While most associate the realm of horror with films, TV has proven it’s more than capable of giving us the heebie jeebies too.
Plus, with endless episodes, shows can keep the scares coming even after the credits roll on the small screen.
There are certain scary shows that obviously come to mind – The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks – but we’ve tried to find some offbeat picks that might not make the top of people’s all-out scary lists, but deliver bumps and jumps nonetheless.
We asked Metro readers – as well as us here at the TV team – to share the shows that have scared them stiff and these are the ones that they recommended…
Metro readers have their say
Among the shows that have come highly recommended by Metro readers is Quartermass, which David Nicholls said forced him to ‘hide behind a chair to watch it’.
We also have I Know What You Did Last Summer, from Alex Alysson’s recommendation and Julie T Potter suggesting Wolf Creek, writing: ‘Can’t wait for the next one,’ alongside a hiding emoji.
Cheryl Bucchi recommended the true crime drama/docu-series Helter Skleter, writing: ‘Just as it ended the ceiling light “shade” fell down with a crash……scared the crap out of me!!!!!’
Paul Armer added: ‘A toss up between The Acolyte and the Willow series. I think Willow just won. Major car crash TV.’
Stranger Things
Metro TV Editor Sabrina Barr shares her pick…
I’ve been obsessed with Stranger Things ever since it premiered in 2016. It combined several of my favourite things – the 80s, the supernatural, a group of go-getter kids teaming up to save the day.
But season four horrified me beyond my wildest imagination when it aired in 2022.
As soon as we all set eyes on Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), he was gruesome to behold just from his appearance alone… but when he murdered his first victim Chrissy (Grace Van Dien), I was as gripped as I was mentally scarred.
Witnessing Chrissy slam into the ceiling above her as every single one of her bones began to break, and then witnessing her brain explode as Eddie (Joseph Quinn) screams in terror, will be etched in my mind for all of eternity.
If that’s how Stranger Things launched season four, I can’t wait to find out how Netflix is going to wrap up the masterpiece series this year with the fifth and final outing.
Quartermass
This is one from the archives, specifically the 1970s, but is actually available to stream over on ITVX if you have a subscription to its premium service.
With only four episodes, Quartermass packed a fairly quick punch and has since earned a cult TV status. That might have something to do with the subject matter.
Set in a near future where everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of a cult (get it) called Planet People, the series follows one Professor Bernard Quatermass, of show title fame.
He travels to London looking for his granddaughter, only to be savagely attacked there.
He’s saved by one Dr Joe Kapp, who he tells of his search for his granddaughter. But with no leads on the horizon, they leave the city only to encounter Planet People. As weird as it sounds.
Apparitions
Deputy TV Editor Tom Percival shares his pick…
A misspent youth watching horror movies means it’s pretty hard to get under my skin, yet the little known BBC 1 thriller Apparitions managed to hit a nerve.
The show follows Father Jacob Myers (Martin Shaw) a Catholic priest and exorcist who finds himself on the trail of a demon with a penchant for skinning its victims.
Apparitions is a compelling series about faith in the face of pure evil featuring a demon less interested in projectile vomit and far more intrigued by the sound of screams.
As shocking as the gore and violence is, though, what makes Apparitions truly terrifying is its unflinching depiction of Hell as a place so foul and fetid even Satan’s infinite legions of the damned are desperate to escape the stench of brimstone and wails of agony.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
This one definitely has a more out-and-out fear factor, based on the cult 90s film that scared an entire generation senseless as a group of friends were terrorised by a mystery stalker.
The 2021 TV show adaptation offered a modern update on the film, but those familiar with the original will still recognise the premise. A group of teenagers are a year on from graduating high school and a fatal accident that happened that night, when they start to be picked off one by one – Final Destination-style – by a mysterious killer.
This was a standalone season, with eight episodes, all of which are now available for a weekend binge over on Amazon Prime Video.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Senior TV Reporter Rebecca Cook shares her pick…
This decision is largely down to one unbeatable episode, which I am willing to throw down the gauntlet here and say is the scariest episode of television there is (caveat: of the episodes of television I have in fact seen).
You might have guessed it, but it is indeed season four’s standalone, standout masterpiece Hush. An episode which is almost entirely absent of dialogue and one which introduces all-timer creepy villains. Once you’ve seen them, it’s hard to forget about them. (Particularly when the lights go out at night.)
