2024 was a crowded year for television that had its share of misfires, but among the droves of disposable content was some stellar horror programming – from “Evil” to “The Creep Tapes” – that celebrates the genre’s versatility.
Television has reached a curious inflection point where what was once heralded as the medium’s Golden Age has turned into a daunting obligation where there’s far too much content to consume and the lengthy gaps between short seasons is enough to strip away even the most extreme enthusiasm. TV is in an interesting phase at the moment and while many prestige streaming series have struggled, the horror genre has thrived and turned out deeply captivating and creepy material. Television remains a safe haven for the horror genre and 2024 was a strong year for both brand new horror and returning series that are sure to entertain genre fans who are looking for something that will get under their skin.
Here are the 10 best horror television shows of 2024.
American Horror Stories: Season 3, Part 2
Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story has become increasingly cursed and squandered a lot of the goodwill that it established during its earliest seasons, even if there’s still some compelling ideas and strong performances in play. While it’s certainly understandable that some fans have completely written off the franchise, its episodic spin-off has quietly become the superior series and a home for genuinely strong horror that has something to say. American Horror Stories’ third season, which was split across 2023 and 2024’s Halloween seasons, features far and away the series’ strongest episodes. These five new episodes tackle diverse territory between the liminal space horror of “backrooms,” AI clones, boogeymen under the bed, and even a leprechaun bank heist.
American Horror Story proper is guilty of losing the plot and indulging in camp, but the latter actually feels fitting in American Horror Stories. The spin-off achieves a successful atmosphere where it never takes itself too seriously, but is still able to craft disturbing scares and frightening set pieces. There are still some weak spots among these five episodes, but engaging performances from talented guest actors that include Henry Winkler, Victor Garber, Michael Imperioli, and June Squibb help smooth over the rough patches and evoke a retro Tales From the Crypt energy. If nothing else, it’s exciting to get a mainstream horror series tackling the fringe Backrooms phenomenon. If this happens to be the end of American Horror Stories — which is very likely — it at least goes out on an encouraging note as an anthology series that progressively found its footing.
Joko Anwar’s Nightmares And Daydreams
There’s been an encouraging rise in Indonesian horror over the past five years and Joko Anwar has become a leading name in the genre with impressive projects like Impetigore and Satan’s Slaves and its sequel. 2024 was a busy year for Anwar between his feature film, Grave Torture, and his pulpy anthology horror and sci-fi Netflix series, Nightmares and Daydreams. With so many modern horror anthology series taking a page from Black Mirror, it’s encouraging to see that Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams shares more in common with The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Darkside. Joko Anwar is at the helm for the majority of the anthology series’ seven episodes, all of which effectively deconstruct and explore social issues that are common to Indonesia. All seven episodes are set in Jakarta and span over three decades, which creates an engrossing sense of dread that highlights the haunting futility that afflicts these characters.
Each episode of Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams confidently stands on its own. However, one of the series’ greatest joys is clocking the connections between these stories and how certain supernatural threats and concepts overlap. This reaches an extremely satisfying fever pitch in the final episode, which connects many of the ideas that are introduced throughout the season. The anthology series really sticks the landing in a manner that’s not easy and it ends up feeling like an Indonesian horror Avengers when everything is said and done. Nightmares and Daydreams will provoke and petrify, but audiences are also likely to learn a lot about Indonesian urban legends and paranormal activity.
Teacup
It should come as no surprise that a horror series that’s executive produced by James Wan and directed by some of the most promising emerging names in horror like E. L. Katz (Cheap Thrills, Azrael) and Chloe Okuno (Watcher and V/H/S/94’s “Storm Drain”) is one of 2024’s most enjoyable horror series. Ian McCulloch’s Teacup stars Yvonne Strahovski and Scott Speedman, who lead an accomplished cast of characters whose humble lives are irrevocably changed when their Georgia farm becomes a lightning rod for unnerving supernatural events and perplexing behavior.
