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Midnight Mass movie cover Movie Locations Guide

Where was Midnight Mass filmed?

2021

City Locations

Richmond, British Columbia

Location Types

Beach/Oceanview, Ship Docks, Studios

Location Styles

Shipping Yard/Dock, Beachfront, Dilapidated/Neglected

About Midnight Mass

Midnight Mass is Mike Flanagan’s brainchild, and much like the filmmaker’s other horror creations, the religious supernatural series received critical acclaim. With seven episodes and a running time of about seven hours in total, the Netflix miniseries premiered in 2021.

The “Midnight Night” production brings together a heavyweight cast including Zach Gilford (Riley Flynn), Kate Siegel (Erin Greene), Samantha Sloyan (Bev Keene), and Hamish Linklater (Father Paul Hill) as some of the leads. Set against the backdrop of Crockett Island, which is a fictional crummy fishing community, the majority of the show’s scenes play out at St. Patrick’s Catholic church.

Father Paul and Flynn helm the series, with the former depicted as a priest who just arrived at the island to revitalize the town’s flagging faith. On the other hand, Flynn was convicted for alcohol-induced vehicular manslaughter and returned to his hometown seeking redemption.

The production also features several interconnected plotlines and explores numerous faith-based themes. One of the kickers is that the Crockett residents can’t really leave the tiny island. That’s unless they hop onto the only beat-up ferry that serves the seaside town while coming and going as it pleases.

Leaving the island also proves challenging in the spiritual sense. The sleepy town slowly starts springing back to life thanks to the Midnight Mass Father Paul introduces, although it's with ulterior motives. Crockett residents also witness an abundance of miracles and unexplained blessings.

However, not every island inhabitant is religious and some simply attend the nightly prayer sessions to find out if there’s more than meets the eye. In a town where there's never much going on, the strange happenings stir the interest of Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli) and Dr. Sarah Gunning (Annabeth Gish) whose ailing mother (Alex Essoe) miraculously recovers from a debilitating illness.

Midnight Mass Locations

Anyone who has watched the supernatural horror movie might wonder if the coordinates to Crockett Island, or “Crock Pot” as locals fondly call it, exist. The Midnight Mass location is entirely fictional and while it isn’t clearly established in the series, most think that the fading maritime community is vaguely reminiscent of a New England locale.

For the production process, Flanagan and the crew descended upon British Columbia, Canada in December 2019. After shutting down production due to the pandemic, the crew and cast returned to Vancouver in August 2020 and filming wrapped in December of that same year.

On the screen, almost all the events take place on the isolated island, except for a few scenes set on “the mainland.” Beyond being a fictional location, a real-life Crockett Island stand-in also doesn’t exist. The filmmakers constructed a set specifically for the production process, and it wasn’t even on an island.

Scenes showcasing the semblances of an island are computer-generated images added during the post-production process. However, a waterfront public space in Richmond served as the setting for most of the outdoor scenes. Spoiler alert: Here’s a rundown of some of the best scenes in Midnight Mass, and details about their real-life filming locations.

Fun fact:

Midnight Mass is the third production Flanagan churned out for Netflix. His previous credits for the streaming service include “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor” under “The Haunting” anthology. Flanagan is currently working on the fourth production for Netflix in collaboration with Leah Fong. “The Midnight Club” is the upcoming horror thriller starring Iman Benson and slated for release in October 2022.

Father Paul reveals his feelings scene in Midnight Mass

Garry Point Park

Father Paul reveals his feelings scene in Midnight Mass

The first interesting thing about the episode titles is how Flanagan named them after the books of the Bible. The sixth episode titled "Book VI: Acts of the Apostles" features a scene where Father Paul confesses to Mildred Gunning (Alex Essoe) that he was responsible for the destruction and chaos happening on the island.

Father Paul had simply hoped to reunite with Mildred, his lost love, and their daughter Sarah. Explaining his thoughts he told her, "You never felt like a sin. And our daughter, she was never a sin. She was never a mistake."

Located at 12011 7th Avenue, Richmond, and close to historic Steveston Village, the filmmakers built a Midnight Mass film set at Garry Point Park. Constructed in 2019, it served as the setting of the derelict seaside town.

The set stayed intact even after production halted for five months in the wake of the 2020 pandemic. Sadly for fans, the buildings constructed for the shoot no longer exist.

The team disassembled them once filming wrapped. That’s where they filmed the exterior scenes of Flynn’s house and Erin’s house exteriors as well as the beach scenes. St. Patrick’s church was also part of the village set constructed at Garry Park.

If you do make the trip to Garry Point Park, make sure to visit the Japanese-style Kuno Garden and Fisherman’s Memorial Needle.

Flynn returns home scene in Midnight Mass

6th and 7th Avenue Piers

Flynn returns home scene in Midnight Mass

The first episode, titled “Bool I: Genesis” introduces us to the island town of Crockett and some of its inhabitants. After a four-year stint in prison, Flynn returns home and we see him aboard a ferry from the mainland headed back to the fishing community.

He no longer holds onto his faith following his experiences behind bars, and it’s one of the reasons he has trouble reintegrating. Portrayed as the town’s atheist, he only attends church as one of the conditions for living under his folks' roofs.

He often argues with Father Paul about faith-based issues, and on one occasion he refers to the idea of accepting suffering as a gift as a “monstrous idea.”

