30 of the Best Horror TV Shows Just in Time for Spooky Season
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So much evil, so little time. Luckily, we’ve devised a watch plan for you to tackle when you feel like a good squeal. Some of the best horror TV shows, like Twin Peaks, Supernatural, and American Horror Story, have held audiences captive for decades, while others, including Wednesday and Yellowjackets, have only recently began their journeys to cult fandom.
There’s a good range here beyond longevity too; we have supernatural fights, demonic possessions, nostalgic creep-outs, and even funny horror fare. So have a scroll, queue your favorites, and watch at your own risk. Feeling brave? Find peak screams in our scariest horror movies of all time.
American Horror Story
King of horror TV, Ryan Murphy launched American Horror Story with Brad Falchuk back in 2011. A themed anthology series with serious staying power, it's now enjoying its 12th season. This year, the theme, Delicate, echoes Rosemary's Baby and will see AHS vet Emma Roberts alongside Cara Delevingne and Kim Kardashian in a maternal terror tale.
Archive 81
On Netflix, there's a series from Rebecca Sonnenshine (The Boys, The Vampire Diaries) that got a lot of play when it dropped in January '22. But it's also one that begs to be watched again; its time-jumping twists and turns too confounding for one viewing alone. So if you haven't already gotten acquainted with Dan, Melody, and those weird tapes, or are just ready for their encore, do that now.
Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990)
No one would judge you if you spent the weekends of your youth hunkered down in front of a boxy tube with the Midnight Society. Part of the '90s SNICK block, this collection of ghost stories gets recited around a spooky campfire and acted out by some very familiar faces (see: Ryan Gosling, Neve Campbell, Elisha Cuthbert, and Melissa Joan Hart), all making for a truly nostalgic watch.
Being Human (2008)
Being Human, the BBC's original supernatural series, as well as the Americanized adaptation, are definitely worth working into your binge schedule. But we'd recommend beginning where it all began: with Annie, George, and Mitchell just trying to make it through the day without incident. Think of it like Friends, where the laugh track is replaced by screaming ghosts, vampires, and werewolves.
Black Mirror
Though some episodes of Charlie Brooker's techno-horror anthology series ("White Christmas," "Black Museum") may find themselves favorited more than others, each and every moment spent staring into Black Mirror is a moment well spent. A reflection of our tech-driven fears, the series offers cautionary tales of the dystopian realities humankind's innovations might be hurling us all toward.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
We can't forget about Buffy! The titular ass-kicking high schooler battling all things evil in between classes, Buffy is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, and even though the series—which celebrates diversity, inclusion, and queer love—gave millennials plenty to talk about back in the '90s, the series has slayed its way into the hearts and minds of Gen-Zers also. No generation can resist the Scoobies.
Channel Zero (2016)
Remember creepypastas? Those Internet-viral urban legends that seeped out of some stranger's imagination and into your own nightmares? Channel Zero is that, in small-screen form. Adapting four shorts for an anthology series starring Paul Schneider, Maria Sten, and Brandon Scott, it's super creepy, super Syfy—exactly what you'd expect from creator Nick Antosca.
Chucky
In 1988, co-writer Don Mancini helped give life to a creepy doll named Chucky, unleashing a franchise that's anything but child's play. Now a series creator, Mancini has resurrected his tale for the small screen, morphing Chucky's stab-happy kills into an episodic thriller about a teen at the mercy of a serial killer. And dare we say, it's better than the movies? Look for Season 3 in October.
Crazyhead
An award-winning series that was killed off way too soon, this British comedy trails Amy and Raquel, 20-something friends who rid the world of evil monsters while navigating their own inner demons. Unfortunately, there is only one season to devour; the good news, however, is that there are six brilliant episodes to spend the weekend with. They're fun, creepy, and crass in the very best way.
Dark
There is a lot to unpack in this German gem. Children have gone missing from a small town, there's a massive cave that leads straight to the town's nuclear plant, and everyone is seemingly leading double lives. Somehow fusing a time-jumping narrative and dysfunctional drama with supernatural elements and shocking revelations, this series is a master class of dark science fiction.
Evil
It's amazing the chills this series delivers, especially while cuffed by prime-time rules and regulations. Operating with a narrative that glides between the personal and professional lives of a clinical psychologist, a priest-in-training, and a supernatural contractor who have teamed up to investigate strange happenings, Evil is highbrow network programming. And it's hella scary too.
From
The point of no return: It does exist. And it's located in middle America. At least, that's what the minds behind this sci-fi gem are telling us. Set in any-old-small-town USA, From hosts a group of residents—better word: prisoners—who are under the control of forces that won't let them leave. It comes from the guys behind Lost, Fringe, and Game of Thrones, so you know it's good.
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
Guillermo del Toro has been obsessed with monsters and the macabre since he was a kid. Now a certified maestro of horror, the Mexican director (Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone) is unleashing his nightmares on the small screen. With Cabinet of Curiosities, del Toro shares eight tales of horror, each more dazzling than the last. Fingers crossed for a Season 2.
Hannibal
Not sure there's ever been a more visually stunning horror series on network TV than the artfully exquisite Hannibal from Bryan Fuller. Starring Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy, the series dances around a new storyline—one that sees an FBI agent empathize with the legendary culinary cannibal—while preserving the themes served up in the Hannibal Lector film franchise.
