With spooky season right around the corner, many of us are already getting in the mood as the weather begins to chill and hot tea begins to brew. With a cozy blanket on the couch, it’s never too early to prepare for the season with a scary movie or a terrifying series. Fortunately, Netflix has played host to many extraordinary horror shows that fit the bill.
From non-stop Mike Flanagan masterpieces to foreign thrillers that scare in any language, Netflix has had the pulse on the genre. We are here to celebrate horror shows where every episode is a genuine masterpiece. With a great mix of long-running shows and iconic miniseries, these shows may require some lights on while watching.
‘All of Us Are Dead’ (2022–Present)
Never ever sleep on a foreign language series. Especially when they come out of South Korea. One of the very best is All of Us Are Dead. The series depicts a high school that becomes ground zero for a catastrophic zombie virus outbreak after science teacher Lee Byeong-chan’s (Kim Byung-chul) experiment goes wrong as he creates a mutant pathogen called the “Jonas virus” to help his bullied son, Lee Jin-su (Lee Min-goo) fight back. Cut off from outside help and resources, a group of high school students get locked inside the building where they must use their wits, everyday school supplies, and teamwork to stay alive while the infection spills out into the surrounding city. All of Us Are Dead uses an accessible horror premise to explore severe school bullying, academic pressure, and class divides through the ethical dilemmas under extreme pressure.
All of Us Are Dead is a masterful ticking-clock horror thriller. It’s a fast-paced survival show that is enriched through its emotional resonance and biting social commentary. Unlike some zombie stories, these undead are kinetic, fast-moving zombies, heightening the need for quick thinking. As the students rely on everyday objects to fight off hordes, their everyday survival skills are tested as they battle past grievances. By using the apocalypse to explore systemic failures, bullying, and how older generations let down the youth, their everyday survival series highlights acts of selflessness and human goodness despite the chaos. Each episode is a high-stakes adventure that is profoundly character-driven. With unpredictable fates and heartbreaking sacrifices, All of Us Are Dead will keep you glued to your screen. Good news, the series will come back for Season 2. When? Keep your alerts on!
‘Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities’ (2022)
Anthology series have been all the rage as they offer a dash of this and a drop of that under a common umbrella. In Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, his brilliant brain curates a unique vision of horror. Through eight standalone stories, Guillermo del Toro invites visionary horror directors the key to the kingdom to bring their distinct style and creative freedom to the small screen. Mirroring series like The Twilight Zone, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities explore a plethora of fears that range from Gothic and macbre to cosmic dread and classic creature features.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is a good-looking show. The director-driven dramas showcase top-tier practical effects via varied subgenres and auteur visions. Having del Toro provide his best Rod Sterling and Alfred Hitchcock vibes as he introduces each episode. Then, having a roster of directors including Jennifer Kent and Panos Cosmatos gives each segment its own identity. Perhaps the best of the eight might be David Prior‘s “The Autospy,” starring F. Murray Abraham, thanks to the brilliant twists and strong tension. The brilliance of the series is you can pop in and watch a single story, or binge it all for a frightful night under the covers.
‘Marianne’ (2019)
Easily the greatest hidden gem of the horror realm on Netflix is the French-language series Marianne. Created and directed by Samuel Bodin, the horror series follows Emma Larsimon (Victoire Du Bois), a famous novelist who discovers that the evil witch Marianne she writes about in her novels has crossed over into the real world and is plaguing her life. Marianne takes possession of Emma’s friends and family to torment her in the childhood coastal town of Elden, where she must face her demons and stop the melee. Marianne utilizes a terrifying supernatural horror premise where it’s writer versus creation. Let’s face it—Marianne is a well-made, innovatively created supernatural thriller.
Bodin uses tight pacing to build tension and explore a world where anyone could be the target of the witch’s wrath. Through dark shadows and dim light, viewers are made to feel uneasy before they are thrust into witnessing a jump scare. And yet, the ease in which he builds quiet dread keeps the tension alive. Through mixing personal guilt, grief and childhood trauma with dark folklore, the story becomes intimate. The series is an episodic masterpiece thanks to its relentless combination of high-art cinematography, deeply unsettling physical performances, and endless shocks. Before she takes over others, Mireille Herbstmeyer‘s performance as Madame Daugeron, the witch’s initial human host, delivers a terrifyingly perfect fright. The wide eyes, contorted grins, and vocal stims carry the first part of the story. At only eight episodes, like a good book, you won’t stop flipping through the episodic chapters.
