29 scary TV shows: Are you brave enough to watch them this Halloween?
For too long cinema has stolen the scary thunder - we want to celebrate the scary shit on the best tv series that gets us spooked week after week.
From The Walking Dead to some older classics like The X Files, we feel certain if you are looking for some scary fun times this list could prove very inspiring. Just don't forget to turn out the lights...
NetflixStranger Things
Winona Ryder (who we LOVE) stars in this upcoming Netflix thriller (from July 15th). Set in 1980s Indiana, she plays a mother who’s son goes missing. The investigation into his mysterious disappearance uncovers supernatural shenanigans and some top-secret government experiments brrrr. Winona’s wide-eyed face of terror is ace.
ITVDark Angel
Downton's Joanne Froggatt is no meek maid in this ITV drama about infamous Victorian female serial killer Mary Ann Cotton, who poisoned a string of people across the north east.
True Detective
Season one of the moody serial killer thriller - starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson - had some pretty gruesome and disturbing murder scenes, hinting at Satanic rituals and a very disturbed killer. The final episode, where they chase down the suspect in a creepy labyrinth of trees and tunnels, was proper heart-in-your-mouth viewing.
The Twilight Zone
A retro pick - the original series broadcast in the 1950s, followed by revivals in the 80s and 00s. An anthology style series, each episode took place in a different nightmare. It was seriously freaky: evil ventriloquist dummies, dystopian alternate realities, life-size waxwork figures that come to life, children trapped in another dimension (like Narnia gone wrong), and gruesome plastic surgery. An oldie but a goodie.
Twin Peaks
Back in the late 80s, every Wednesday evening lights in the UK were switched on and stayed on. Twin Peaks was silly scary mainly down to its bonkers characters, eerie music, and Lynchain madness. Still can’t watch it alone.
Everything you need to know about Twin Peaks
The X-Files
We wanted to believe and so did Scully and Mulder - the FBI agents challenged to investigate anything remotely odd. And they did throughout the 90s, unveiling everything weird from alien conspiracies to the paranormal. As the plot thickened and the more secrets were revealed things got pretty tense for us viewers.
American Horror Story
Possibly the darkest show we’ve ever seen, it veers from creepy to gory to shocking to hilarious and is like nothing else on TV. The first seven series take in a haunted house, a sinister asylum, a coven of modern-day witches, a circus freak show and a hotel you’d never, ever want to check into. For hardcore horror lovers only.
Bates Motel
A prequel to Hitchcock’s masterpiece, Psycho, this imagines Norman Bates childhood with his mother, Norma, as they open a motel in Oregon, following the death of Norman’s father. On day one, and Norma’s already stabbed someone to death. Obviously, we know things don’t turn out too well between this mother and son - but watching the twisted relationship unfold, and Norman’s fragile psycho unravel - is where the psychological terror lies.
Hannibal
Mads Mikkelson is a brilliantly devious and dangerous Dr Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist who sidelines in cannabilistic serial killing, as you might remember. Hugh Dancy plays the FBI investigator that Lecter toys with and tries to turn into a fellow killer. Extremely violent and gruesome - obviously - but also well-written, there are three seasons to sink your teeth into (geddit?!).
Hemlock Grove
Two teenage girls are brutally murdered in a small Pennsylvania town, whose inhabitants are not a normal bunch, let’s say. We have a 17-year-old werewolf, a scientist with super-strength, and a pregnant woman who claims her baby daddy is an angel sent from heaven. There’s a languid, dreamy feel to show - that makes it all the more unsettling - and the visual effects are so good they won an Emmy for it.
Murder In Mind
What goes on in a psychopath’s head? Created by Anthony Horowitz, this early-noughties series told a different story each episode from the murderer’s perspective. The result was seriously disturbing - we still can’t get a malevolent Pauline Quirke out of our heads all these years later.
Outcast
From the creator of The Walking Dead, this supernatural spookfest follows the tormented Kyle Barnes, who is plagued by demonic possession. Philip Glenister plays the gambling, alcoholic minister who tries to help him (why are vicars etc so sinister in horror shows?) Genuinely chilling.
Penny Dreadful
Take all of literature’s scariest characters - Dracula, Frankenstein, Dorian Gray - add in a woman who is hunted by the devil (Eva Green), the werewolf who loves her (Josh Hartnett) throw them together in a murky Victorian London - and add some terrifying creatures of the night, and demons that appear out the wallpaper, and you can kiss goodbye to a good night’s sleep.
Scream
The TV show takes the knowing tone (and the body count) of the movies, but steers it to a darker place with myriad twists and a genuine sense of menace. It also has that classic murder mystery thing where you suspect EVERYONE at some point.
