The 21st century has been horrible – and that’s great for ratings! As real life terrors have compounded across the decades, art has done what it does best and imitated! We’re living in the Golden Age of TV, and the horror television has proven to be no exception to the prestige rule. Whether it’s zombies, ghosts, vampires, or whatever made up monstrosity Supernatural came up with in its umpteenth season, there’s something here for everyone! These are the 10 best horror TV shows of the 21st century, enough to keep you satisfied until the terrors of the 22nd rear their ugly hydra heads.
The Walking Dead
Adapted from Robert Kirkman’s groundbreaking horror comic, The Walking Dead launched itself into the heights of TV glory faster than a plague ridden corpse in a Medieval catapult (yes, people really did that back. then). The now infamous plot centers around former Sheriff Rick Grimes, who awakens in a hospital it overrun with *title drop* the walking dead. Having never heard the of concept of “zombies,” the population of this alternate universe are doubly horrified by the idea. The show elevated network television to new levels of depravity by featuring some truly horrific sequences of violence, and balanced the brutality with a found family cast of lovable survivors that you really don’t want to see die. The golden era of the series? When Rick and friends embrace their inner monsters, becoming just as violent as the world that seeks to rip them apart. Despite the gang not being a democracy, Dictator Rick has my vote forever.
The Haunting of Hill House
Adapted from Shirley Jackson’s bone chilling novel, The Haunting of Hill does the impossible and improves upon the existing source material. The plot revolves around a group of siblings returning to their haunted childhood home of Hill House, where a family tragedy with supernatural causes resulted in their fleeing the place 26 years prior. The original novel is criticized for its slowburn pace, a critique that series creator Mike Flanagan evidently took to heart – causing ours to pound in the first episode. Arguably the greatest piece of haunted house media ever created, The Haunting of Hill House is a heady cocktail of sadness and terror. The complex siblings are more than character vehicles to set up scares, their dynamic makes for an engrossing family drama on its own. When the ghosts show up, that’s only the icing on the emotionally haunted cake.
Supernatural
The ultimate pulp horror series, Supernatural is 15 seasons of frightening fun. The plot follows around Sam and Dean Winchester, a sibling duo that fight off both demons and incest accusations (aka “Wincest”) from the series’ dedicated community of fans. Beginning with standard ghost and monster stories in season one (arguably the scariest of them all) the series quickly swells to biblical proportions, pitting the brothers against the warring forces of Heaven and Hell. While the peak of the plot is arguably seasons 4 and 5, the drama continues well into later seasons. There’s a gleefulness to late stage Supernatural – a sense of camp that comes with the show’s writers struggling to come with new ideas for its decade longer than expected run. As the series gets whackier and whackier, it leans into the meta of it all – Sam and Dean have a Scooby Doo crossover episode, meet God, and get the sneaking suspicion that they might just be characters in a series themselves. Chef’s kiss.
Midnight Mass
A Catholic take on the vampire myth, Midnight Mass is one of the greatest stories of bloodsuckers ever told. A small island community is reeling from the loss of their parish priest, but when his vigorous young replacement comes to town, the somber Catholic community is evangelized into a religious fervor. The sacrament of Communion becomes a weekly miracle, as the community’s physical ailments are healed after drinking the wine – believed by Catholics to be the literal blood of Jesus Christ (google “transubstantiation”). The priest believes that this “wine” is the genuine divine article – a gift from a winged being believes to have angelic origins. A winged being that only comes out at night… see where we’re going with this? Aside from serving up incredible scares, the series is a profound meditation on faith and spirituality. How do we reconcile the idea of a loving God in a bleak and bitter universe? Some theologian probably has an answer, but forming a Conclave-themed vampire cult isn’t it.
The Last of Us
The latest in Prestige TV, The Last of Us is an adaption of the video game series credited with elevating the medium to new Oscar-bait heights. In a world where a fungal infection causes humans to turn into mushroom zombies, a grizzled smuggler is tasked with carrying his strangest cargo yet: an immune little girl. As they journey across a broken nation, their mercenary bond soon blossoms into surrogate father/daughter love. Horror with the pathos of a Best Picture winner, the series has a reputation for spilling blood and tears alike. Look no further than Season 1, Episode 3 – a post-apocalyptic queer romance arc hailed as one of the greatest episodes of TV ever written. I’m still working out the gorgeous devastation of Bill and Frank’s lifelong love in therapy.
American Horror Story
The ultimate horror anthology, American Horror Story is twelve self-contained miniseries in one. Featuring an ever-rotating cast of characters and monsters, the series reinvents itself more than mid-career David Bowie. Beginning with a fresh take on the tried and true ghost story, the series winds its way through classic horror scenarios: mental asylums, haunted hotels, creepy circuses, and slasher summer camps. While some seasons are certainly stronger than others, you have to admire the series’ commitment to creating something new every time. It’s this endless sense of imagination combined with its reverence towards classic genre tropes that make American Horror Story horror royalty. Looking for the best of the best season? You can’t go wrong with Asylum or Coven.
The Terror
A historical horror, The Terror takes its name from the HMS Terror, an unfortunately named vessel that was lost during Captain Sir John Franklin’s doomed expedition into the Arctic Circle in 1845. Seeking the fabled Northwest Passage to establish a route through uncharted seas, The HMS Terror and its companion ship the Erebus see their hopes run aground at the same time as their hulls. As if the falling temperatures and dwindling food supplies weren’t bad enough, the sailors begin to suspect that they are being stalked by a supernatural presence in the shnow. The series is a testament to the folly of man, how humanity’s search for glory often results in downfall. In subsequent seasons, similar tragedies repeat throughout history.
What We Do In The Shadows
While comedies often get the short end of the prestige stick when it comes to deciding TV greatness, What We Do In The Shadows is an undeniable addition to any horror list. Adapted from a film of the same name, the plot follows a vampire clan on a quest for world domination – beginning with Staten Island. While the immortal group has only managed to establish dominion over about five houses over their many years of existence, they’re entirely undaunted. While attempting to establish their rule, they deal with all sorts of drawbacks: rejection from “cool vampire” nightclubs, run-ins with animal control while in bat form, and a group of werewolves that keep peeing on their topiaries. It’s a laugh out loud funny series played deadly straight – The Office with capes and fangs.
Penny Dreadful
Penny Dreadful takes its title from pulp novels of the Britain’s past – sensational Victorian fiction focusing on the ghastly and macabre. I can’t think of a better way to describe this series. This is the story of Vanessa Ives, a spiritual medium hired by an American gunslinger to rescue his daughter from a vampire. Along the way, their ever-growing group encounters famous figures from horror novels past, including Victor Frankenstein, his monster, and Dorian Grey. The ultimate gothic series, Penny Dreadful is a trip down horror literature memory lane, given a bloody makeover for the modern era.
Hannibal
When Anthony Hopkins took on the role of the famous cannibal doctor from Silence of The Lambs, it was agreed to be the authoritative interpretation of Thomas Harris’ literary creation – then Mads Mikkelsen came along and challenged him for the title. A prequel series about Lector’s time as a respected psychologist, the series follows the good doctor and his obsessive relationship with Will Graham – an FBI criminal profiler with a killer sense of empathy. Considering Will to be the only person that can come close to understanding him, Lector helps the agent in hunt down a rogue’s gallery of psychopathic murderers – all the while hiding his own murders in plain sight. As aesthetically sublime as it is grim, Hannibal feels like a Rembrandt painting of a half-eaten corpse. Horrible, beautiful, messy, disturbing, you just can’t look away.
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