No longer are you forced to movie-marathon with horror franchises like “Friday the 13th” or “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Nowadays, horror has invaded TV, carving out a respectable niche in the land of cable. If trick-or-treating is not your thing, here are several spooky shows to while the night away.
If gothic horror is your thing: “Penny Dreadful”
Think “League of Extraordinary Goth Characters” or “Justice League of Horror Icons,” and you won’t be far-off from the premise of “Penny Dreadful.” Set in a world where characters from “Dracula,” “Frankenstein” and “The Picture of Dorian Grey” all co-exist and interact with one another, season one is just eight episodes, but it feels longer because of the way it’s paced.
Creator John Logan is the screenwriter of such films as “Sweeney Todd” and “The Aviator,” and as a result, the show feels very cinematic, lingering on events like episode two’s seance or the demonic possession in the penultimate episode.
Ultimately though, the steampunk, candle-lit atmosphere is what will sink its claws and get you hooked.
If you have an appetite for murder: “Hannibal”
Everyone knows Hannibal the cannibal from the “Silence of the Lambs” film series but “Hannibal” the TV show flashes back to events prior to the Thomas Harris novels—fleshing out how the FBI got involved with Hannibal in the first place.
As a result, Hannibal isn’t locked up; he’s a forensic psychiatrist liaising with the FBI to solve a series of gruesome murders. Of course, we know what he’s going to become, and while on one level it’s your average case-of-the-week show a la “CSI,” watching Hannibal serve up brilliantly-shot epicurean feasts, while knowing what the ingredients are, can easily set you squirming.
Toss in the brilliant war of wits between him and FBI agent Will Graham, who suspects not everything is as clear-cut as it seems with Hannibal, and you’ll soon have the over-the-top Anthony Hopkins incarnation out of your head.
If you’ve only just noticed the zombie apocalypse: “The Walking Dead”
With its fifth season having started earlier this month, it’s safe to say that “The Walking Dead,” a TV adaptation of the popular comic book series (which just hit issue No. 132), is a certified phenomenon, breaking viewing records everywhere.
It’s not a complicated setup. A man wakes up from a coma, only to find out that zombies are everywhere, and have forced the surviving humans to live out a harried existence.
That said, it’s not episode after episode of people running away from shambling corpses. The group that the series follows quickly finds out that men are still capable of more horrific deeds than the titular creatures, all in the name of survival.
True, it takes a while for the show to find the right mix between talk-y scenes and the scary set pieces, but it’s like getting scratched by a member of the undead. It might take a while for you to turn, but the transformation is all but inevitable.
If you like your horror with a good dose of “that’s messed up”: “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Now on its fourth season, anthology series “American Horror Story” (“AHS”) is just beginning its latest tale, entitled “Freak Show.” Set in 1952, the titular freak show is a traveling circus
on its last legs that comes under scrutiny after the troupe murders a bigoted police detective. Also, if clowns scare you, you should avoid this show at all costs, because yes, there is a killer clown.
If you’ve never seen an episode of the show in any season, you’ll be in for a shock. “AHS” is, simply put, weird in all of the most outrageous ways. In fact, there’s a sense of “let’s throw in everything and see what sticks,” best encapsulated, perhaps, when the writers worked in Anne Frank and aliens in the second season, which is called “Asylum.” If you have the ability to strongly suspend your sense of disbelief, you’ll find some legit scares in this series.
If you’re looking for the spiritual successor to “The Twilight Zone”: “Black Mirror”
It’s always fun to watch British shows, because their POV is so different from their American counterparts.
“Black Mirror” is no different. The title refers to the screens of the gadgets that are everywhere—computers, phones, tablets—and the short but sweet run, two seasons, six episodes total, features self-contained “techno-paranoia” stories, in the vein of “The Twilight Zone” or “Tales from the Crypt.”
Trying to explain what goes on in the show without spoilers is pretty difficult, but suffice it to say there are plenty of twisted takes on social media, voyeurism and reality TV. It’s not out-and-out scary, compared to others on this list, but there’s plenty to keep you awake at night, contemplating just how attached society has become to our seemingly innocuous devices.
Coming soon
Premiering late this month, “Constantine” is an adaptation of the DC Comic “Hellblazer.” Yes, there was already a horrible Keanu Reeves movie version, but the new TV series is said to be amazingly faithful to the source material. Yes, Constantine is British and will wear a brown trench coat.
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is 17 years old, a fact that immediately dates me. However, if you’ve never seen it, and are curious as to how writer-director Joss Whedon first made his mark, the cult classic still stands up remarkably well.
Need a bit more teenage angst with your supernatural? “The Vampire Diaries” and its spin-off “The Originals” have just begun their sixth and second seasons, respectively.
If blood and guts scare you more than monsters, Steven Soderbergh’s TV effort, “The Knick,” might be for you. Set in 1900, the show, which stars Clive Owen, shows just how primitive medicine was back then. Unless you’re a med student, the warning “not for the faint of heart” certainly applies to graphic surgery scenes.
