Editorials
What Are your Favorite Horror TV Shows?
Over the past few years, horror has made a huge impact on TV. Shows like “The Walking Dead” and “Ash vs Evil Dead” have delighted fans with their gleeful amounts of gore and violence as well as giving us far more material than a standard length feature film could ever hope to offer. And the quality of these shows has only increased, from the glamour of “American Horror Story” to the grittiness of “The X-Files“.
This phenomenon has been slowly coming, from “The Twilight Zone“, “Dark Shadows“, “The Addams Family“, “The Munsters“, and so on, all giving viewers a taste of horror but in different ways. Some favored the twist while others favored charm. But their horror foundation could never be denied.
Horror has never been stronger in our culture and society as it is today. It has become a powerhouse in nearly every medium it touches and it’s a delight to see so many people embracing it or, at the very least, giving it a shot.
So with all these amazing horror TV shows on now, I thought it’d be interesting to find out some of your favorites and your reasons why. Is it the characters? The writing? The setting? You tell us!
As always, here are a few of my favorites and I look forward to seeing yours!
“Twin Peaks”
Right away I have to go with pretty much my favorite of all time. The characters are absolutely delightful, the locations charming and inviting, the writing snappy and interesting, and the show never feels like it ages. Pretty much the only thing that gives away when it takes place is the very rare sight of a computer or the outfits, which indeed are horribly dated.
I can’t even begin to tell you just how excited I am for the new season to hit Showtime next year. Hell, I might even start drinking coffee again to celebrate!
“Harper’s Island”
Although this show lasted only one season, I really enjoyed its take on Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” (not the original name but I’d rather not get called a racist, thankyouverymuch). The characters were interesting, there were enough twists to keep me guessing, it looked sharp and the island was beautiful, and there was plenty of violence and twisted murders for the gorehound in me to stay rapt. If you haven’t watched this show, I highly recommend picking it up and giving it a shot!
“Tales From the Crypt”
Did you honestly think I would leave this off the list? This is one of the greatest examples of horror on TV. While the Crypt Keeper was already incarnated thanks to the EC Comics, the show made him a cultural icon, one whose laugh was enough to send shivers up and down the spines of those who heard it.
Furthermore, some of the best minds in Hollywood were a part of the series. Robert Zemeckis, Kyle MacLachlan, Joel Silver, Benicio del Toro, Bill Paxton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joe Pesci, Malcolm McDowell, Kirk Douglas, Tim Curry, Daniel Craig, Timothy Dalton, and so many more were involved in some way, shape, or form. Without “Tales From the Crypt”, who knows where horror television would be today?
“Hannibal”
God, I will never cease proclaiming my love for this show. It was elegant yet viciously violent. It was intelligently written and expertly pieced together, crafting a tale that was as psychologically terrifying as it was physically revolting, all the while remaining hypnotizing and visually arresting. With gorgeous yet haunting music and a perfect ensemble cast, “Hannibal” set a standard that has yet to be matched and, I feel, won’t be for a very long time.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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