Parents' Guide to The Midnight Club

Spooky and emotionally gripping, this unique drama mingles the existential dread of terminal illness with the twin terrors of untrustworthy caregivers in a haunted house, to satisfying results. On one level the residents of Brightcliffe are just killing time until their various diagnoses end their lives; on another, they're whistling past a metaphorical graveyard, telling and listening to spooky stories together as a way of confronting their worst fears in a supportive atmosphere. But Brightcliffe is not just any old hospice for dying teens, what with its mysterious history that includes a young woman whose cancer was suddenly cured, and a site that used to house an unusual religious group that some whisper was really a cult. And the more Ilonka pulls threads from Brightcliffe's cheerful-on-the-surface weave, the more curious she becomes.

Of course, viewers of a certain age understand that the presence of Heather Langenkamp, the iconic heroine of the even more iconic original Nightmare on Elm Street film, in the role of Brightcliffe's solicitous-yet-secretive head Dr. Stanton is a sure signal that there's more going on behind of the scenes of this "boarding school" than we first realize. If these same viewers were fans of Christopher Pike's 1980s young adult horror stories, they're likely also overjoyed by The Midnight Club's clever reframing of many of Pike's greatest hits: the tales club members tell are largely cribbed from other Pike stories. But even those too young to have experienced Original Pike will be riveted by the strange goings on, both supernatural and human-designed, with twists expertly doled out by series creator Flanagan. It all adds up to a heady brew that's surprisingly fun for a series set at a hospice with a bunch of sick kids, a binge-worthy narrative sure to impart chills.