shares a lot of similarities with Midnight Mass – maybe even more than some of his other adaptations. The thing is, because Storm of the Century wasn’t a big, famous King novel to begin with, and it was made as a miniseries nearly 30 years ago, it’s kind of slipped under the radar for most people, even those of us who love this kind of stuff.

Setting aside the clear connections – like the remote island setting, violent storm, and enigmatic newcomer – the story truly explores the conflict between belief and reality, and how faith is challenged. While inspired by the original, Flanagan’s adaptation demonstrates that unwavering faith can lead to a dangerous unawareness, whereas King’s version portrays the villain exploiting religion to manipulate and demand sacrifices.

What truly makes Stephen King’s horror stories—like those featuring the unsettling wizard in Storm of the Century—so frightening isn’t just the monsters themselves, but how the characters react to and interpret their own fear. This focus on human response is a key element of King’s style, and it’s something Mike Flanagan consistently builds upon in his own work.

What really gets under my skin in horror is when something supernatural is used to control people through fear – think stories like The Mist, Under the Dome, and even The Library Policeman. It’s not a shock, but these stories almost always tap into religion to really scare everyone. And sadly, just like in Midnight Mass, the characters who don’t believe, or who are skeptical, often end up suffering the most. It’s a really unsettling pattern!

Midnight Mass and Storm of the Century Are Fantastic Companion Features

Despite being a bit overlooked, this series comes from Mike Flanagan, a highly respected and prolific director, especially known for horror. Flanagan’s work is incredibly rewarding to rewatch, often hiding details and nuances that aren’t immediately obvious. Watching Midnight Mass and Storm of the Century back-to-back would not only reveal previously unseen details in Midnight Mass, but likely introduce many viewers to Storm of the Century for the first time.

Watching these two works one after the other clearly shows how an artist can be inspired by something and then build upon that inspiration to create something even better. While the earlier work feels like a typical 1990s TV movie, it doesn’t compare to the complex characters and impressive production values of Midnight Mass.

Stephen King has significantly influenced Mike Flanagan’s work, and Midnight Mass is just one example. Flanagan has already adapted three of King’s stories for film: Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck. He’s also directing a series based on King’s debut novel, Carrie, and will be writing and directing a new adaptation of a story that received a divisive adaptation back in 2007.

In addition to his other projects, Flanagan also holds the rights to adapt Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, which he’s very enthusiastic about bringing to the screen. However, he probably won’t remake The Storm of the Century because he feels he’s already successfully captured the essence of that story in his own work.

Midnight Mass is available to stream on Netflix, and Storm of the Century is available on Hulu.

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Faith, Fear, and Fangs: Test Your Midnight Mass Mastery
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2026-02-12 05:07