October is scary busy. Whether you're finishing a costume or juggling group chats, these 31 days fly by faster than you can do the Monster Mash. So we get it if you're a bit behind on your terrifying TV.
Thankfully, with the cozy season descending on us, you can carry your captivation with all things creepy into the rest of fall and beyond. We've rounded up some of our favorite ookiest, spookiest series to get your streaming started off right — with a focus on titles a little off the beaten path.
Listed in no particular order, here are 7 hidden gems of horror TV you can enjoy right now.
1. Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving's 1820 story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" has spawned numerous adaptations that retell the tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, but Sleepy Hollow puts a modern twist on Irving's original by fast-forwarding to the 21st century. In this show, Ichabod (Tom Mison) pulls a Rip Van Winkle (also an Irving story, go figure) and magically wakes up hundreds of years after his alleged death in the Revolutionary War. He adapts to modern life with the help of Abbie Mills, a cop in present-day Sleepy Hollow whose mysterious destiny is tied to Ichabod's, the Horseman's, and the horrifying history of the town itself. In a town overrun with witches, zombies, and demons, a headless Hessian horseman is the least of their problems. — Alexis Nedd, Senior Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: Sleepy Hollow is streaming on Hulu.
2. Monsterland
Each episode of Hulu original Monsterland takes place in a different, deeply haunted corner of the United States. Its horrors are both literal and metaphorical, with meat-eating mermaids and jazz vampires creeping around as extrapolations of the darkness hiding within humanity.
Kelly Marie Tran, Mike Colter, Taylor Schilling, and other big stars appear in Monsterland's anthologized episodes, though their stories challenge the audience to ask which characters are the monsters and which are simple human. —A.N. *
How to watch: Monsterland is streaming on Hulu.
3. Twin Peaks
For decades, Twin Peaks has served as a critical reference point in elite TV. David Lynch and Mark Frost’s mesmeric world of humor, dreams, and mystery represented such a tectonic shift in the medium's possibilities — the cinematic stylings, the genre-blending narrative, the unique character creation, that score — that few other elite shows have escaped comparisons to it.
So, if you've long wondered who killed Laura Palmer, now is the time to get your "answers." I'm putting answers in quotes because in Twin Peaks those can be few, far between, and alarmingly subjective. Best served with donuts, cherry pie, and a damn fine cup of coffee. —Alison Foreman, Entertainment Reporter *
How to watch: Twin Peaks is streaming on Hulu.
4. The Witcher
Video game and comics fans delighted when Netflix announced it would be adapting The Witcher into a series. Then, when it came out, those same fans were deeply confused — for five episodes worth of twisty-turny terror that just made no sense. But by the time the three final installments tied those together, we were chomping at the bit for Season 2 (now expected on Dec. 17, 2021).
Henry Cavill stars as Geralt of Rivia, a kick-ass monster-hunter. His high-stakes mission isn't always easy to follow, but the battle scenes and visual styling is so richly exquisitely you'll be too enchanted to care.
How to watch: The Witcher is streaming on Netflix.
5. Bates Motel
Alfred Hitchcock invented the slasher genre with his delightfully gory masterpiece Psycho. For over 60 years, the film's chilling surprise villain, Norman Bates, has been the blueprint for disturbed horror baddies. Bates Motel asks the questions about Norman's backstory that went unanswered in Psycho. Why is a grown man dressing up as his mother and stabbing women in the shower? How did he get both so good and so bad at taxidermy? And would it be possible to clarify the depths of incest we're talking about here? Freddie Highmore plays young Norman alongside Emmy-nominated Vera Farmiga as his (still alive) mother Norma — and all of those questions get their answers. —A.N. *
How to watch: Bates Motel is streaming on Peacock.
6. Room 104
Not every installment in this arthouse anthology from Duplass Brothers Productions is scary. But it's the series' eclectic combination of stories that makes it special — and its horror installments some of the spookiest on the market. Every episode of Room 104 takes place in a mysterious motel room, with a rotating cast of characters arriving to tell stories of various ilks. Buckle up, because you're in for a teen werewolf cartoon, an intimate cannibalism drama, and an actual trip to outer-space, among other things. It's the Twilight Zone of our time, with four seasons worth of episodes ripe for the binging. Just do yourself a favor and go in unspoiled. You'll thank us later. — A.F.
How to watch: Room 104 is streaming on HBO Max.
7. Channel Zero
Creator Nick Antosca delivers some of the best screams in streaming with Channel Zero.
This four-season fright fest turns a quartet of creepypastas into a brutal binge, comprised of six episodes per season. It adapts "Candle Cove" by Kris Straub in Season 1; "The No-End House" by Brian Russell in Season 2; "Search and Rescue" by Kerry Hammond in Season 3; and "Hidden Door" by Charlotte Bywater in Season 4. If you're familiar with the source material, then you know you're in for a hell of a ride. And if you're not? Good luck surviving this one. — A.F.
How to watch: Channel Zero is streaming on Shudder.
Honorable mention: Into the Dark
Hulu's Into the Dark struggles to appear on entertainment rankings not because it isn't good, but because its categorization as a movie anthology makes it tough to place between TV and film. That said, we are once again going to recommend this serialized collection of films as an honorable mention. Each title is based on a different holiday (Easter, Christmas, Mother's Day, Pet Appreciation Week etc.), and tackles a new terror, be it slasher villain or invading aliens.
We've even ranked all of Hulu's Into the Dark horrors for your convenience.
How to watch: Into the Dark is streaming on Hulu.
Asterisks (*) indicate this entry previously appeared in another Mashable streaming list.
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