Here at CinemaBlend, we cherish the horror genre as much as anything, and are always ready to settle in with whatever new scary movies are hitting theaters. (And if we have to settle for rewatching the best horror movies of all time, it’s hardly a loss.) But audiences often want to live inside their fears for longer than just a film’s runtime, and the streaming giant Netflix has been a dependable spot for delivering top-notch horror television.
While the service doesn’t quite boast the stacked library of licensed shows that it had in years past, Netflix has produced more than enough original horror series in the past decade to make up for it. And several of them are as good or better than anything else on the small screen, so fire up that Netflix subscription (metaphorically speaking, horror fans) and read on!
The Haunting Of Hill House (1 Season)
Having sharpened his skills on films such as Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil, genre mastermind Mike Flanagan made the jump to episodic scares with his third Netflix project (following Hush and Gerald’s Game), the Shirley Jackson-inspired series The Haunting of Hill House. Boasting a solid cast led by Carla Gugino, Victoria Pedretti, Michiel Huismann and more, Hill House is A+ horror television, telling a generation-spanning haunted house tale packed with meaningful twists, emotional trauma, and big scares. Flanagan & Co. also brilliantly spread a plethora of ghoulish visages into backgrounds of shots, adding an extra layer of unease throughout.
Archive 81 (1 Season)
A loose adaptation of the acclaimed found-audio podcast, Archive 81 follows Mamoudou Athie’s Dan Turner taking a cryptic new job restoring video footage recorded by a grad student (played by Dina Shihabi) whose discoveries within her apartment building have world-changing repercussions. The moody and well-crafted story (from creator Rebecca Sonnenshine) that’s best experienced knowing as little as possible, Archive 81 is filled with creepy moments that will stick with viewers long after watching. Don’t let the unfortunate cancellation sway you from watching.
Sweet Home (2 Seasons So Far)
Sweet Home is the live-action iteration of the South Korean webtoon from Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan, and absolutely brings an equal amount of bonkers, multi-genre fun. The story kicks off with a depressed high school dropout Cha Hyun-su (Song Kang), the lone survivor of a tragedy that kills everyone else in his family, teaming up with others in his new apartment complex after monsters suddenly show up and start destroying the city. The first two seasons are currently available, with the third set to cause more fantastical chaos in Summer 2024.
The Walking Dead (11 Seasons)
Though an abundance of both completed and ongoing spinoffs have expanding the comic book universe co-created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, The Walking Dead’s flagship live-action series doesn’t need any adjacent world-building to keep viewers hooked for its 11-season run. One’s mileage may vary from one storyline to the next, but it’s hard to deny the importance of Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes, Danai Gurira’s Michonne and many more within the annals of great horror TV. Plus, even if the story isn’t grabbing you at any particular moment, you can be sure effects maestro Greg Nicotero and his team will bring some of the gnarliest zombie carnage of any medium.
Brand New Cherry Flavor (1 Season)
Sex. Curses. Nightmares. Spit-covered cats. Those concepts offer a gist of what audiences can expect when hitting play on Brand New Cherry Flavor, but no words can legitimately describe the WTF-ery happening to the characters expertly portrayed by Rosa Salazar, Catherine Keener, Eric Lange and others. A story about a filmmaker who took the wrong route to achieving her dream, to put it very lightly, Brand New Cherry Flavor was co-created by Channel Zero and The Act’s Nick Antosca and Lenore Zion, and based on Todd Grimson’s novel. It’s a wild, unpredictable, and darkly comedic ride that provides visceral discomfort for all the senses in unique ways.
Ghoul (1 Season)
Set within a dystopian future where fascists reign supreme in India, the miniseries Ghoul combines folklore horror with a politicized military thriller, and it’s a wonder why this specific subgenre isn’t being utilized more. Radhika Apte stars as Nida, a newbie military officer who is tasked with joining the covert interrogation of a highly notorious terrorist (played by Mahesh Balraj) within a secret internment camp. But things quickly go sideways and supernatural, and the terrorist proves to be a bigger threat than anyone imagined. It was the second of Netflix’s Indian originals upon its release in 2018, with Blumhouse Productions helping put it together.
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (1 Season)
While Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story doesn’t fit as squarely into the horror box as other series, Evan Peters’ fan-pleasing performance is as chilling as any supernatural monster for the role of the titular murderer, necrophile and cannibal. It also helps the genre cred that it was co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, who also shared those duties on Scream Queens and The Watcher, among others. Dahmer’s popularity and awards cred sparked the move to turn Monster into an anthology, with future seasons also set to focus on real-world killers.
Marianne (1 Season)
The French series Marianne, created by Cobweb director Samuel Bodin, utilizes a tried and true narrative concept that works particularly well within the horror genre: a writer discovers the characters they’ve been writing about start appearing in the real world. Such as it goes for Victoire Du Bois’ horror novelist Emma Larsimon, whose attempt to distance herself from genre storytelling puts her right back with some of her darkest creations, such as the titular witch Marianne. Despite earning praise from Stephen King, the show was canceled after a single season, but the nightmares live on.
The Fall Of The House Of Usher (1 Season)
Rather than going the Haunting route with his one-season take on Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories, Mike Flanagan crafted his final (for now) Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher as a standalone project, and it certainly stood out upon its 2023 release. From the stable of Flanagan-friendly regulars (and newbs like Mark Hamill) to the shocking and gory interpretations of Poe’s most classic tales to the pharmaceutical industry plotline woven into the Usher family’s legacy, it’s arguably the creator’s most accomplished series to date, though that could be overtaken if he ever gets his Dark Tower series going.
Stranger Things (4 Seasons So Far)
While it’s unclear just how Stranger Things‘ upcoming fifth season will ultimately affect the sci-fi horror’s legacy, the first four seasons have been monster hits for the streaming service, and vaulted all of its ensemble cast members to super-stardom in recent years. Whether it’s the 1980s setting, the Stephen King references, Steve’s hair, or the mysterious connection between Hawkins, Indiana and the ever-threatening Upside Down, Stranger Things runs the genre gamut.
Parasyte: The Grey (1 Season)
Directed and co-written by Train to Busan’s Yeon Sang-ho, the South Korean sci-fi horror Parasyte: The Grey brings Hitoshi Iwaaki’s manga Parasyte to live-action in jaw-dropping ways. Humankind starts to go haywire after a group of parasites fall to Earth from outer space and start killing people by taking over their bodies. Making things even more dangerous is the fact that they can shapeshift their heads, an ability that gets utilized in some zany ways. The “Grey” of the title refers to the task force created to eliminate the threat and awareness of the parasites, which is far easier said than accomplished.
Midnight Mass (1 Season)
Rather than adapting other authors’ famed works, Mike Flanagan developed an original pitch for the slow-burning religion-infused horror series Midnight Mass, but it’s no less reflective of key genre influences. The remote community of Crockett Island is forever changed when Hamish Linklater’s Paul Hill takes over as priest in the local church, which coincides with the return of Zach Gilford’s Riley Flynn, newly released from prison for causing a drunk driver death. Religious horror nearly always skews to demonic possession or giving birth to the antichrist, but Midnight Mass thankfully sidesteps both with its mythology.
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