Located at Moncton Street, the 6th and 7th Avenue Piers stood in for the marina locations as well as where Ed Flynn (Henry Thomas) docks his fishing boat. Bus 413, 402, or 407 will get you to the Midnight Mass filming location.

Father Paul turns Flynn scene in Midnight Mass

Anderlini Farms, Aldergrove

Father Paul turns Flynn scene in Midnight Mass

Upon their initial meeting at the Ash Wednesday Potluck, Father Paul suggests that Flynn should think about having one-on-one AA meetings with him. They settle for the town rec center as the location of the sessions, and soon Collie also starts attending the meeting.

In the fourth episode titled "Book IV: Lamentations" Flynn notices that Collie has mysteriously gone missing. When he fails to attend their AA meeting, Father Paul covers up by telling Flynn that Collie is visiting his sister. The problem is that Collie’s sister passed away and Flynn knows it.

Upon returning to the rec center later that night to confront the priest, Father Paul turns him. It brings to mind the discussion Flynn had with Riley about death when he described it as a relief with “No pain. No memory, no awareness that I ever was. That I ever hurt someone.”

Anderlini Farms served as the setting used for the rec center, school, rectory, general store, and school interiors. That’s also where they set up the Sheriff’s office and filmed the vestibule interiors. At the time of writing, this location is presently closed. You can take a drive by if you are in the area of Langley Township close to the US border.

Bev orders a rampage scene in Midnight Mass

Vancouver Rowing Club

Bev orders a rampage scene in Midnight Mass

The finale episode contains several Midnight Mass action scenes, starting with Bev leading a vampirish rampage and ordering them to raze the town. Known for twisting scriptures in her favor, Bev foreshadowed her actions during the final episode when she quoted Matthew 10:16, “as wise as serpents, as innocent as doves.”

She denounces Father Paul/ Pruitt and instructs the turned town folks to burn everything except for the church and the community center. That’s where she says they’ll take shelter once the sun rises. It doesn’t work out that way because Ali Hassan (Rahul Abburi), the Sheriff’s son, ends up burning down the community center leaving the churchgoers without shelter from sunlight.

Located at 450 Stanley Park Drive, the Vancouver Rowing Club is yet another location that lent its premises to the film’s crew. That’s where they filmed the community center’s indoor scenes.

The Rowing Club offers event rental services, and it’s hosted other productions like “The Killing,” “Chaos,” and “Hellcats.” The Harbour Room seats 150 and it’s the perfect venue for hosting a myriad of private events.

The Canada Line and Expo Line SkyTrain will get you to the Rowing Club. Alternatively, take bus 250 or 19.

Leeza rises up and walks to the altar scene in Midnight Mass

The Bridge Studios

Leeza rises up and walks to the altar scene in Midnight Mass

“Book II: Psalms” refers to the second episode of the miniseries which features a Sunday Mass scene. As the service proceeds, Father Paul instructs Leeza Scarborough (Annarah Cymone) to rise up from her wheelchair and walk to the altar for Holy Communion.

Leeza, Mayor Wade Scaraborough’s (Michael Trucco) daughter, had been wheelchair-bound since being accidentally shot by the town’s drunk Joe Collie (Robert Longstreet). Almost the entire town was present to witness the first of many miraculous events that would manifest around Crockett.

Following the miraculous event, she confronts Joe and delivers the memorable line, “you reached through time, Joe Collie" Most interior scenes were filmed at the Burnaby-based Bridge Studios, and that includes the indoor church scenes. It’s the same location where Flanagan filmed parts of his other Netflix production “The Haunting of Bly Manor.”

You can explore the Midnight Mass filming location on a Bridge Studios tour. The complex features 13 sound stages spread across a 15-acre lot. Located 15 minutes away from downtown Vancouver, Bus 99, 129, 9, or 129 will get you there. Alternatively, hop onto the Millennium Line SkyTrain.

Flynn’s accident scene in Midnight Mass

Hallelujah Point, Stanley Park

Flynn’s accident scene in Midnight Mass

The first episode introduces us to Flynn at the moment when he was involved in a drunk driving crash that led to the death of a young woman. At the scene, Flynn watches helplessly as the paramedics who’ve responded to the scene do their best to try and resuscitate the woman.

Later, we find out that Flynn fell asleep behind the wheel leading to the series of events that caused the accident. Throughout his stay in prison, and even after, he is haunted by horrific visions of the deceased woman.

After serving his time and returning to Crockett, his storyline somewhat plays out as the prodigal son. It brings to mind one of his best lines, “There is a lot of time to read in there and I read it all, Torah, Quran, Talmud, Tao Te Ching, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Jainism. Figured if I was looking for God, I should look everywhere.”

Hallelujah Point, at Stanley Park, stood in for the suburban street where the accident happened. The grassy point also offers stunning views of downtown Vancouver, and its name comes from the times when the Salvation Army held Sunday services at the location. TransLink’s bus 19 will get you to the Midnight Mass production location.

Conclusion

There are plenty of fascinating locations that hosted the Midnight Mass film crew, and some of them are worth a visit. Several other areas around the Lower Mainland featured in the miniseries but given that they were private businesses or residences the location details haven’t been publicized.

Some of the interesting tidbits about the miniseries you probably didn’t know about include the fact that Siegel’s character in “Hush” wrote a book titled “Midnight Mass.” Gilford and Linklater are great friends in real life, and they didn’t know that they had both auditioned for the same production. Gilford only found out that Linklater was playing the part of Father Paul after he aced the audition and landed the part of Flynn.