The Terrifying Way The Midnight Club Has Already Made History

"The Midnight Club" is the latest Netflix horror series from acclaimed writer/director Mike Flanagan. While Flanagan is known for his bigger theatrical films like "Doctor Sleep" and "Ouija: Origin of Evil," he has made a name for himself with a line of Netflix original miniseries that started with 2018's "The Haunting of Hill House." Like most of his shows thus far, "The Midnight Club" is based on a novel of the same name and focuses on a group of terminally ill young people who befriend each other at a hospice and start to experience seemingly supernatural events.

"The Midnight Club" is now available for all to see, just in time for Halloween season. Other than its premise and a creepy trailer that definitely appealed to Flanagan's fanbase, the marketing for the show has been surprisingly quiet for a big event Netflix show. However, even before its premiere, it appears that "The Midnight Club" has already made history in a way that Flanagan viewers may find surprising.

Per Variety, "The Midnight Club" has just set the record for most jump scares in a single episode of television. Apparently, the premiere episode had 21 jump scares, which is a surprisingly high number. By itself, this would be big news for any director, but it's incredibly surprising for a writer/director like Mike Flanagan, a filmmaker who actively despises jump scares. Which is something he readily acknowledges in the news, which was announced at the New York Comic Con event.

"This is particularly important to me because I hate jump scares and I think they are the worst," Flanagan said. "My whole career, people have been like, 'Put more jump scares in, and do them faster.' And I hate them, because I feel like it's very easy to walk up behind somebody and smash things."

Apparently, this is something that Flanagan expresses in the show as well through one of the characters, Spence (Chris Sumpter), as noted by Flanagan's producer Trevor Macy. The character makes a habit of calling jump scares incredibly lazy, which is a fun bit of meta-inclusion. The fact that this record was broken by Flanagan will likely surprise his fanbase, but it seems like if anyone can pull it off in an effective way, it's likely him. But viewers can see for themselves now that all 10 episodes are available on Netflix.