Teacup coasts on the eerie atmosphere and stark visuals that compliment this eerie, socially-minded mystery. Teacup holds many of its cards to its chest and it’s entirely possible that it will lose its way and fumble the landing in subsequent seasons like From and Sweet Home, two other 2024 horror series who couldn’t match the heights of their previous seasons. As it stands, Teacup is still cryptic and chilling storytelling that feels like Lost meets Salem’s Lot.
The Creep Tapes
Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice’s Creep films are disturbing serial killer character studies that are filtered through the personal found footage horror sub-genre. Both films knock it out of the park and audiences have patiently been waiting seven years for a “Creep 3” that completes the trilogy. The Creep Tapes, a six-episode evolution of the Creep movies, is one of 2024’s most enlightening horror productions that proves that an episodic anthology series has more value than another cinematic sequel that returns to Duplass’ unstable “Peachfuzz” character. The Creep Tapes is very careful to not dilute what made the films so effective and it uses its episodic format to deconstruct not just found footage horror, but the very nature of documentary filmmaking and the complex filmmaker/subject relationship.
There are admittedly some diminishing returns as each episode of The Creep Tapes builds to a similar climax, but this is a series that perpetually keeps the audience on their toes and feeds on tension and unease. “Peachfuzz” adopts a completely new identity in each episode that’s meant to obfuscate his true self, but in doing so the audience gets a progressively better idea of who he really is and what drives him forward. It’s a bold experiment that pays off and helps reinvent the serial killer chamber piece series in a modern way.
Inside No. 9: Season 9
2024 has been particularly kind to anthology horror and 2025 is set to continue this promising trend. However, one program that’s been turning out back-to-back gems for over a decade is BBC Two’s Inside No. 9. Inside No. 9 ended its flawless nine-season run in 2024 and Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s structural masterpiece proved that they saved some of their best stories for last. Each Inside No. 9 episode tells a completely different story with the only connective tissue being that every installment is set in a different “number nine,” ostensibly turning the series into a collection of challenging and genre-breaking bottle episodes. Inside No. 9 has such a clear and passionate love for horror, but it’s also remarkably funny and its ability to adeptly oscillate between witty comedy and pitch black dread is one of its secret weapons.
Inside No. 9 loves to push boundaries and some of its most ambitious stories feature a silent episode, an entry that’s entirely told through a CCTV feed, one that’s all told through iambic pentameter, and even a live episode. Inside No. 9’s final season continues to flex its stylistic muscles with an episode that’s all filmed through a fixed doorbell security camera. Season 9 doesn’t have any misses. There’s a bleak meditation on the ethical “trolley problem” thought experiment, a foreboding escape room experiment, and an Edwardian gothic horror story. Its final episode is also a sublime meta gift to the series’ long-time fans, but also sure to resonate with any new viewers. Now is the perfect time to binge all nine seasons and experience one of the best and most under the radar horror anthology series of the past decade.
Parasyte: The Grey
Parasyte: The Maxim is an acclaimed anime that offers top tier horror/science fiction storytelling that received an impressive live-action cinematic adaptation by none other than Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus One’s director. Rather than simply turn Parasyte into a redundant live-action Netflix series, Parasyte: The Grey tells an original story that’s set in South Korea and runs parallel to the original Parasyte. It’s an approach that’s similar to Terminator Zero’s penetration of the Terminator franchise that grapples with comparable ideas and themes, yet in a totally different portion of the world.
Parasyte: The Grey focuses on a debilitating alien invasion where these parasitic extraterrestrials can take over humans and use these host bodies to wipe out their population. Anyone who has seen a frame of the Parasyte anime understands that its disturbing body horror is one of its strongest assets. The ways in which these alien parasites contort and eviscerate their human hosts is pure nightmare fuel and Parasyte: The Grey rises to the occasion on this front. The live-action series elegantly captures these monstrous transformations and the excessive gore that accompanies their attacks. The six-episode series excels with its Invasion of the Body Snatchers-esque mystery, yet also finds a way to turn this parasitic possession into an inspirational superpower that can heal as much as it can hurt. Parasyte: The Grey leans into broad extremes and turns a vicious alien invasion into B-movie bliss.
