Short Horror Shows That Will Leave You Begging For More
Feeling a bit lost without any more Game of Thrones and while you wait for the final season of Supernatural? Here are some highly recommended spooky shows to inject a bit of horror into your life while you wait.
Chernobyl
This 2019 show started airing in May on HBO and already it's been given a pretty damn good tick of approval and boosted tourism to the Chernobyl radioactive zone. Set in April 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics becomes one of the world's worst man-made catastrophes and the TV mini-series follows the disaster through the stories of the men and women who try to contain the disaster, as well as those who gave their lives in doing so.
Disaster shows are usually very high on my list of favourite viewing, and while there is a lot of focus on the drama and political element, the visual emotion of the show is breathtaking. The sets are gloomy, the narrative dark and grizzly, and being able to witness such devastation will haunt you for as long as the real Chernobyl's radioactive zone is haunted by the past.
Swamp Thing
The latest addition to the DC Cinematic universe has an overarching horror theme that is sure to leave supernatural loving funs begging for more. The 2019 series follows Abby Arcane (played by Crystal Reed) who returns home to her swamp-filled Louisiana lifestyle in order to investigate a deadly swamp-borne virus. As she continues to investigate she soon discovers a dark and terrifying plant based monster dubbed Swamp Thing.
With a little bit of Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, a little bit of Creature from the Black Lagoon, and a little bit of superhero star-power, Swamp Thing makes it mark in the horror/sci fi world by being introduced as severely violent, extremely graphic and brutal. Despite it's hard-won premise, the show has been cancelled before the second episode aired, meaning that ten episodes of season one is all we get. Nonetheless, it's definitely worth spending some time watching between shows!
The Strain
Guillermo del Toro has proved to be quite the owner of strange things with his baby The Strain, a TV show based on books del Toro wrote of the same name. This four season TV show follows a CDC Investigator as he comes in on the ground floor of a mysterious viral outbreak that has all the hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism.
Unlike other investigative shows, The Strain showcases the build up and ultimate destruction of the world where the vampires have taken over, and the group connect the dots to ages of old in an attempt to stop the vampire master. At four seasons, the show came to a close in 2017, but rounded out the story well meaning that you won't be left scratching your head as to what happens next.
Scream Queens
Scream Queens was the brainchild of Glee and American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy, and seemed to meld the two genres together in an extremely wonderful way. Dripping in fabulousness, comedy gold and popular actors such as Lea Michele, Billie Lourde, Taylor Lautner, John Stamos and actual Scream Queens Jamie Lee Curtis, Abigail Breslin and Emma Roberts, the short two-season TV show was the best parts of comedy horror wrapped into one.
Made in a similar vein to American Horror Story as an anthropology, Scream Queens follows the rise of a serial killer who targets a self-obsessed sorority house in an all-American university. The second season takes on a "swamp thing" vibe as the horror moves to a serial killer following the now-graduated girls to their new jobs working in a hospital of incurable maladies. The whole thing is slasher comedy to the max, and it makes for a good short season to keep your apatite satiated.
Ash Vs the Evil Dead
Following the black comedy vibe, Starz TV series Ash Vs the Evil Dead was perfect for anyone wanting to sink their teeth back into the world of Ash Williams and his battle against the Deadites. Starring Bruce Campbell as the titular character, Ash has spent thirty years never quite living up to his name, avoiding responsibility, only for the Deadite plague to be unleashed on the world again one night after he has too much tequila. Taking his co-worker Pablo and his crush Kelly on the adventure with him, Ash finds himself once again tearing up the chainsaw attached to his wrist.
All comedy, all pure ridiculousness that makes you wonder what the creators (and Bruce Campbell) were smoking, Ash Vs the Evil Dead's three season series will make you happy to be back in Ash's wacky world.
