With Halloween season in full swing, everyone’s looking for some grim shows to watch to fit the scenery and set the mood for the upcoming holiday. However, you don’t need to wait until October to enjoy zombies, blood-thirsty psychopaths, and paranormal activities. The following TV shows are going to make the hair on your neck stand any day.
Stranger Things
A group of teenage neighborhood kids living in the 1980s is ganged up against the dark world of Upside Down and its monsters that try to destroy their little hometown of Hawkins, Indiana. The series first aired in 2016, and became an instant hit on Netflix. Season two and three soon followed, while season four is still in the making and will be released in 2024. The creepy show features some big Hollywood names like Wynona Ryder and David Harbour, while at the same time launching the acting careers of the younger protagonists. Millie Bobby Brown did a marvelous job at playing Eleven, alongside her co-star Finn Wolfhard as Mike.
The Walking Dead
A local sheriff wakes up in the hospital after being shot on the job, only to find out that his family is gone along with all the other residents. That is, besides the ones who turned into flesh-eating zombies. It started as a short comic book story, developed by the director of Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont as a side project to Mad Men. No one thought that it will grow to be one of the most popular shows on AMC. Fourteen seasons later, The Walking Dead went into history as being one of the best horror shows ever to air.
Black Mirror
Five seasons bring us over 30 episodes of Black Mirror show. Each show is a story for itself. Every story is either portrays social circumstances that are already happening under our noses or the ones that are highly likely to happen in the near future. The show is hypnotizing at times, clearing up the fog in front of our windshield making us question the good intentions of the rules we’re subjected to as individuals. Mind-boggling, intriguing show that you’ll surely go back to.
True Detective
Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harelson teamed up for this phenomenal show. It starts as a routine homicide investigation that brought together two unlikely partners to look into the case. However, the show quickly starts to explore the characters’ inner fears, doubts, and darkest secrets. It becomes their own, personal investigation of, well, themselves. Great, slow-burning show that will take you on a wild ride.
The X-Files
“The Truth Is Out There” was the line that lead us through seasons of skin-crawling cases investigated by Moulder and Scully. From weird diseases to extraterrestrials and creepy characters, The X-Files remains one of the greatest grim, eerie shows that everyone loved. The show first aired in 1993 and lasted until 2002 launching David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson’s acting careers to the orbit. It had its relaunch in 2016 that was surprisingly equally great.
Hannibal
Unfortunately, the Hannibal show was canceled for its third season on Netflix, but the first two are quite full of blood, human flesh-eating, and the slow-burning climaxes that you won’t be asking for more. Dr. Hannibal Lecter and his nemesis, a relentless FBI agent Will Graham are at it again, playing cat and mouse games. It needs to be mentioned that the show is full of almost slow-motion scenes of meat-cutting (human?), blood-dropping sequences where Hannibal meticulously prepares his feasts. Consider yourselves warned.
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone aired on TV from 1959 to 1964, and it still remains to this day to be one of the scariest shows ever to be made. The special effects are remarkably good, but the music is what’s going to make your skin crawl. Each episode is a short, creepy story about some supernatural occurrences that can not be explained. Its open-end stories will leave you wondering about the possible outcomes and resolutions for days.
Twin Peaks
The iconic David Lynch and Mark Frost’s series about the murder case. Initially, it seems like a simple whodunit story that will have an expected turn, but instead (remember, this is David Lynch’s masterpiece) it takes us on a whirlwind, supernatural experience of demonic entities personified as Bob and pale creatures that live among red curtains and checkered floors. Small town folks are anything but simple, hiding dark evil beneath the boring surface.
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is a reality series that kept fans glued to the screens for more than 15 seasons. The ghost-hunting crew is investigating real-life cases of haunted houses and cursed places. It starts with the gang visiting some small town, talking to the locals giving us a hint about their next move. They are equipped with heat-measuring devices that can detect paranormal activities. The show will definitely keep you at the edge of your seat and is a true horror fan delight.
True Blood
A Louisiana waitress with psychic, mind-reading abilities gets entangled in the little town’s underworld filled with vampires. However, the show is more than just a simple vampire horror story. There is some romance involved and challenges with socially accepted norms. The show ran for six seasons, from 2008 to 2014 earning a big nod from critics and audiences alike.
Nina Smith