Christopher Pike’s The Midnight Club brought to life by Netflix!
Anybody who grew up in the 90s – especially anybody with an interest in YA horror – is probably going to have heard of The Midnight Club! …but for those of who you haven’t, The Midnight Club was a well-known and much-loved young adult horror book written by author Christopher Pike.
Christopher Pike (real name Kevin Christopher McFadden) is a bestselling, American author best known for his mystery-thrillers and supernatural horror. He started out his career writing science fiction and mystery novels targeted at adults. However it wasn’t until he tried his hand at writing teen thrillers (following a suggestion by his editor) that Pike’s career really started to take off. One of those novels, of course, was 1994’s The Midnight Club.
The book follows 5 terminally ill young adults living at Rotterdam Home – a hospice for teenagers to live out their final days. It’s here that the teens meet and become friends through their love of horror and intrigue! Meeting at – you guessed it – midnight! The group form The Midnight Club – regularly gathering to temporarily immerse themselves in another world – exchanging thrilling tales of terror!
Thanks to the talented co-creators Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong (The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor), Netflix has brought us a carefully crafted adaptation of Pike’s The Midnight Club for us to immerse ourselves in from the comfort of our own homes! With many elements remaining the same as the book – including the setting and several of the characters – the television series gives us a nostalgic trip back to the 90s. Having said that, readers of the book will notice some big changes between the series and the book.
In this television series, we follow 8 teens (instead of the original 5) as they find themselves at Brightcliffe Hospice (named Rotterdam Home in the book). As expected, they meet each night at midnight to exchange horrifying stories and seek out ghostly beings! They even make a pact to communicate with each other when they pass to “the other side” …but have they underestimated the power of “the other side”…?! Yes, this thriller series is very dark – much darker, in fact, than Pike’s novel. These changes seem to bring the tone of the series much more in line with what you would expect from Flanagan – being an award-winning horror filmmaker. In terms of the other changes… well, I’ll leave the majority of those for you to discover for yourself! There is, however, one important change which I think is worth noting – particularly for those of you who are loyal Pike fans!
Both the novel and TV series devote a substantial portion of the narrative to the stories exchanged in teens’ midnight meetings in the library. Somewhat surprisingly, the only original story that remains in the show is Anya’s story about ‘The Two Danas’ in episode 2. The Netflix series discards the teens’ other stories from the book, in favour of perhaps an ingenious nod to Pike’s career as a whole. The Midnight Club‘s televised characters tell condensed stories drawn from Pike’s other novels, including See You Later. Many of season one’s episodes also share titles with some of Pike’s novels, including The Wicked Heart, Gimme A Kiss, Witch and The Eternal Enemy – all stories that are retold by the TV characters during their midnight club meetings. This amalgamation of Christopher Pike’s work makes this series a must-watch for any avid fan of his – or indeed any 90s YA thriller fan who’s considering delving into his novels. Give the series a watch… I dare you!
Want to see what you’re getting yourself into first? Head over to Netflix or Youtube to watch the series trailer!