‘Midnight Mass’ (2021)
The Netflix and Mike Flanagan collaboration reshaped the horror genre on television forever. Of his many series during his time with the streamer, they were all brilliant, but very few were perfect masterpieces. One was Midnight Mass. His Fall 2021 entry follows the return of Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) to Crockett Island after serving prison time for a fatal drunk-driving accident. His arrival coincides with the arrival of an eccentric new cleric, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater), to replace the aging Monsignor. Suddenly, miracles around the town, reviving a massive spiritual awakening. Unfortunately, miracles are not exactly what they seem to be. Midnight Mass explores a multitude of themes, including guilt and personal trauma, which run parallel with the dangers of religious fanaticism.
Midnight Mass is a fascinating horror thriller as the series explores the dark side of blind faith and zealotry and how it can be easily manipulated against those who are desperately searching for a miracle. The series uses supernatural tropes to represent personal trauma. By centering the story around deeply flawed individuals with real-world woes, Midnight Mass becomes an accessible horror story. Flanagan builds immense anxiety through rising tension through the eerie occurrences and guiding his ensemble to great places. Linklater brings a breakout performance, but it’s Samantha Sloyan who steals the screen as the haunting Bev Keane. It’s a masterclass in horror acting. The moral of Midnight Mass is that good intentions can twist into corruption. Be careful who you follow!
‘Santa Clarita Diet’ (2017–2019)
And now, for something funny. Created by Victor Fresco, zombies became funny thanks to Santa Clarita Diet. The dark comedy follows suburban real estate couple Sheila and Joel Hammond (Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant) whose lives are turned upside down when Sheila mysteriously changes following an illness, turning her into an undead. As she develops an intense appetite for human flesh, her family, including their teenage daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), must find her people to munch on as they seek a cure. A series whose life was cut too short, Santa Clarita Diet delivers the funny through casual cannibalism and gore.
The premise is wild, yet anchored brilliantly by the powerhouse couple. Barrymore and Olyphant trade drama for humor. Their comedic timing was some of the best on television at the time. Murder becomes like a mundane chore. It leads to some bizarre and funny situations. With the sun-drenched California setting serving as the backdrop where blood and guts defy the cheerful locale. Santa Clarita Diet is wonderfully over-the-top and sharp. Quick 30-minute episodes make Santa Clarita Diet easy to consume, and each episode is absurdly delicious (pun intended).
‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (2023)
Using the works of Edgar Allan Poe as the root of a horror story is a brilliant idea. Fortunately, it ended up being another Mike Flanagan masterpiece. The Fall of the House of Usher is framed through the terror surrounding the tragedy of the mysterious deaths of the adult children of wealthy pharmaceutical CEO Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood and Zach Gilford). Through flashbacks that reveal how Roderick and his twin sister, Madeline (Mary McDonnell and Willa Fitzgerald), ruthlessly built their empire, each episode tracks the demise of each heir, all tied back to a classic Poe story or poem. The Fall of the House of Usher is a sensationally dark story that brings the allure of a modern, suspenseful corruption story through the guise of a supernatural thriller.
The modern setting makes the dark demise even juicier as the victims are morally dark or grey. By taking direct aim at corporate greed and the real-world opiod epidemic, The Fall of the House of Usher grounds the narrative in everyday trauma. With each episode centering on a different family member, it gives you a clue of who might go down next. Yet, how the death happens is anyone’s guess. Unless you know the source material, that is. Every episode is jam-packed with striking visuals, brilliant dialogue, and never-ending dread that leaves you hooked. The Fall of the House of Usher is Flanagan’s most daring Netflix series that gets better with multiple watches.
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ (2018)
Arguably, the best work during Mike Flanagan’s Netflix era is The Haunting of Hill House. If it wasn’t pitch-perfect, it’s likely the subsequent series may not have slapped just the same. The Haunting of Hill House essentially reinvigorated the horror miniseries and serialized storytelling. Based on Shirley Jackson‘s novel, The Haunting of Hill House centers on the Crain family through two timelines. The story jumps between the past, when Hugh and Olivia Crain (Henry Thomas and Carla Gugino) move their five children into a creepy fixer-upper mansion, and the present, in which the kids are now adults, haunted by a family tragedy. A story about family trauma where the monsters are the ghosts of real-life issues, The Haunting of Hill House blends genuine terror with a story about grief.
Flanagan masters the horror storytelling while ensuring there is more to the simple jump scares and atmospheric tension. The terrors in the house become metaphors for guilt, regret, mental illness, and addiction. Each of the Crain siblings handle their childhood trauma differently, making their connections tightly tied or pulled completely apart. Even further, the five Crains represent the five stages of grief: Steven (Michiel Huisman) is denial, Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser) is anger, Theo (Kate Siegel) is bargaining, Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is depression, and Nell (Victoria Pedretti) is acceptance. Through the brilliance of the timelines, Flanagan is able to track the journey from the terrifying summer to how it broke them in their adult lives. The series also happens to be expertly crafted with sensational visuals and daring directorial choices, including the brilliant one-shots. If there is ever a show that you might wish to experience for the first time again, it’s this one.
Leave a Reply