Evil and 9 other horror TV shows you should watch instead of American Horror Story

American Horror Story has built itself up over the last decade as one of the wildest horror shows on television. Each new season brings a new cast, characters and storyline, upping the ante on crazy stuff. There are serial killers, ghosts, witches, the apocalypse, and more, and the show keeps going to live up to its name in horror.

However, it’s not the only horror show out there. Indeed, there’s been a great rise in the last several years of horror shows on streaming and even network TV. The best ones can mix the scares with surprising drama and even laughs, all backed by top casts. There are options, but these ten horror shows can be even better than AHS, leaving you with many sleepless nights and showing how TV can be truly scary. 

Evil

Trying to describe this series, which started on CBS and then moved to Paramount+, is hard. On paper, it follows a psychologist (Katja Herbers), a priest (Michael Colter) and a scientist (Aasif Mandvi) working to find the truth behind some seemingly supernatural events. From there, it delves into possible demonic experiences amid some of the most bizarre scenes you’re ever going to witness on television.

It’s not so much jump scares as creeping terror, which can be far more effective. It can also go from dark as all get out to utterly hysterical, sometimes in the same scene. Michael Emerson is at his creepy best as a doctor somehow involved in it, and it’s impossible to predict what will happen. With the fourth and final season coming in a few months, it’s a great time to latch onto this fantastic horror series that’s one of the creepiest on television.

Evil Seasons 1-3 streaming on Paramount+.

Slasher 

A beautiful homage to this classic horror genre, this Chiller original is an anthology with each season telling a new story about a masked killer hunting prey. Yet each season quickly shows the “victims” aren’t so innocent and often, it appears the killer is seeking revenge for a past crime so the deaths may be justified. 

The seasons have great settings from a summer camp to 19th century Canada to a mansion where a family hunts each other to gain an inheritance. The fresh characters mean no one is safe and the kills are always wickedly inventive as are the mysteries to the killer’s identities. It’s a highly underrated show and deserves more attention to how it makes the slasher genre feel more alive than most movies.

Slasher Seasons 1-3 streaming on Netflix.

Midnight Mass 

Mike Flanagan has pulled off a fantastic bevy of shows for Netflix, some adapting novels like A Haunting at Hill House with a few original tales. This is one of his best, a tale of horror that feels like the best Stephen King story King never wrote. On a remote island village, a series of events hint at a deadly vampire threat, but the true terror comes from the devout feelings some villagers have for what’s occurring. 

The show amps up the scare levels as the vampires are jarring and the twists plentiful, with a major character bumped off halfway through. Yet scarier is how people can accept this strange situation in their dark ways, and the finale is a killer for a terrific Netflix horror show.

Midnight Mass is streaming on Netflix. 

Chucky

It could have been a mess, but instead, the TV version of the smash hit Child’s Play movies has been a total blast. Once more, the killer doll is on a dark rampage, with only a handful of teens believing the murders in a small town are his fault. It also delves into the origins of the spirit inhabiting Chucky and what turned him into this monster. 

The show has some wicked kills and the FX for Chucky are terrific to make you believe he’s real. There’s also the dark journey of one teen sucked into Chucky’s orbit. The third season has Chucky invading the White House and the return of Jennifer Tilly to make a case for the show even better than the original movies.

Chucky Seasons 1-3 streaming on Peacock. 

The Fall of the House of Usher

Mike Flanagan did justice to Edgar Allen Poe with this truly dark show whose black comedy is mixed with an intriguing lesson. The Ushers are a powerful family who always skate out of their illegal activities only for tragedy to pick off all the children. Their father (Bruce Greenwood) shares the story of how it’s all connected to a mysterious woman (Carla Gugino) who may be more than human. 

Each episode focuses on a different Usher with horrific fates, and each is perfectly themed to Poe’s works. Gugino is a marvel in the recurring role with the mystery of why this is happening well done. Even when you know the ending, the journey is a dark and lovely ride. It’s a masterful one-and-done series that shows what happens when two masters of horror meet up.

