These are the ten best horror TV shows you can stream right now onNetflix, but verify you catch the ones that are leaving the service soon.Horror TV is not the easiest thing to pull off, with anxiety, tension, and futility being at odds with a series that needs to keep the story going for a long time.
So when a TV show does manage to be properly horrifying and properly well done, it’s worth celebrating. Netflix has made a name for itself as a home of horror, with plenty ofunique and popular horror movies, as well asa large catalog of original and streaming horror TV shows.
Hellboundis a South Korean horror series that takes a lot from the popularSquid Gamesfranchise.In the show, set in South Korea, the world watches, stunned, as a face forms out of the heavens and begins condemning people to hell, either very soon after the decree or maybe years in the future.
At the time of their deliverance, demonic beings appear and tear apart the condemned person and incinerate them, often in public. In this new reality, a new culture of exploitation and grisly capitalism has resulted in the condemned being put on display in a game show. It’s wild, weird, and often terrifying.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiositiesis one ofmany fantastic anthology series on Netflixright now. The eight-episode horror series features directors such as Catherine Hardwicke and Panos Cosmatos telling original tales, adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft, and even versions of webcomics.
The series features many notable actors as well, including Tim Blake Nelson, Rupert Grint, Eric André, Sofia Boutella, and Kat Micucci. Most of the stories are in the Gothic vein that Del Toro is so interested in, andthe varied styles and stories mean there is at least one episode that horror fans will connect with.
Based on Dan Simmons' novel of the same name from 2007,The Terroris a period horror show that follows two HMS ships,TerrorandErebus, as they set course to discover a Northwest passage for British shipping in the 1840s. However, their travels eventually strand the crew in ice.
Only the first season ofThe Terroris adapted from Simmons' novel.
As they work to free themselves from the frozen wasteland,they begin to suspect something otherworldly is stalking them. With a fantastic crew including Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, Ciarán Hinds, and Adam Nagaitis,Terroris a beautifully produced and thrilling monster horror series.
The Haunting of Bly Manoris a follow-up toThe Haunting of Hill Housewith a similar tone and many of the same actors, but it is not a sequel. Instead, this 2020 Netflix miniseries is mostly based on the 1898 novella,The Turn of the Skrewby Henry James.
The series takes place in the eponymous manor in the United Kingdom, where an American woman is hired as an au pair for two strange children. It’s not quite as frightening as Flanagan’s previous show, butit’s still a chilling tale with a strong story that keeps you invested the entire run.
A TV adaptation ofThe Vampire Chroniclesby Anne Rice, which was most famously adapted into a movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, theInterview with the VampireTV series premiered on AMC and tells a much more rigorous version of Rice’s novel about a vampire, Louis (Jacob Anderson), and his encounters with the vampire Lestat (Sam Reid).
The TV show injects a much-needed breath of fresh air into the franchise, and does so with charm and a bit of humor that helps the more melodramatic moments of the series go down easier.Interview with the Vampirealso does not shy away from the LGBTQ aspects of the story, of which there are many.
Despite the name, Mike Flanagan’sThe Fall of the House of Usheris not only based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story. The series adapts several of Poe’s works into the miniseries, though it is primarily an updated version of the titular story, now set in 2023 with Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood/Zach Gilford) as the CEO of a pharmaceutical company.
It’s a very on-the-nose series, pointing a finger at the forces working in today’s world that seem to be concerned with accumulating wealth above all else. However,that in-your-face quality is never unpleasantbecause the dark storytelling and horror make it visceral and blunt in a way that’s grimly amusing.
Mike Flanagan’sMidnight Massis the best “adaptation” of Stephen King’sSalem Lotyou’re going to find. Of course, it’s not adapted from that book, butas far as TV shows about vampires in isolated communities, you can’t do much better thanMidnight Mass, a haunting, beautiful, and sad miniseries.
The series is set on Crockett Island, a tiny, dying island where the people cling to memories of what they once had rather than moving forward. Enter a new, young priest by the name of Hamish Linklater as Father Paul Hill, who brings with him a gift to the community, one that turns out to incur a heavy price.
The French horror seriesMariannemay have been canceled after only one season, but the ending is definitive enough that it’s absolutely worth your time to watch. In the show, a French horror author quits writing in the genre, only to discover that the witch in her books may actually be a real person.
It’s smartly constructed and refuses to take its foot off the gas pedal.
It’s an incredibly frightening series with some imagery that rivals any horror TV show or movie of the last ten years. It’s smartly constructed and refuses to take its foot off the gas pedal.Mariannenever gives you a break, and the oppressive horror it conjures is startlingly effective.
The Korean Period zombie series may seem like it has too much going on for it to be coherent, but it’s actuallya beautifully told and shot story about 17th-century Korea and the court intrigue there. There’s the same sort of political machinations as a show likeGame of Thrones, but with the promised zombies playing a part.
The story follows Lee Chang, the Crown Prince of Joseon, who is trying to defend his throne from interlopers and also uncover the mysteries behind an illness that is killing his subjects and raising them from the dead. The dead are out in force inKingdom, and it’s never been so fun watching martial artists chop through legions of them.
The Haunting of Hill Housewas the first ofMike Flanagan’s forays into horror TV and his best, which is saying quite a bit considering the quality of all his shows. Based on the Shirley Jackson novel from 1959, the miniseries follows the adult children of the Crain family still dealing with the trauma of their childhoods.
Decades earlier, the Crain family moved into Hill House, where paranormal activity terrified and scarred the family for years after.It’s an incredibly atmospheric showthat has some of the most frightening moments and images of any recent horror production,Netflixor otherwise. It’s also a moving and grief-filled story about family.
