20 Best Horror Shows To Binge To Get Ready for Spooky Season

Image via Netflix Published Oct 3, 2026, 1:19 PM EDT Sign in to your Collider account Colored leaves have begun to fall; an unexpected chill hangs in the air, everything smells like pumpkin spice, and it can only mean one thing: it's spooky season. While upcoming releases like the horror series Carrie and Other Mommy are highly anticipated, plenty of horror TV shows are ready to binge this October. From iconic classic horror anthologies that paved the way for future narratives to modern-day spooky masterpieces, TV is filled with horror shows worth watching. Picking just one to watch may be the battle, as each series brings its own distinct style. From campy horror to outright terrifying, the options are aplenty this fall. 'American Horror Story' (2011–Present) Image via FX For 13 seasons, American Horror Story has been one of the creepiest and most disturbing horror series on television thanks to writer Ryan Murphy. Starring an ensemble cast including Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, and Jessica Lange, each season of the show is given a specific theme — like Murder House, Asylum, and its newest season, 13 — and is filled with brand-new characters enduring brand-new horrors. — Ashley 'Are You Afraid Of The Dark?' (1991–2022) Image via Nickelodeon Despite being considered a kid's show, Are You Afraid of the Dark? was a 1990s horror anthology that aired on Nickelodeon and would often scare kids and adults alike. Similar to The Haunting Hour and Goosebumps, the series told a new ghost story in every episode. The series was later rebooted by Nickelodeon in 2019 with an all-new cast to tell brand new scary stories. — Ashley​​​​​​​ 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' (1997–2003) Image via The WB Long before Edward and Jacob, Sarah Michelle Gellar took on the role of the vampire-slaying Buffy Summers on The WB's supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The coming-of-age series featured Buffy as she takes the mantle as Sunnydale's Slayer. This cross between Supernatural and That's So Raven followed Buffy on her adventures to seek out and slay vampires and demons with a group of supportive best friends by her side. —​​​​​​​ Ashley​​​​​​​ 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' (2018–2020) Image via Netflix You may know the 1990s sitcom Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, but Netflix's dark take on the witchy tale will have you feeling all the spooky vibes this season. Starring Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina Spellman, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina follows the teen witch on her journey to discovering her mystical powers while navigating life as a high schooler in this Charmed meets Riverdale series. —​​​​​​​ Ashley​​​​​​​ Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you're not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one. 🏕️Jason 🔪Michael 💤Freddy 🎈Pennywise 🪆Chucky TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → 01 Something feels wrong. You can't explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty. ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it. BStay quiet and observe. If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it. CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again. DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark — I'd rather know what I'm dealing with. ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller. NEXT QUESTION → 02 Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply. ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people. BA quiet suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight. CIn my own head — the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there. DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things. ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours? APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence. BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out. CPsychological resilience — I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me. DEmotional steadiness — I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught. EScepticism — I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant. NEXT QUESTION → 04 What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it. AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer. BThe invisible — a threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see. CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me. DThe unknowable — something ancient, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself. EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late. NEXT QUESTION → 05 You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn't. AThe one who says "we need to leave" first — and means it, even when no one listens. BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does. CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to. DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed. EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off. NEXT QUESTION → 06 What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not. AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind. BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me. CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy. DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I'm dealing with. EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants. NEXT QUESTION → 07 What's your best weapon against something that can't be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it. AThe environment itself — I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it. BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn't expect. CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon. DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on. EImprovisation — I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional. Creativity over brute force. NEXT QUESTION → 08 It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours? AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me. BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it. CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most. DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed. EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it. REVEAL MY VILLAIN → Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck. Jason VoorheesJason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit. He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn't strategise, doesn't adapt, doesn't outsmart. He simply pursues. Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge. The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance. You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected. Michael MyersMichael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention. But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound. Michael's power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is. Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had. You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it. Freddy KruegerFreddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised. You are harder to destabilise than most. You've faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven't looked away. The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it. Freddy's greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on. Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here. PennywisePennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it. The Losers Club didn't survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly. You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away. That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise's worst nightmare. It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all. ChuckyChucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is. You don't have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance. Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone. Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing. Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 'Chucky' (2021–2024) Image via SYFY If you're a fan of the 1980s slasher trilogy Child's Play and its many sequels, then you'll love Syfy's fresh take on the evil killer doll. Brad Douriff returned to voice everyone's favorite murderous Good Guy, Chucky, in the titular series that follows a group of teens who must outsmart killer duo Chucky and Tiffany. For three seasons, this killer doll was a menace and had a great time wreaking havoc. —​​​​​​​ Ashley​​​​​​​ 'Evil' (2019–2024) Image via Paramount+ A dark series that went from CBS to Paramount+, Evil is a psychological and supernatural thriller that follows an unlikely trio—skeptical forensic psychologist Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers), Catholic priest-in-training David Acotsa (Mike Colter), and tech contractor Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi)— who investigate unexplained church mysteries, miracles, and demonic possessions. Alongside their weekly cases, they battle a sinister, manipulative network orchestrated by the chilling Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson). A series exploring systemic evil, faith, and modern morality, Evil pushed the bounds of faith and the supernatural. Evil operates as a masterful contemporary horror. Creators Robert and Michelle King use the series to depict how evil has evolved within a 21st-century world. It explores modern anxieties like internet creepypastas, artificial intelligence, and corporate greed while infusing classic theological dread. Evil uses a typical procedural mystery and blends it with profound philosophical meditations. Rather than providing simple answers, Evil lives in the middle. This forces viewers to confront the limits of reason and faith. — Michael 'From' (2022–Present) Image via MGM+ An underrated horror thriller, From does what Lost wished it could. Created by John Griffin, From chronicles a mysterious, nightmarish town that traps everyone who enters it. As soon as the sun goes down, terrifying, shape-shifting monsters emerge from the surrounding forest to hunt the living. To stay alive, they must use special protective talismans and lock themselves inside the safety of walls. But when day arrives, they must maintain their sanity to survive. Led by the former sheriff Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau), the townspeople work to uncover the dark origins, discover why they were chosen, and desperately find a path back home. A super twisted mystery box horror, From maneuvers in a manner where every puzzle piece is properly placed, allowing the narrative to flow naturally. With creepy nocturnal monsters menacingly confronting humanity's paranoia, From is an addictive, mind-bending experience. It's a series that constantly keeps you guessing. Just when you think you've figured something out, someone new arrives, someone beloved dies, or a plot twist emerges that becomes the ultimate game changer. Now 40 episodes in, From builds upon a heavy, ominous atmosphere where cryptic clues, symbols, and psychological tension become crucial to the story. If you have high anxiety, this one will most certainly test your limits. — Michael 'Interview with the Vampire' (2022–Present) Image via AMC Adapted from Anne Rice's iconic novel, Interview with the Vampire pushes the narrative further than the film adaptation ever could. Reshaping the story with a modern sensibility and new locales, the Gothic horror-romance follows Louis de Pointe de Lac (Jacob Anderson) as he recounts his extraordinary afterlife to renowned journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Flashing back to early 20th-century New Orleans, Louis shares his struggles as a constrained Creole man who develops a dangerous relationship with the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid). A remarkable story that builds Rice's other novels into the series with each given season, Interview with the Vampire reimagines the themes through a new queer lens as a deeply emotional psychological drama. Created by Rolin Jones, Interview with the Vampire made some major bold creative choices that not only worked, but enhanced its intent. Updating Louis' race to Black and shifting the subtext into an explicit, passionate queer romance creates a rich, complex, layered character study of individuals facing struggles with power, alienation, and generational trauma. Instead of jump scares, the series uses vampirism as an entry to explore memory, abuse, codependency, and the brutal burden of immortality. The series flourishes thanks to the deeply passionate performances from its leads, season after season. Anderson and Reid have explosive chemistry that makes their relationship one of the most compelling on television. If you have preconceived notions about the show, drop them and go in fresh—you'll get sucked in! — Michael 'Midnight Mass' (2021) Image via Netflix One of Mike Flanagan's many great projects on Netflix is the supernatural horror hit Midnight Mass. Set on the desolate, isolated fishing community of Crockett Island, Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) returns home after serving time for a fatal drunk driving accident. At the same time, a new, young priest, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater), arrives to replace the aging monsignor. He brings unexplained miracles that begin to change the community, only for his powers to come with a dark cost. Midnight Mass uses a supernatural narrative to explore themes of faith, guilt, addiction, forgiveness, and mortality. Midnight Mass thrives through its ability to build psychological dread through richly philosophical monologues and a look at religious fanaticism. Though there are physical monsters in the story, the real monster is dealing with the trauma and grief of the past. This shows how easily faith and good intentions can be twisted into dangerous extremism. Midnight Mass subverts vampire-story expectations by framing it through the lens of religious dogma. If you enjoyed Flanagan's claustrophobic haunted-house stories, this island thriller is just as claustrophobic. — Michael 'Penny Dreadful' (2014–2016) Image via Showtime Perhaps the greatest thriller that was far ahead of its time was Penny Dreadful. Created by the renowned John Logan, the series follows a group of diverse individuals battling supernatural and psychological threats in Victorian London. Recruited by clairvoyant Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), explorer Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), sharpshooter Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), and scientist Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) are forced into the macabre underbelly of the city, where they encounter a woven tapestry of Gothic characters, including Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), Dr. Henry Jekyll (Shazad Latif), and the Creature (Rory Kinnear). Referring to the cheap, sensationalized, lurid horror stories of 19th-century Britain, Penny Dreadful explores heavy themes of religious belief, demonic possession, and the nature of divinity and evil. Essentially the Avengers of infamous Gothic creations, Penny Dreadful maintains a brilliant, cohesive universe where the narrative unfolds naturally. Rather than a monster-of-the-week format, the series develops each character deeply, leaving tragic pain beneath monstrous facades. The story frames its monsters as beautifully tragic. It allows the narrative to wrangle with existential questions that carry the narrative to great heights. With a lavish, dark, and historically rich atmosphere, Penny Dreadful's three seasons told a wonderful story. If you loved the original, the spin-off Penny Dreadful: City of Angels is a must-watch. — Michael