Mike Flanagan’s latest Netflix series, The Midnight Club is an adaptation of not just one Christopher Pike novel, but many of the prolific 80s and 90s YA author’s works. In the past, there has been only one adaptation: a 1996 made-for-TV movie of Fall Into Darkness starring Tatyana Ali and Jonathan Brandis (available for free on YouTube).
The series, by comparison, will see filmed adaptations of not just the titular book, but also The Wicked Heart, Gimme a Kiss, See You Later, Witch, Road to Nowhere, and The Eternal Enemy
So what do you need to know about the books before you dive into the series? Let’s break it down!
The Midnight Club (1994)
First and foremost, the series is an adaptation of Christopher Pike’s story about a group of teens in a hospice. In the book there are five main characters (compared to the series’ eight) and they’re all white…because YA publishing in the 90s was rigidly Caucasian.
All five of the book characters will appear on screen: protagonist Ilonka (Iman Benson), her hard exterior/soft interior handicapped roommate Anya (Ruth Codd), and Spence (William Chris Sumpter) who is gay and has AIDS (this is a reveal in the book, but not the series). Then there’s religious Sandra (Annarah Cymone), and, finally, Kevin (Igby Rigney), Ilonka’s love interest.
There’s also Dr. White, a male doctor who manages Rotterham, as well as Nurse Schratter, but neither figures heavily in the plot. These latter two characters are gender swapped in the series and played by Heather Langenkamp (Dr. Stanton) and Flanagan regular Zach Gilford (Mark, who is now a gay nurse).
The group of teens gather at midnight to share stories, often late into the night. In true Pike tradition, the stories reveals something about the storyteller: be it their interests, their desires or their dreams. Only one of the nocturnal stories from this book – Anya’s “The Devil and Dana” – will appear in the television series. It is captured in episode two “The Two Danas” and details a girl’s deal with the devil that allows her to split herself in two with all of the usual horrible consequences.
Much of The Midnight Club revolves around the teens making peace with their inevitable deaths, while also moving past their regrets and recognizing the importance of human connections. The book has a melancholic end, but it is ultimately hopeful and ties into Pike’s interest in reincarnation and past lives, which is a recurring narrative trope in both his books as well as Flanagan’s show.
For a more in-depth discussion of The Midnight Club, read Paul Lê’s ‘Buried in a Book’ editorial.
The Wicked Heart (1993)
Published a year before The Midnight Club, this book about a reluctant teen serial killer features heavily in the Netflix series. It is a story told by Kevin across three separate episodes (3, 6 and 10), making it the most thorough adaptation to appear on the show.
The book is about a seemingly average high school student named Dusty Shame. Aside from taking care of his sick mother at home, he’s nondescript: he doesn’t make waves, he doesn’t stand out, and he seems like a nice guy…except for the fact that he is a serial killer of young women.
Like many Christopher Pike novels, the action begins in media res as Dusty bludgeons a sleeping girl in her bed using a ball point hammer. It’s clear right away that, based on his methods and proficient clean-up, this isn’t his first murder.
What is new, however, are his burgeoning feelings for fellow classmate, Sheila Hardolt. The problem? Sheila just so happens to be the best friend of the girl he just killed, and she refuses to let her missing friend go quietly into the night. As Sheila’s pursuit of the case intensifies, and Dusty’s attraction to her grows, the familiar voice in Dusty’s head urges him to kill someone new: his new love interest.
The Wicked Heart is ultimately a good yarn told from the perspective of a killer, but in the context of the series, it’s about fighting who you are and admitting what you truly want, which pairs well with Kevin’s arc, particularly with respect to Ilonka.
Gimme A Kiss (1988)
This is an early Christopher Pike book and not one of his more popular ones, so it’s unexpected to see it covered by the series. It is a queered-up story told by Spence in episode 4 and coded as a film noir both in the screenplay by James Flanagan and Mike Flanagan, as well as Michael Fimognari’s direction. This makes sense because Gimme A Kiss is, at its heart, a crime story.
Pike’s early books often fell into two camps: realist or supernatural. Even among his realist works, however, Gimme A Kiss is a bit of an outlier: it’s extremely pulpy.
In the book, high school student Jane Retton has an overactive imagination that she documents extensively in her diary. Most recently, this involves a fictitious tryst with a boy she has a crush on. When the diary pages are photocopied and posted around the school, Jane makes a secret plan for revenge: she will fake her death at the senior boat cruise and then, at the end of the weekend after everyone has grieved, she’ll reappear to show them up.
It’s an incredibly overcomplicated and melodramatic plan that naturally goes awry and, in short order, the bodies begin to pile up. What makes Gimme A Kiss interesting is that it is told as an extended flashback via a bracketing device: Jane’s best friend Alice is the one relaying the present day portions to the police.
The book is arguably one of Pike’s less popular books because the writing lacks polish and the motivation for the whole sordid affair is both shallow and a little bit silly. That this becomes a joke in Flanagan’s adaptation makes logical sense.