They are the Gentlemen. A horrifying cohort of floating bald men in suits. On paper it doesn’t sound like much, but seek out the nightmarish episode and see the well-dressed demons for yourself.
Of course, there are other scary episodes of Buffy out there – Same Time, Same Place with its very-real depiction of what being flayed might look like, immediately comes to mind – but this one takes the creepy cake. Even if you’re not planning on watching Buffy as a whole, I urge you, watch Hush!
Helter Skelter
This one might be the most frightening of all the suggestions, because it’s rooted in the real life events around Charles Manson.
The 2020 docu-series Helter Skelter: An American Myth focused on the Manson family murders, with new interviews and images, as well as archival footage to tell the story of the heinous Tate–LaBianca murders. The series scored a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is available through Apple TV Plus.
The Metro reader may also be referring to a similarly named 1976 series on the cult leader, which was a true crime dramatisation.
Starring George DiCenzo as prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi and Steve Railsback as Manson, this miniseries was based on Bugliosi’s bestseller of the same name and fed the continued fascination with these gory crimes.
For extra context: ‘Helter Skelter’ refers to The Beatles song, which is said to have inspired Manson’s crazed delusions of a pending ‘race war’ – or at least inspired him to use this as a fear-mongering tactic to control his followers.
The Fall
TV Reporter Asyia Iftikhar shares her pick…
The first season of BBC drama The Fall has everything going for it with its star-studded cast including Gillian Anderson as DS Stella Gibson and Jamie Dornan as serial killer Paul Spector, who proves almost impossible to track down.
Although it sounds like your run-of-the-mill British crime thriller, it ended up being such horrifying viewing that I have never forgotten how wretched I felt first watching it (there’s one scene that lives rent free in my mind due to its excruciating tension).
Nevertheless, I found myself determined to finish the show and see the killer put to justice. I was completely reeled me in – hook, line and sinker.
It is a difficult watch, on many levels, but the quality of the writing, acting and plot still surpasses many of the thrillers we see today, in my opinion.
Wolf Creek
Inspired by the 2005 film of the same name, which also has a decent fear-factor claim, Wolf Creek sees a visit Down Under take a terrible turn.
A vicious serial killer called Mick Taylor is targeting tourists and when he attacks a family in the Outback, 19-year-old American Eve (Lucy Fry) is the only survivor.
Eve goes full John Wick to avenge her the deaths of her loved ones and sets out to hunt down the killer.
On Google, viewers have hailed the horror as ‘phenomenal’ but warned it was ‘not for the faint-hearted.’
The six-parter is all on Channel 4 for you to go binge right this moment (after you’ve finished reading this, of course).
The Last of Us
TV Reporter Milo Pope shares his pick…
The thriller/horror genre and I enjoy a complex, if not twisted and slightly demented relationship.
Whenever those moments arrive, where the main protagonist always decides to walk down the abandoned alleyway or enter the haunted, grungy, dark basement despite the fact that they should very much not be doing so, a bizarre, paradoxical chemical reaction happens inside me where everything is telling me to walk out of the room, but my eyes cannot be peeled from the screen.
The Last of Us season one, bar that truly magical third episode (if you know, you know), pretty much evoked that feeling out of me in I’d say every scene possible.
Despite the fact that I adored the series, I found myself pleading with the show’s creators: ‘Why can’t Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay just spend an episode inside a safe, protected room?’ ‘Why are they having to constantly fight for their lives and escape by the skin of their teeth every time?’ ‘And why do they have to take the most dangerous routes imaginable on their journey’.
I don’t know! But I’m not complaining either.
Willow
A reboot of Ron Howard’s magical quest film of 1988, which also starred Warwick Davis, you might remember this because it was quite dramatically cancelled in 2023.
Dramatic in that Davis – who played titular sorcerer Willow Ufgood – was not happy about it, and made that known after the axe had fallen on the Disney+ show and they pulled it from the service.
But what was the show all about? Described as an ‘epic period fantasy series’ by Disney, you might not expect this to be the thing that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but this is a magical world where mystical creatures of every fear-level can flourish.
So when an unlikely group embarks on a dangerous quest to places farflung from their home, they have to face inner and outer demons alike.
Which show do you most want to watch?
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Quartermass
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I Know What You Did Last Summer
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Helter Skelter
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Wolf Creek
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Willow
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