Netflix’s 8 Scariest Shows

Halloween season is well underway, and there are more spooky shows streaming than any one person could hope to watch.

October is a time for embracing the eerie onset on colder, shorter days by getting in the Halloween spirit. Once a year, we all get to be as creepy, mysterious and morbid as we want. Nowhere does this manifest as clearly as in our media diet.

Halloween may not have the extravagant gifts of some holidays, or the delectable food of others, but it very well might have the best movies and TV shows. Halloween is the unofficial holiday of the horror genre as a whole, and it is thriving. Of course, this time of year also comes with the onset of autumn, meaning that most of us want to stay in and get comfortable. For that, there is our faithful friend Netflix.

The streaming service has all the spooky series you could ask. A dedicated viewer could binge-watch their way right into 2019 if they wanted. At the very least, there is more than enough to us to Halloween itself, and set the mood before the trick-or-treating begins.

Here are some of the best scary shows to watch on Netflix this Halloween season.

Stranger Things

Let’s just get the most obvious choice out of the way first. If you have not watched the streaming sensation that is Stranger Things yet, Halloween is the perfect time to do so. The show combines some of the most iconic elements of 80s era movies — particularly the works of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King. It has mysteries on every level, from simple schoolyard capers to supernatural adventures, and everything in between. It has magic, sci-fi and realism all rolled into one.

The show has two seasons available now with a total of 25 episodes, and more is on the way in 2019.

Dead Set

Many people are crazy about Netflix’s original anthology series Black Mirror, but some do not know that its creator, Charlie Brooker, has another show in the catalogue — Dead Set. The series went for just one season with five episodes, but it is a fan favorite. It is based very obviously on the reality show Big Brother, but the cast members are quickly besieged by zombies.

The show was made for bingeing, and is a great self-contained watch for a gloomy October night.

Bates Motel

Expanding the world of a classic horror film has gone terribly wrong in some cases, but Bates Motel does a surprisingly good job. The series is a prequel to Psycho, and follows a young Norman Bates through his formative years. The show broadens the scope of this iconic villain’s psychological portrait, painted nearly 60 years ago by Alfred Hitchcock.

Bates Motel has 5 seasons with 50 total episodes on Netflix.

Crazyhead

Netflix has another short-lived gem in the form of Crazyhead. The series ran for just 6 episodes, but in that time it examined mental health, stigmatization and demon channeling, among other things. It follows characters who can see monstrous creatures, but their well-diagnosed chemical imbalances keep everyone from believing them. The show is simultaneously terrifying and hilarious.

American Horror Story

Of course, horror fans can turn to one of the most established shows on TV today for their fix this October. American Horror Story has seven seasons and just under a hundred episodes on Netflix, and it is still running as well. The series is packaged perfectly for binge-watching, with seasons containing entirely separate stories and characters. If you’ve been wondering what all the hype is about, this Halloween might be the time to finally break into American Horror Story.

Black Mirror

These days, there is no way to leave Black Mirror off a list of scary shows. The anthology series takes a speculative look at the advancement of technology and the logical ends to our society’s development. It is filled with philosophical quandaries and tough moral dilemmas with no real answer. It also forces viewers to take a harder look at how they are living now and question whether it is already on this slippery slope.

Black Mirror has 5 seasons and 20 total episodes, but each one is self-contained.

The Twilight Zone

Of course, to understand the tradition that Black Mirror is carrying on, one should really take a closer look at The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling’s anthology series defined horror and drama for a generation who grew up pondering his impossible parables. The show has 4 seasons and 156 total episodes, and makes for a perfect dose of nostalgic spookiness in these confusing times.

Twin Peaks

All of these anthologies are fun, but serious TV connoisseurs have to take a look at Twin Peaks. The infamous mystery series has one of the most dedicated cult followings in history, and Netflix has given them the chance to revisit their obsession. This also means that new fans can jump into the show for the first time — and what better time than Halloween season? Netflix has only the original two seasons of Twin Peaks, so fans will have to look elsewhere for the revival series which premiered last year.