Sincehorrorshifted from movies to TV, many shows have changed the genre for the better. Ghost stories and other scary stories have existed for many millennia, making horror one of the longest-lasting genres. In 1946, the genre moved to TV with the first horror show, Lights Out, which started as a radio show. This is still one of thecreepiest classic horror TV series.
Since then, horror on television has continued to morph and grow, expanding in delightful ways. A large number of subgenres have developed, including social horror, slasher horror, andparanormal horror. Some horror shows lean into campier styles while others are prestige TV. At this point, there’s a show for almost everyone. Ultimately, these ten horror TV shows have changed the genre forever.
Many argueThe Television Ghostwas the first horror show, but it’s also deemed a drama or a telefantasy. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know what genre it best fits into because all episodes of the show have been lost.
Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone is, by far, the most influential piece of horror media that has ever appeared onscreen, and I’d argue that every horror TV show connects back to this show in some way. The Twilight Zone blends together genres, offering truly terrifying horror stories with elements of sci-fi and comedy, similar to Stranger Things and The X-Files.
Numerous horror TV shows like American Horror Story and Slasher have adopted the anthological format. Serling also intentionally infused the episodes with social commentary becauseThe Twilight Zone was his response to censorship, laying the groundwork for the Social Horror subgenre. Ultimately, The Twilight Zone is to the horror TV genre what Star Trek is to the sci-fi TV genre – seminal and revolutionary.
Love it or hate it, the first show most people will mention when zombies come up in conversation is The Walking Dead. Though zombies existed long before this TV show, it was considered a niche subgenre of horror. However, The Walking Dead’s booming popularity helped modernize zombies and popularize them for the masses.
No longer were zombies simple social commentary. Instead, the show features a post-apocalyptic world where all the normal social fears existed as separate issues from the zombies, and the undead creatures just elevated the existing problems. While The Walking Dead took influence from George Romero’s zombie movies, future shows will undoubtedly look to The Walking Dead for guidance.
Social commentary has always been and will always be a fundamental aspect of the horror genre. However, it’s not always at the forefront of the story, frequently existing in the subtext instead. Prime Video’s Them took a page out of The Twilight Zone’s book by putting social commentary at the forefront.
However, Them is even more overt than The Twilight Zone. While the story includes supernatural elements, the social ills are the primary source of horror. This kind of writing has been seen in Jordan Peele’s movies, but it hasn’t appeared on TV, makingThemrevolutionary despite taking clear inspiration from Peele.
It would be incorrect to say that Scream: The TV Series was the first TV show in the slasher subgenre, but it was definitely the most impactful. Previous slasher shows, like Friday the 13th: Series and Freddy’s Nightmare, were anthological and baited and switched the audience. They promised a connection to the franchise while delivering something entirely different.
Scream: The TV Series is what it promised, and it told one continuous story throughout the first two seasons. The MTV show proved that a slasher series could exist, not just movies. It was one of the first shows to include laughably gratuitous gore and body horror, something other horror shows have adopted since then.
For a long time, children’s TV shows and the horror genre were considered antithetical. There was no world where those things would co-exist onscreen; they only existed together in literature likeGoosebumpsandScary Stories to Tell in the Dark. However, the 1990s TV showAre You Afraid of the Darkcompletely changed that. Previous shows catered to teens, but the Nickelodeon show was aimed at children and tweens.
The stories gave the young protagonists power in their own stories. It’s also credited with creating a generation of feminist horror fans because the story allowed the girls to be just as flawed as boys, and many of the stories focused on girls’ experiences (viaSyFy). Ultimately, Are You Afraid of the Dark opened the door for morehorror TV shows for childrenand inspired a wave of feminist horror.
The show Penny Dreadful was revolutionary by being unoriginal in the best way possible. Rather than creating something entirely new, the horror show reached back into the origins of the genre, which have long since been abandoned. The show was like Into the Woods, except horror, combining different characters fromclassic horror novelsto create something entirely new.
It pulled fromFrankensteinby Mary Shelley,Draculaby Bram Stoker,The Picture of Dorian Grayby Oscar Wilde, andDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydeby Robert Louis Stevenson. Although the show is on the newer side, Penny Dreadful’s impact can already be seen in the increase of gothic horrors onscreen, the embrace of campier visuals, and more stories taking inspiration from horror books.
The TV showAlfred Hitchcock Presents(later titled The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and revived in 1985) is very similar toThe Twilight Zonein that it laid the groundwork for most shows within the horror genre. The show is anthological on an episodic level, with the only connecting thread being director Alfred Hitchcock introducing the segment.
Despite his name being attached to all the episodes, he only directed 20 episodes of the original show. However,those episodes allowed Alfred Hitchcock to hone his personal style, which has had a continued influence over both movie and TV horror. Here’s a good reason why “Hitchcockian” has become a word that’s used in filmography and entertainment journalism. Additionally, Hitchcock used the same crew and low-budget approach to makePsycho.
Korean horror has very different tropes, styles, and tones than Hollywood horror productions. While K-dramas had gained popularity over time, they still remained relatively niche for international audiences. However, the horror show Squid Game changed the genre in a major way by becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Korean horror has a much wider reach now thanks to the dystopian horror show.
On top of that,Squid Game’s unique premise has already influenced other shows, popularizing a live-action horror competition subgenre. Notable examples includeNetflix’sThe 8 ShowandPyramid Game. “Popularized” is used instead of “created” because shows likeAlice in Borderlandscame out one year beforeSquid Gameand existed in the same genre.
The X-Filesis another genre-bending show that combines sci-fi and horror, all while pretending to be a police procedural. About one-third of the episodes lean heavily on the former, while the other two-thirds follow a “monster of the week” format that’s more paranormal and horror.
This approach to storytelling influenced later shows likeDexterandHannibal, both of which masquerade as police procedurals while incorporating extremely horrific and bloody scenes. It also laid the groundwork forSupernaturalandBuffy the Vampire Slayer, two of the most iconic “monster of the week” shows that blend together fantasy and horror.
Ghost Stories Gained Popularity In TV Horror
Mike Flanagan is an incredible director whose strength is horror, despite his dabbling in other genres. One ofFlanagan’s best TV showsisThe Haunting of Hill House, which also happens to be deeply influential. First and foremost,The Haunting of Hill Housedid for the ghost subgenre whatThe Walking Deaddid for the zombie subgenre of horror.
Additionally, the miniseries set itself apart from other horror TV shows by taking a very grounded and gritty approach to a supernatural horror story. SinceThe Haunting of Hill Housegained popularity, many horror TV shows have attempted to emulate this style, but few have found that same balance between real and paranormal.
