Well, that's a wrap on another year of horror, my friends. Like always, this year was filled with ups and downs. We have already given you a look at what we consider to be THE BEST HORROR MOVIES OF THE DECADE and THE TOP 10 HORROR/THRILLERS OF 2019.
Hell, we even gave you our picks of the TOP 10 UNDERRATED HORROR MOVIES OF 2019!
So now we want to change gears a little bit here and bring to light some of the TOP HORROR TV SHOWS of this past year. From Mindhunters to Mindflayers, what follows are the shows that we think you should give some love. Sure to be controversial, give our list a look-see below and then make sure to hit us up and let us know what your TOP HORROR TV SHOWS of 2019 were below.
I truly wish I could put this higher on this list. Actually, the fact that it's even on this list is really just because I want it to get better – so much better – in its second season. Taken as is though, the first season of Shudder's CREEPSHOW revival was a shame. Barely better than CREEPSHOW 3, Shudder's revival had a few shining highlights (The Companion, The Finger, Lydia Layne’s Better Half) but overall, it just didn't work for me. Or many of my fellow fans of George A. Romero and Stephen King's classic. Jordan Peele's THE TWILIGHT ZONE was the better anthology this year. But again, here's hoping the team behind the scenes of CREEPSHOW learned what worked and what didn't from the first season and bring us a worthy second offering.
Let it be known if you don't already have the knowledge that I'm a massive fan of Nickelodeon's kid-horror series ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK. In fact, the original series was THE thing that got me into horror at a young age. And while this recent revival didn't pack the power of such creepy, classic episodes as The Tale of Laughing in the Dark or Dead Man's Float – it was as good as the recent GOOSEBUMPS movies and better than Guillermo del Toro and Andre Ovredal's SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK. Sure, I wish there had been more fan-service callbacks to the previous Snick incarnation, but whatever, in this day-and-age of full fan-service films (cough STAR WARS cough), I can't fault a series for forging its own path.
Like each and every single f*cking season of Ryan Murphy's hit horror anthology AMERICAN HORROR STORY, AHS: 1984 started out super-strong and then got… not as super-strong as it went along. But in the end, as a major fan of 80's slasher movies from FRIDAY THE 13TH to MADMAN, AHS: 1984 was mostly a delight. Especially when it, you know, contained the action to, you know, the year 1984. But a killer cast – led by one of my favorite performances by the brutally underrated John Carol Lynch – saved the day time and time again. As did the killer 80's style the powers that be behind the scenes brought to each and every episode. Add in a stellar soundtrack and this is what I always wanted AMERICAN HORROR STORY to be: FUN.
I heard someone call the second season of Hulu and J.J. Abrams' Stephen King series CASTLE ROCK "The MISERY prequel we never knew we wanted." And that's the perfect way to describe the – no pun intended – joy found within the stellar second season. Especially considering how much of a let-down the first season was. But the less said about the better. As it stands, CASTLE ROCK 2 was a major improvement on the general premise of the series (basically) pitting Annie Wilkes against all the unspeakable evils contained within SALEM'S LOT, and that worked gangbusters for me. Add in Lizzy Caplan's perfect performance as Wilkes and CASTLE ROCK 2 was a tricky treat this fall. Now let's go bury CUJO in a PET SEMATARY!
One of the biggest gut-punches this here horror fan felt this past year was the day Netflix announced that they were not giving their zany zombie-romantic comedy series SANTA CLARITA DIET a must-deserved fourth season. And after THAT cliffhanger! How dare they! Yes, I will always have an axe to grind with the streaming giant over this decision. Take all the JESSICA JONES and IRON CAGES you must, Netflix, just leave me with my Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant covered in blood and bile. But sadly, the powers that be behind the scenes of the series have been shown the undead door. So let's honor them by binging the show's three sweet and splattery seasons over and over until they give us ten more.
I love M. Night Shyamalan's series SERVANT. And I'm not alone. Sure it's slow as sh*t pacing may be too much for some folks, but, personally, I find it hypnotic. Plus Rupert "Don't call me Harry Potter's best friend" Grint's character just my be my favorite guy I've met all year. Not many people are talking about SERVANT just yet and I think that's only because not many people have shelled out the cash for a subscription to Apple TV. But here's hoping that Apple bites the bullet and releases the first season on, let's say, Netflix where it can truly gather up the loyal following it deserves before the already announced second season hits. It's as spooky a series as we could hope for. And as a new father, it scares me to the core every damn week.
HBO's WATCHMEN sequel series just might be the most spectacular series I've seen this year. Like, legitimately stand up and cheer spectacular. But that said, I don't know if this is a series I can recommend to just anyone. And we've never mentioned it here at AITH before. So it goes here at number four. To fully enjoy WATCHMEN's nine-episode first season, you need to have not only read Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' original masterpiece graphic novel BUT seen Zack Snyder's 2009 adaptation as well. Trust me, both versions matter here. But if you have seen Snyder's film and read Moore's comic, you are in for a modern-day marvel. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll cheer like a madman when [SPOILER] begins to glow blue. Sh*t. Look at me getting all worked up again. Do yourself a favor and watch HBO'S WATCHMEN ASAP. Just make sure to do your homework first.
I said in the past that the first season of Netflix and David Fincher's MINDHUNTER is the best original series that the streaming giant has ever produced. And, yes, even post STRANGER THINGS 3 and THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, I stand by that statement. While some (I repeat SOME) of the magic is lost in the second season, the show still stands as a mini-masterpiece that is scarier than most "typical" horror fare. Add in this second season's serial killer additions such as Son of Sam and Charles Manson and David Fincher's take on the Atlanta Child Murders is a masterclass.
Netflix's MARIANNE will be THE horror TV series we all talk about for the next few years. So if you haven't taken the time to binge it's first 8-episode season, get on it ASAP or be left out of the loop in this new year. Yes, all the hype you've heard is for real. MARIANNE is a nightmare brought to stunningly scary life. All due respect, this is what THE CONJURING series wishes it could be: jumpscares that are (gasp!) actually scary, and some of the most clever creep-outs ever put on the screen. Hell, I don't even like watching it at night without headphones because I don't want my kids to hear how scary it SOUNDS (a teddy bear talking about eating a newborn baby's eyeballs is a bit much for them to hear in their sleep – in French or not). Let alone how scary it LOOKS. To borrow the original BLACK CHRISTMAS' classic tagline, If this [show] doesn't make your skin crawl… It's On Too Tight!
I don't know about you but I found the third season of Netflix and The Duffer Brothers' teen-horror series STRANGER THINGS to be a massive step up from the first two seasons. And I really dug STRANGER THINGS 2! But that was all left in the dust this past fourth of July when the streaming giant unleashed STRANGER THINGS 3. To put it lightly, STRANGER THINGS 3 is not just a great season of TV, it's an epic action-adventure on par with the greats it originally homaged (aka ripped-off) such as THE GOONIES and THE MONSTER SQUAD. To see the series become a peer of the content it once only winked and tipped its hat to was a revelation. Let's hear it for those damn meddling kids and their Magnum P.I.-mustached sheriff.
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And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Those are our picks for the Top 10 Underrated Horror Movies of 2019. What did you think of our list? Did we hit the nail on the head or miss it by a mile? Make sure to hit us up and let us know what you think below!
NOTE: Unfortunately, at the time of this writing I haven't seen/finished shows such as CHERNOBYL, THE BOYS, NOS4A2, BLACK SUMMER, SWAMP THING, DARK, SLASHER 3, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, THE WITCHER, SUPERNATURAL, or THE WALKING DEAD. Forgive me.
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