Chucky: Season 3 Part 2
Revered slasher icons like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers continue to languish and get sentenced to purgatory over rights disputes and other bureaucratic red tape, all while Chucky accrues a brutal body count that’s seamlessly transitioned from film to television. The Chucky TV series contains some of the franchise’s best material and while the decision to split season three in half was narratively frustrating, it at least meant that Chucky’s chaotic antics could spill over into 2024. Chucky’s White House-set third season turned out to be a rejuvenating change of pace for the unpredictable horror series and its final four episodes accomplish more magic and murder than most series do in twice as many episodes. Jake, Devon, and Lexy continue their prolonged pursuit of Chucky, who proceeds to cause new levels of mayhem. Chucky’s final episodes expand upon the series’ lore in rewarding ways as Chucky comes to terms with his own mortality and the series does some excellent work with Charles Lee Ray, who receives an excellent showcase in the spirit realm as “murderous ghost” gets added to his lengthy resume.
There’s endless bloodshed and sublime practical gore effects to appreciate in the second-half of Chucky’s third season. However, one of the series’ greatest strengths remains its earnest beating heart and the empathetic relationships between its central trio of characters. The prospect of Chucky with the launch codes for nuclear missiles and the potential to cause global destruction puts him in a whole new tier of horror villain and is reason alone to give these episodes a watch. Chucky, as a TV series, may have reached its end. However, franchise creator Don Mancini has assured fans that they haven’t seen the last of these characters and that everyone’s favorite killer doll still has a lot more blood to spill.
Oh, and there’s plenty more Devon Sawa destruction, because, of course there is.
Evil: Season 4
Robert and Michelle King’s Evil took 2023 off, only to return in 2024 with a super-sized final season that ostensibly mashes together their plans for seasons four and five. Evil is The X-Files by way of The Exorcist and Black Mirror and more often than not is superior to all three. Evil very quickly tapped into something special through the infectious chemistry that’s shared between Kristen (Katja Herbers), David (Mike Colter), and Ben (Aasif Mandvi) — a forensic psychologist, a Catholic priest, and a tech expert — who are tasked by the Catholic Church to assess potential supernatural events. Evil’s fourth season adopts a greater focus on tech-based anomalies, all while dark forces prepare for an apocalyptic event that revolves around the freshly-born Antichrist.
Evil’s farewell year may not necessarily provide answers to every question, but it’s a season that’s unabashedly confident and brave enough to go out on its own terms. It’s fearless television that’s haunting, hilarious, and endlessly human. These final episodes tackle big ideas like a particle accelerator that may or may not be a gate to Hell, djinn-fueled fugue states, and demonically-possessed ChatBots. However, Evil never forgets its initial mission statement or its natural curiosity to help and heal in a world that’s on the cusp of being ripped apart at the seams. Andrea Martin’s demon-stomping Sister Andrea is also truly a performance for the ages that will be missed.
Interview With The Vampire: Season 2
Vampires make up some of the horror genre’s most popular monsters and 2024 alone saw the release of Abigail, Nosferatu, and Salem’s Lot. Audiences were initially skeptical when a serialized adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire made its debut on AMC in 2022. Now it’s the center of the Immortal Universe and one of TV’s finest dramas, horror or otherwise. Interview with the Vampire’s eight-episode second season is a beautiful expansion of the gothic horror and toxic relationship dynamics that made the first season must-watch television. Lestat (Sam Reid) takes a bit of a backseat role in season two as Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Armand’s (Assad Zaman) relationship develops in destructive ways. Season two also takes Louis and Claudia (Delainey Hayles) to Paris and immerses them among Old World Vampires and their Theatre Des Vampires troupe.
It’s par the course to turn vampire stories into meditations on abuse and power dynamics, but none have been as delicate and daring as Interview with the Vampire. The season’s climax is truly powerful television that broaches suicide and codependency with the blunt, raw force of a stake to the heart. Interview the Vampire’s third season, which is set to adapt the second book in Anne Rice’s celebrated series — The Vampire Lestat — will hopefully continue to tap into nuanced, emotional horror excellence in 2025. Interview with the Vampire’s second season isn’t just the strongest horror series of 2024, but one of the best pieces of vampire media that’s ever been produced. It sets new, lofty standards for the scary, sexy sub-genre.
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