Vampirism as Apocalyptic Hypocrisy in Midnight Mass

Ever since the vampire figure appeared on the literary scene, it has been examined in the context of Christianity, as this form of the revenant monster calls for interpretations that address questions of the soul as well as the phenomenon of resurrection and eternal (after)life. Parallel with this approach, the vampire body has also become a focused topic in Vampire Studies in the past few decades, especially in relation to the vampire lover in supernatural romances. Netflix’s Midnight Mass (2021) presents a new take on the vampire lore when it combines a special interest in the body in an extremely religious context. This paper argues that the newly interpreted revenant embodies the menace fundamentalism threatens people with, and it presents evil as a nearly unstoppable, spreading infection that roots in the inability of interpreting signs and phenomena correctly as a result of indoctrination. The show’s treatment of the blasphemous vampire reveals a criticism of an engagement with the scripture and the sacred that focuses on literal meaning (the body of the text, that is) as opposed to the spirit of the Bible, which is also reflected in the focus on the physical metamorphoses as a prerequisite of blind faith and as a motive that will bring complete moral and physical annihilation to the community. (IL)