With Halloween fast approaching, many of you dear readers will be compulsively consuming horror flicks by the dozens, but what if you’re in the mood for a healthy dose of long-form terrifying storytelling? We’ve got just the ticket with our list of The 12 Best Horror TV Shows, which you can flip through via the gallery below!
Our article coincides with CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media recently releasing a Blu-ray box set titled Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery, which compiles all-new HD transfers of the cult show, as well as the Blu-ray debut of the controversial follow-up movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. The box contains deleted scenes, Log Lady intros, a new documentary and more, which should be enough to tide fans over until next year when David Lynch returns with all-new episodes.
Click here to purchase Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery on Blu-ray!
Twin Peaks isn’t the only series in our list to get a movie follow-up or a recent revival, though. Whether you’re a die hard Dark Shadows fanatic or a Walking Dead ultrafan, you’ll find those and plenty more in-between in our list in the gallery below. Be sure to let us know what YOUR favorite horror TV shows are in the comments section!
The 12 Best Horror TV Shows
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Hannibal (2013-2015)
After the character portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, Brian Cox and Gaspard Ulliel had been effectively run into the ground by five movies, creator Bryan Fuller injected new life into Thomas Harris' iconic character. The series focused on events prior to Red Dragon/Manhunter, in which Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) forges a complex relationship with FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), all told with high-style and plenty of shocking moments.
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American Horror Story (2011-Present)
Creator/producer Ryan Murphy broke the mold by creating a series that resembled a touring theater company rather than a straightforward series. Each season revolves around a different locale (a carnival, an asylum, a hotel, etc) with many of the same actors returning to new roles. The format continues to provide its fanbase with fresh horrors year after year, and has even expanded to a thematic spin-off American Crime Story.
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The Walking Dead (2010-Present)
As developed by genre heavyweight Frank Darabont, AMC's series based on Robert Kirkman's ongoing comic book series truly ushered zombies into mainstream culture. Once the cult realm of George Romero has now become pure soap opera as the show continues to follow a group of survivors led by former cop Rick as they trundle across post-apocalyptic backwoods America.
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Masters of Horror (2005-2007)
This short-lived series presented hour-long mini-movies helmed by some of the preeminent directors to ever grace the genre: Don Coscarelli, John Carpenter, Joe Dante, John Landis, Dario Argento, Stuart Gordon and more. Showtime allowed the filmmakers to push the boundaries of what was tasteful at the time, including one of the most blistering broadsides against the Iraq War made during the Bush years in Dante's "Homecoming." The series morphed into an NBC series titled Fear Itself, which failed to recapture the magic.
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
After a 1992 film failed to capture the vision of screenwriter Joss Whedon, it gained a second life as a cult TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as the latest in a long line of warriors chosen to fight the forces of darkness. Highlights included a half-silent episode titled "Hush" and a musical episode titled "Once More, with Feeling." The show forever cemented Whedon's status as a geek icon, and also launched the spin-off show Angel.
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The X-Files (1993-2002, 2016)
Chris Carter synthesized all the most potent aspects of conspiracy theories into a single show revolving around two FBI agents: true-believer Mulder (David Duchovny) & skeptic Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they investigate claims into aliens and other supernatural goings on. The show launched two feature films as well as a recent revival series.
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Twin Peaks (1990-1991, 2017)
Creator David Lynch served up some damn good coffee, damn good cherry pie and a heaping helping of surrealism when he launched Twin Peaks upon an unsuspecting public in the early nineties. It follows a small town's unraveling against the backdrop of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) investigating the murder of high school girl Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). A movie titled Fire Walk With Me unsuccessfully attempted to wrap up loose ends from the show's early cancellation, although a 2017 revival will hopefully shed new light.
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Tales From the Crypt (1989-1996)
William Gaines' EC Comics horror titles (The Crypt of Terror, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror) were brought to vivid life via HBO with terrific production values, big stars and gore aplenty. Producer Joel Silver was able to wrangle some choice directors to helm episodes, including Robert Zemeckis, Richard Donner, John Frankenheimer, William Friedkin, Walter Hill and Tobe Hooper.
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Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1972-1975)
Darren McGavin's Carl Kolchak is an investigative reporter with a habit of getting mixed up in supernatural goings-on, whether it be vampires, werewolves, succubi and, yes, even aliens. Dan Curtis produced and Richard Matheson wrote the original pair of TV movies, which stand as the definitive version of the character, although the 20 episodes of the series have a fun "monster of the week" flair that influenced The X-Files.
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Night Gallery (1969-1973)
While many will be disheartened to see The Twilight Zone absent from this list, we feel that show is more representative of social science fiction, whereas Rod Serling's follow-up Night Gallery is entirely rooted in the supernatural. Although it has always lived in the shadow of the Zone, the anthology series boasted stories adapted from luminaries like Algernon Blackwood, H.P. Lovecraft and Richard Matheson. It also served as a launching pad for filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who helmed a segment of the pilot as well as another episode. In syndication (including its current rerunning on METV) Universal packaged packaged 25 episodes of another supernatural series titled The Sixth Sense into it, although those have nothing to do with what Serling was trying to achieve.
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Dark Shadows (1966-1971)
What began as a much more straightforward gothic romance soap opera morphed into something else entirely. With the arrival of the reluctant vampire Barnabas Collins to his home at the foreboding mansion called Collinwood, Dark Shadows took a turn that opened the door for ghosts, witches, werewolves, time travel and other supernatural fun. After banking over 1200 episodes before the show's demise, producer Dan Curtis ushered in two theatrical movies (House of Dark Shadows, Night of Dark Shadows) and a revival series in the '90s. Tim Burton later (poorly) remade the show into big budget nonsense with Johnny Depp.
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Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1965)
The master of suspense solidified his image in the public consciousness by hosting the wraparound segments of this highly-influential anthology series. One of the most famous horror-themed episodes, "The Jar," was remade for the 80's revival by Tim Burton. Quentin Tarantino's segment of Four Rooms was an almost beat-for-beat remake of the episode "Man from the South."