Tales of the Unexpected
The darkest corner’s of Roald Dahl’s mind come to life in this eerie TV series between 1979 and 1988. The creepy lady dancing in fiery flames during the credits was very Bond-esque, but that’s where the similarities ended. Stand out episode for sheer terror was the man who fed his baby royal jelly and it turned into a bee. Yes - a BEE. Doesn’t sound scary? Watch it…
The Returned
In a remote French town, a host of deceased residents come back to life. And there’s something weird happening with the lake. The creepiness factor is high: from flaking flesh, wild animals going a bit wrong, to semi-zombie foetuses (yep, the undead can still have sex, this is a French show after all) and a religious leader who is definitely a wrong ‘un - it was such a success, an American version was made.
True Blood
Twilight might have started the pop culture vampire revival but it’s True Blood, with its dark, sexy vibes that really ticked our boxes. Set in a parallel world where vampires co-exist with humans, it centres round Sookie (Anna Paquin), a troubled and telepathic waitress, who is a faeirie hybrid known as a halfling. More importantly, there is some seriously hot male talent on the show - Alex Skarsgard and Joe Manganiello - with plenty of torso action, too.
The Walking Dead
The zombie thriller with Andrew Lincoln is high on the gore factor, and delivers excellent jump-out-of-your-skin shocks. Add to that an overall sense of hopeless apocalyptic doom and it’s relentlessly unsettling. The spin-off, Fear The Walking Dead might not hit the same heights, but stick with the original and start planning your zombie survival plan.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Not always scary but the cult show had its stand out moments. For instance the episode Hush in which the four gentlemen (floating zombie demons) remove their victim’s voice in order to harvest their organs in erm, peace. Plus some of that shizzle that went on in the ‘Initiative’ was pretty spooky.
Robert Viglasky/BBCThe Living And The Dead
A good old-fashioned ghost story in an 1840s farmhouse, with plenty of jumpy moments as malevolent beings appear suddenly in mirrors and innocent young girls are possessed by scary voices. Experimental psychologist Nathan (the dashing Colin Morgan) is the poor fellow who has to deal with this haunted home, and deal with the memory of his first wife and son, who both died in suspicious circumstances.
Chocky
Lots of children have imaginary friends, but 12-year-old Matthew’s was an alien, looking to colonize a new planet, telepathically communicating with him. In 1984 this kids TV show was truly chilling. The music still haunts us.
Day of the Triffids
This BBC drama chilled us to our bones and kept us glued to the set for 6 weeks back in 1981. Based on the John Wyndham novel, a magnificent meteor shower causes blindness to anyone who witnesses it and very quickly the fabric of society falls apart. Throw in the sudden outbreak of giant man-eating plants – triffids – and its all pretty bleak and utterly terrifying.
Dexter
By day Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall) works for Miami police as a blood splatter analyst. By night, he is a vigilante who hunts down murderers who have slipped through the net. It’s stylish neo-noir, with lashings of blood, and a fascinating anti-hero who is as compelling as he is twisted: a serial killer with a conscience. But don’t worry gore-lovers, there’s plenty of neatly dismembered corpses for you, too.
Salem’s Lot
Ok – let’s just clarify this once and for all. This was fecking TERRIFYING to watch as a small American town is over-run with vampires. From the master of terror Stephen King, this mini-series is regularly crowned as the scariest thing to haunt our childhoods.
Rankin/BBCDr Who
The show that coined the concept of watching TV from behind the sofa, was and still is god damn spooky 50 years later. Generations have been tainted with fear as the time travelling hero ‘The Doctor’ takes on aliens, ghosts, monsters and general bad guys across the universe. Scariest opponents? Daleks, weeping angels and the gas mask ghosts. I want my mummy!
Rex FeaturesThe Fall
Aside from being mesmerised by DC Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) and her silky blouses, we were thoroughly disturbed by Jamie Dornan’s cold-blooded killer. The scenes were he broke into his victim’s homes and waited for them at night, in particular, scared us shitless and had us sleeping with the lights on.
American Gods
Based on Neil Gaiman's 2001 award winning/best-selling novel American Gods is a magnificent dive into Americana, mythology and fantasy full of rich characters, plot twists, twisted imagery and dark dark tales. You can expect everything from Viking warriors performing spooky sacrificial rituals on each other and human bonfires, to brutal beheadings and endless blood baths - and that's just in the pilot episode.
NetflixThe Mist
The Mist is the latest Netflix drama based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. In it, a mysterious fog takes over a Maine village and the trapped residents soon find out that terrifying creatures are born within it. Think childhood nightmares come to life type of situation...
NetflixBlack Mirror
Black Mirror is made up of a series of stand alone dramas including a fresh set of characters which means each episode is like watching a new show altogether. However, one thing they all have in common is their focus on techno paranoia. While some episodes are fairly tame, others are scary AF. Especially because the idea of technology taking over the world and destroying us all doesn't seem so far-fetched these days.