The Fall of the House of Usher streaming on Netflix.

The Exorcist

With the recent 50th anniversary of the horror movie masterpiece, it’s a good time to check out the underrated 2016-17 Fox TV show. Rather than a watered-down take, it provides more than enough scares to justify the source material, with the first season exploring a priest investigating a possible demonic possession of a teenager. Geena Davis is a great highlight, and a shocking twist connects it to the original movie while working wonderfully as a sequel.

The second season has a new story and characters and may even be more gripping. It explores the origins of the demons and some truly terrifying scenes. It’s telling that after so many movie sequels, this series may be the true successor to the Exorcist saga. 

The Exorcist Seasons 1-2 streaming on Tubi.

Interview With the Vampire 

Anne Rice rewrote the book on the romantic vampire saga with her bestselling novel. It’s no surprise the recent TV series based on it captures the same gothic horror feel. It updates the tale a bit for the 21st century, so Louis (Jacob Anderson) is now a closeted black man in 1910 when he meets the seductive Lestat (Sam Reid), who turns him into a vampire. 

Unchanged is the dark saga of the twisted relationship between the two men and transforming the girl Claudia into a vampire as well. The show takes a few liberties with the original novel yet contains the same dark chills and the second season looks to continue the daring tale that’s enthralled millions of readers.

Interview With the Vampire Season 1 streaming on AMC+.

Goosebumps

For decades, R.L. Stine’s series of books have been freaking out kids of all ages. It’s no shock this Disney+ series lives up to it by mixing an original story with nods to the books. A pack of teens is pulled into a twisted adventure involving a living dummy, doppelgangers, time travel, and more, all tied to a long-ago sin by their parents.

The show is like the novels, mixing dark humor with some scary scenes, all melded into a compelling pack of characters. It amps up as it goes, leaving you freaking out, and the upcoming second season seems set to deliver a new storyline and characters. The show lives up to its name, giving you goosebumps watching and the inability to look away until the twisted end. 

Goosebumps Season 1 streaming on Disney+.

From

There’s few things scarier than entering a creepy town and then discovering you can’t leave. This MGM+ show does a wonderful job with that concept. A family finds themselves somehow trapped in a small town where mysterious figures seem to attack every night. The inhabitants, long used to this, are simply trying to survive while the family try to find a way to escape and discover the dark truth of what’s happening.

The show is a dark delight in the mysteries and the fun mix of the family as the viewer avatars to the strangeness against the town sheriff and others trying to get by. The show builds on its lore with more twists, characters bumped off without warning and not knowing what’s coming makes it even more of a surprising cult show.

From Seasons 1-2 streaming on MGM+ and Prime Video .

Penny Dreadful

This Showtime series was a total blast, mixing some of the greatest Victorian horror tales together. Josh Hartnett is an American cowboy in 1891 London who is soon involved in an adventure with Victor Frankenstein, his Creature, the immortal Dorian Gray, and the seductive Vanessa, played by Eva Green. Oh, and Hartnett just happens to have his own dark supernatural secret to add to it. 

The show captures the feel of the period with a great supporting cast of Timothy Dalton, Billie Piper and more. It gets wild and adult with steamy situations amid some bloody monster sprees and a shame it ended after just three seasons. Yet, it remains a compelling tribute to the period that birthed so many of today’s horror tales. 

Penny Dreadful Seasons 1-3 streaming on Showtime/Paramount+.

Servant

Only the twisted mind of M. Night Shyamalan could have cooked up this bizarre series. The beginning sets the tone as a young woman is hired as the nanny for a couple only to discover their “child” is a doll for their real son who died in an accident. Then things get really weird. 

The show goes from this simple premise to a wild tale of a cult, ghosts and leaving you constantly wondering what’s real or not. It could be a mess yet manages to work with sharp writing and an excellent cast. Its four-season run leaves you sometimes baffled yet compelled to watch and proof even on television, Shyamalan loves to keep viewers frighteningly off-kilter.

Servant Seasons 1-4 streaming on Apple TV+.