The Best New Horror TV Shows To Binge-Watch Now That The 31 Day Horror Movie Challenge Is Over
With my 31 Horror Movie Challange done and dusted it now means that I have the time to tune in to some of the excellent horror based TV shows that have spiked in popularity over the spooky season. If you want a few ideas of shows to watch to keep you in the Halloween spirit, I strongly suggest you give some of these a try:
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Netflix
There are reboots galore at the moment, and while the Charmed reboot just looks terrible, the Sabrina the Teenage Witch reboot has actually gone above and beyond to create a new terrifying look at everyone's favourite teenage witch originally made famous by Melissa Joan Hart. Based off the Sabrina comics from Archie, the new Netflix show is made by the same people and in the same universe as the Riverdale show currently in it's third season, but takes a seriously dark turn.
On her 16th birthday (which happens to fall on Halloween and a blood moon eclipse) Sabrina is pressured to sell her soul to the devil in exchange for her witchy powers. Torn between her human friends and the sweet boyfriend Harvey Kinkle, Sabrina sets about to define herself as half human and half witch - but not without angering the devil in the process.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is super dark - deliciously so. With the same teen-angst style drama that is popular in Riverdale, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina depicts a dark terrifying world of Hell, goat demons, blood sacrifices, pentagrams and curses. It sets the tone of not fully romantisicing the "good" nature of witches, and instead focuses on the realism of the occult and black magic. Mixing the two together makes for a perfect dark drama that will make you rethink the way you look at witches.
The Haunting of Hill House - Netflix
Splicing between past and present, a large fractured family with paranormal sensitivies must confront haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it. The Haunting of Hill House is Netflix's new spine-tingling horror that is absolutely riveting and captivating to watch. Based on a large family of five, each character lives with their own demons that were created when they lived in a scary haunted manor that claimed the life of their mother. The show moves backwards and forwards in time, demonstrating how each individual character came to be until the adult versions are force to culimate and face their greatest horrors.
The acting in this show is supurb, and the characters are all so hauntingly beautiful it is impossible to look away. While somewhat slow-going, you want to binge this from start to finish in one night as each tale of horror will haunt your nightmares if you dont. There is also an added bonus that throughout the series are well-placed ghosts and ghostly-images that are very "blink and you'll miss them", giving them an Exorcist type haunting feel, and a chilling addition to your viewing.
The Purge - Stan
Just when you thought that The Purge only came to America once a year comes the new Stan TV show based on the popular violent movie series. Honestly, the idea is pretty open when it comes to who you can follow during Purge night so it makes sense to open this up as TV series, but essentially the story is exactly the same - For 12 hours a year, all crime including murder is legalised in the United States. The TV show follows the same plotlines as the movies, but follows 12 new characters as they attempt to surive Purge night and face the sins of their pasts while doing so.
With four movies, including one that came out the same year as the TV show, it's not known how long this series is going to last, especially with the events of "Election Year" shutting down the time honored tradition. But if you are looking for something to keep the violence -loving bloodlust away until next Halloween then you should definetly give this a go!
American Horror Story: Apocalypse - FX
American Horror Story has always brought the spine-tingling horror to the small screen with it's unqiue and violent anthology series, but season eight's current theme of Apocalypse has blended together everything that made American Horror Story great. Based on bringing together season one's Murder House and season three's Coven, Apocalypse sees the end of the world due to a nuclear strike and a group of people that survive it. As the devil incarnate himself, Michael Langdon (remember he was the baby born of Connie Britton and Tate's ghost during Murder House?) arrives to collect souls for his new world, we are suddenly catapaulted backwards and forwards through time with the appearance of the witches from Coven, who are hell bent on stopping Michael Langdon.
Murder House and Coven have often been referred to as the best seasons of American Horror Story, so mixing the anthology together is extremely satisfying. Seeing your old favourites pop up, being introduced to more wickedly sinful witchcraft, and the starting end-of-the-world disaster sequence is enough to cement Apocalypse as a culmination of Ryan Murphy's finest and spookiest work yet.
The Walking Dead - AMC
I hate to say it, but The Walking Dead is starting to die. It's been slowly decaying like a zombie since the weird flu-outbreak in the prison in season three (was it season three?) and even the introduction of the bad-ass and still completely likable villian Negan (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) hasn't been enough to save the show. But apparently, this is all changing as the showrunners take the storylines back to its roots - by killing off its deepest one.
The Walking Dead is no stranger to shock points, but honestly has been very light on shocking storylines since the brutal and highly-mysticised deaths of fan favourite Glenn and G.I. Joe Abraham. So to go against the grain, the show has been very well-broadcasting and advertising the fact that season nine is the final chapter for the hero and titular character Sheriff Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln). Now running a new society and battling head-strong Saviors into a peaceful resolution, Rick's days are numbered and the show promises to take on a bit of a reboot from it's earlier days.
Choosing to move forward by placing the popular Daryl (played by Norman Reedus) as the new show front-runner, The Walking Dead has a whole new vibe and even a new opening sequence, promosing that season nine will take us back to The Walking Dead we love best. As we count down to Rick's demise, it certainly goes without saying that The Walking Dead may have us rehooked again.