Interview with the Vampire
Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise turned sucking into an art form in 1994 with Neil Jordan's Ann Rice adaptation. Here, Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson get to sinking their fangs into throbbing necks, with a Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul veteran producing. Yeah, if that doesn't sell this saga of blood, bites, and immortality, nothing will. Well, except Anderson's dreamy set of peepers, maybe.
Kingdom
Set in medieval Joseon, Kingdom rewrites history, adding a little alternative zombie plague to its clash of thrones and politics. To begin the series, the King of Joseon falls ill, with the Crown Prince Lee Chang on a mission to find out why. Over the next two seasons, viewers are gifted with some of the best horror scenes to ever grace the small screen, and all from Netflix's first original Korean series.
Marianne
It was only a dream. It's what we tell ourselves when we awake in pools of sweat, working swiftly to wipe our minds of the monsters that just invaded them. Marianne, the protag of this French Netflix series, doesn't have that ability. A famous horror writer, she returns to her hometown to find the evil spirit that's been haunting her zzz's has exited dream world to become her worst actual nightmare.
Servant
A horror savant's paradise, Servant has welcomed a slew of amazing helmers to lend their vision and style to its narrative about a mourning Philly family and their cryptic nanny. From Karyn Kusama and M. Night Shyamalan, to Julia Ducournau and Veronika Franz, the talent runs deep on this set. Not to mention, those in front of the cam—Lauren Ambrose, Rupert Grint—are tiptop too.
Stranger Things
Duh, obviously Stranger Things is on our list. We're huge fans. But for the uninitiated, this Duffer brothers series is a master class at balancing supernatural elements and horror-maestro homages (to the likes of Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, James Carpenter, and beyond) with well-developed characters and retro '80s nostalgia. It's fun horror fare for enthusiasts and novices alike.
Supernatural
This iconic series about two evil-ridding brothers following in their father's footsteps, ran from 2005 to 2020. That's an amazing tenure we'll attribute to the stellar leading duo—Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki—two actors who evolve in their craft as much as their fictional characters, the brothers Winchester, evolve on the screen. First time around, zillionth time: It’s fun to watch every time.
Swarm
Dominique Fishback is a revelation. She stars in this thriller from Atlanta's Janine Nabors and Donald Glover, who are both wearing showrunner britches for this project, and she plays Dre, a budding serial killer whose superfan obsession with a Beyoncé-level pop star leads to all kinds of violence. A suspenseful series that takes on the all-consuming stan culture, Swarm buzzes with intrigue.
The Haunting of Hill House
If it seems like every season, we're blessed with another haunting puzzle from Mike Flanagan, that's because we are. The filmmaker/showrunner has consistently released a new chiller annually since 2016. Some are movies, while others are series, like this modern reimagining of Shirley Jackson's same-name gothic saga. Looks like this year, we're getting The Fall of the House of Usher.
The Last of Us
Video games are an endless supply of fodder for TV shows: Halo, The Witcher, Castlevania all saw relative success with audiences. But the best of the last few years that isn't animated is this apocalyptic thriller series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as a sharp-shooting smuggler and his 14-year-old journey companion, who might just be the answer to the virus killing off humanity.
The Outsider
An 11-year-old little boy has been murdered. And all the evidence points to Jason Bateman's Terry Maitland, a family man with a wife and two daughters, as the killer. A tangled and confounding ball of yarn to unravel, The Outsider also stars Cynthia Erivo and Ben Mendelsohn; they play the cops brave enough to take on this beast of a whodunit originally written by the great Stephen King.
The Terror
Oh, the terror! This anthology series, adapted from the 2007 novel by Dan Simmons, ran for only two seasons, but the ripples of its intrigue are ever-lasting. Borrowing the bones of its narratives from historical mysteries, this Ridley Scott production offers its own color, coincidence, and conclusions to real-life tragedies. And their summations? Well, they are quite ghastly.
The Walking Dead
Ever since 2010, the undead have been staggering around AMC and select streaming platforms, their reanimated corpses infected with a mysterious virus and a cast of survivors fighting to keep them from dining on their flesh. It's zombie horror from Frank Darabont that's seriously gone the distance, even sourcing a horde of worthwhile spin-offs, like Daryl Dixon, launching on the network this month.
Twin Peaks
One thing we've picked up from watching too much horror TV: If a town seems idyllic, turn the car around. Hiding secrets, mysteries, and gruesome murders underneath a facade of charm is Horror 101, and it's on full display in this 1990 cult favorite about an FBI agent investigating the death of a homecoming queen in the weirdest town on the West Coast.
Wednesday
Tim Burton, whose cult-film haunts include Beetlejuice, Corpse Bride, and Sleepy Hollow, finally moseyed over to the small screen with Wednesday, an episodic retooling of The Addams Family. Focusing his lens on a teenage Wednesday Addams, the series heads to Nevermore Academy, where Wednesday unravels a para-so-not-normal murder mystery. Looks like Season 2 is due out next year.
What We Do in the Shadows
Prefer humor with horror? That's what you get with this instant classic that chronicles the daily and nightly goings-on had by a group of bloodsucking roommates when they're not ravaging the necks of the innocent. Created by Jemaine Clement, who co-wrote and -directed the film on which the series is based with Taika Waititi, this one's satirical brilliance that will thankfully live on forever.
Yellowjackets
Wait, did they just eat their friend? The hunger is real in this Showtime series about a soccer team fighting for their survival in the Canadian Rockies after their plane goes down. Recalling a literary classic, another swarmy allegory titled The Lord of the Flies, the show jumps between timelines (1996 and present day) and stars a gloriously diverse group of women. Power to the matriarchy!
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