See You Later (1990)
Arriving two years after Gimme a Kiss, See You Later is much more of a supernatural tale. Besides serial killers and romantic vendettas, Christopher Pike *loves* time travel. This is one of his earliest efforts, documented in The Midnight Club by new character Amesh (Sauriyan Sapkota) in episode 5, which also features Flanagan fave Rahul Kohli.
The narrative revolves around star-crossed lovers Mark and Becky. He’s an eighteen-year-old computer game creator and she works at the game store. He loves her and gets her hooked on his game The Starlight Crystal (also a Pike novel, but that fact is unimportant for the TV series). The kicker is that Becky is unavailable because she’s dating Ray, a blando hunk with political aspirations.
The narrative kicks in when Mark meets an older, but familiar couple named Vincent and Kara. They support him in different ways: Vincent makes him play a nuclear simulation game called “Decision” that’s impossible to beat but challenges Mark’s perception of gaming, while Kara counsels him in love. She even hatches a plot to break up Ray and Becky because she’s rooting for Mark so hard.
And that’s when things fall apart. Naturally Vincent and Kara aren’t exactly what they seem and eventually Mark, Becky and Ray’s story is revealed to be both bigger and more important than anyone realized. You could say it’s written in the stars…with humanity’s future at stake.
See You Later is a fun book whose ending is slightly tweaked in the Netflix series, though the emotional resonance of the star-crossed lovers remains intact. And in truth that’s the most important aspect considering it’s really about the burgeoning relationship between Amesh and new character Natsuki (played by Aya Furukawa).
Witch (1990)
Witch comes out the same year as See You Later during what will eventually become Christopher Pike’s most productive time period (he published twelve books in a four year span between 1990 – 1993). Aside from perhaps Remember Me, it stands as one of Pike’s most humanist books: it’s about magic, but it’s a love story through and through.
Julia comes from a matriarchal line of witches who use their abilities to heal, including her doctor mother. There’s just one caveat: never look into water that has moonlight shining on it.
Naturally that’s just what happens to Julia and she sees a glimpse of the future in which a boy is shot in a robbery.
Naturally she meets him in real life shortly thereafter, and even though she is not supposed to love him because he’s her friend’s new boyfriend, she can’t help falling for him.
And even though she knows she shouldn’t, Julia can’t help trying to prevent his death, which naturally only produces more harm and hardship.
It makes sense that this is the other multiple episode story in Flanagan’s adaptation. As told by Ilonka over two episodes (6 & 10), the story’s take-away about accepting the inevitable, the dangers of interfering with destiny, and finding peace perfectly suit Ilonka’s arc over the series.
Road to Nowhere (1993)
Several of Pike’s books feature elliptical narratives. He’s fond of structuring stories almost like an ouroboros: the plot circles back to consume its own tail (tale?) with characters seemingly trapped in dream-like fantasy situations (see also: Whisper of Death and the dreams in Die Softly).
In the Netflix series, Natsuki tells the story of Freedom Jack and Poppy Corn (Flanagan regulars Henry Thomas and Alex Essoe) in episode 7. They’re hitchhikers who are picked up by Teresa Chafey as she flees a bad domestic situation for a seemingly interminable late-night road trip. Much like the format of The Midnight Club, the pair take turns telling Teresa a grim story: Jack’s perspective is always dark, dismissive and cynical while Poppy is resigned, but ultimately hopeful.
Freedom and Poppy’s story is wholly absent from the Netflix series, but the hitchhikers personalities remain the same. It’s ultimately less about them and more about Natsuki’s own backstory, however, and despite dominating the episode’s run time, Road To Nowhere is arguably one of the slightest adaptations to appear on the show.
For a more in-depth discussion of Road To Nowhere, read Paul Lê’s ‘Buried in a Book’ editorial.
The Eternal Enemy (1993)
Arriving the same year as Road to Nowhere, The Eternal Enemy is similar in tone and narrative to See You Later in that it concerns a seemingly innocuous series of events with earth shattering consequences.
The final book adapted for the Netflix series is from a story told by Sandra in episode 9 and, as with all the stories featuring Spence, it is queer and gender-flipped. In Pike’s novel, Rela is a College student who discovers that her expensive new VCR (ah 1993!) has the ability to record the future one day in advance.
Much like Witch and Pike’s other cautionary stories, the power that Rela wields starts off helpful, and then quickly dovetails to risk the livelihood of the ones she loves, namely her new paramour Christopher. It’s a story about sacrifice, responsibility and doing the right thing, even when it’s difficult, which is a nice thematic tie-in to Sandra and Spence’s arc in the series.
And that’s it! As a lifelong Christopher Pike fan, it’s a lot of fun to see so many of his classic works turned into live action, despite their oft-condensed form.
Looking ahead, it’s unclear what the future holds for adaptations of Pike’s work, or if the series will inspire reprints or – dare we hope? – new novels. We already know that Netflix is working on new Fear Street adaptations, so perhaps there’s hope for more Pike down the line, either as another run of The Midnight Club or something entirely new.
“The Midnight Club” is now streaming on Netflix.
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