If you’re like me, you were on board with Rick and the gang up until a point–maybe that point was season 4, where you felt like you just couldn’t take another day inside the prison. Or maybe it was just recently, when you realized the show had jumped the shark over and over again, this time landing in a shallow pool with a muddy payoff and no respect for core cast members. But if you’re a horror fan who wants to get a fix from binge watching a quality T.V. show, it might seem like your options are limited. Walking Dead is, in fact, one of the most popular and well-known horror shows, but there are plenty of others that will keep you creeped out week after week.
In honor of the spookiest time of the year, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite hauntingly good horror series, form cable to streaming services. So turn out the lights, pop some popcorn, and get ready to be sucked in to a new show.
1. The Exorcist
Starring Alfonso Herrera, Ben Daniels and Geena Davis, this Fox series debuted on September 23, 2016. Loosely based on the William Peter Blatty novel of the same name, the show follows the Rance overcoming hard times and becoming slowly attuned to demonic activity in their home. Angela Rance, played by the indomitable Davis, believes something is after her family. Between her husband’s strange mental illness, her older daughter’s post-car accident trauma, and her younger daughter’s fixation on noises in the walls, she isn’t sure where to turn. Father Tomas Ortega, a handsome and progressive leaders in their local parish, thinks he can help. But when the paranormal incidents take on a distinctly demonic flair, he has to turn to rebellious exorcist and hardened survivor Father Marcus Brennan. Between the top notch special effects, well-written dialogue, and high caliber actors, The Exorcist is horror television as it’s finest. There are currently five episodes available, with five more to come after a two week break.
2. Channel Zero: Candle Cove
If you’ve felt disappointed by SyFy original shows in the past, I don’t blame you–but don’t let that keep you from tuning in to their strange, unsettling new series based on Creepy Pasta stories, Channel Zero: Candle Cove. The first season is only four episodes in and has already proven to be a competent, terrifying new addition to a horror lineup. Designed to be anthology style, each season will adapt a different Creepy Pasta story. Candle Cove follows child psychologist Mike Painter returning home for the first time in twenty eight years. After his twin brother’s death in the early 80s, Mike left his hometown for good–and for good reason. Along with his twin, five other kids died under mysterious circumstances possibly connected to a disturbing children’s show, called Candle Cove. No one remembers the series, save a handful of Mike’s childhood friends, and they’re probably better off–the horrific puppets, nightmarish scenarios, and sinister agenda of Candle Cove left a wake of curious destruction. And now it’s starting again.
3. Scream Queens
If you’re a fan of tongue-in-cheek snarky horror like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream Queens is the show you didn’t know you needed. Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, Scream Queens follows a group of nasty sorority girls trying to solve a twenty year old murder before history repeats itself. Starring the ultimate scream queen herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, the series brings a bright crop of horror movie heroes into the spotlight–Emma Roberts, Abigail Breslin, Aryana Grande, and Billie Lourd shriek, stab, and style their way to super stardom. With sharp wit and excellent writing, Scream Queens delivered an engaging first season. The second season changed up the location and has been delighting fans since it’s premier, but this is one show you definitely need to start from the beginning.
4. Ash vs. The Evil Dead
Thirty long years after the events of the original Evil Dead film finds our hero Ash Williams a loner, living a boring, average existence yet still not able to come to terns with the events that transpired at the cabin in the woods. Unfortunately, time to process his past has run out, as a new wave of Deadites has crawled back onto the scene. After having once again read the incantation from the Book of the Dead, Ash unleashes the Kandarian Demon (the Evil Dead) one more time. A new set of events brings him to assume his former fighting persona and face the new demonic plague in order to save the human race. Executive produced by Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, Craig DiGregorio, and Robert Tapert, who originally produced all four Evil Dead films, the series premiered on October 31, 2015 and has already delivered an outstanding second season with a third on the way.
