For as many people who have been murdered at Camp Crystal Lake,it never seems to deter anyone from wanting to visit. For over 40 years,Friday the 13thand the hockey mask-wearing Jason Voorhees has scared and delighted movie-goers while pushing the genre of slasher horror films into the mainstream.
However, the experience of watching scared teens running for their livesisn’t limited to the big screen. Whether it’s a sequel series to a popular long-running franchise or a satirical send-up of the genre, a select group of television shows stepped up to the challenge of following in Jason’s footsteps.
10’From' (2022 - )
Created by John Griffin
For horror with an extra dose of mystery,Fromfollows a small community of survivors who are inexplicably marooned in an abandoned town they’re unable to escape. No one knows where they are or why they can’t leave, but everyone knows to be indoors at night before vicious monsters stalk the involuntary residents.Harold Perrineauplays Boyd Stevens, the sheriff of the misfit residents. Boyd struggles to maintain peace during the day as tensions run high with the scared and sometimes hostile residents of a town that can’t possibly exist.
Fromplays like if the mysticism ofLostwas mixed with the brutality of30 Days of Night.Frommay not operate within the slasher structure that Friday the 13th does, but the Epix-produced showdoesn’t back away from gory displays of violence.The creatures that come out at night are effectively creepy, and the mystery adds a compelling reason to keep watching. The show offers an original viewing experience, with fans ofStephen King most likely feeling at homein this gothic slice of fantasy horror.
9’Harper’s Island' (2009)
Created by Ari Schlossberg
A wedding party arrives at the remote location ofHarper’s Island, but the planned nuptials are cut short, literally, as an unknown killer stalks the group, killing them one by one over the course of 13 episodes. Mysteries will be uncovered, everyone will not be who they seem, and old grudges will be resolved before anyone can hope to survive their visit. Originallydesigned as an anthology series, resetting the locations and characters much likeAmerican Horror Story, the show would be canceled before a second season could be made.
The death scenes vary in creativity, but gore is minimal because, shockingly, the series ran on CBS’s prime-time lineup. The idea ofstretching out a slasher movie into a full season of televisionwas far ahead of its time in 2009 when, years later, this would be more commonplace. The cast has some strong performers, withJim Beaveras Sheriff Charlie Mills andKatie Cassidybefore she donned a superhero costume inArrow. In a few more years on a different network,Harper’s Islandmight have had a substantial run, but network expectations for ratings, along with the limitations of violence on broadcast television, would ultimately work against its future.
Harper’s Island
8’True Blood' (2008-2014)
Created by Alan Ball
If the desired viewing experience is horror with a heavy amount of sex appeal,True Bloodhasseven seasons on Maxto keep the heart rate high.True Bloodtakes viewers to Bon Temps, Louisiana, where telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) adjusts to a world where vampires now live among humans thanks to a synthetic blood substitute, “Tru Blood.” Stackhouse falls in love with Bill Compton(Stephen Moyer), a vampire that will suck (no pun intended) her into a world unfamiliar and dangerous.
Serious when it wants to be and subversively campy otherwise,True Bloodwas creatorAlan Ball’sfollow-up toSix Feet Under. A show filled with vampires and, later, werewolves and fairies, is a departure from the somber reflection of death thatSix Feet Undergrappled with, but Ball was sticking to the source material ofCharlaine Harris’The Southern Vampire Mysteries, the novelsTrue Bloodis based on. Equal parts horror, drama, romance, fantasy and satire,True Blooddefies easy categorization and has fun doing so.
True Blood
WATCH ON MAX
7’Scream Queens' (2015-2016)
Emma Robertsleads a star-studded cast as Chanel Oberlin inScream Queens. More of a satirical look at the slasher genre than a full-fledged attempt to create a new entry,Scream Queensfollows the sorority members and pledges of Kappa Kappa Tau as they’retargeted by a killer wearing a red devil outfit.As the body count rises, the mystery of whom the killer is deepens and why they’re on the bloody murder spree will be revealed.
Scream Queenswas heavily marketed as being from the creators ofGleeandAmerican Horror Story, and that’s an apt description of the show’s tone. Characters are broad and over the top, using the familiar pacings of a slasher film to poke fun at privileged young people behaving badly. Kills can be gruesome, but in a worldwhere the characters in peril don’t take their fates too seriously, viewers can relax and enjoy the show. Fans ofGlen Powellwill enjoy himshowing off his comedic chopsbefore he rose to stardom, andJamie Lee Curtisis cast perfectly as a tough-as-nails Dean of Students.
Scream Queens
WATCH ON HULU
6’The Fall of the House of Usher' (2023)
Created by Mike Flanagan
A slasher for poets,The Fall of the House of Usherchronicles the downfall of the Usher family as each member of the clan dies in a new and inventive way. Loosely based on the stories ofEdgar Allan Poe, viewers follow patriarch Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood), a man whose empire was built on the suffering of others. Now that his time has come to atone for the decisions he made as a young man,Roderick is forced to watch all that he loved die and all that he built crumble.
CreatorMike Flanaganhad a run of acclaimed horror series on Netflix, with his work onThe Haunting of Hill HouseandMidnight Massbeing standouts, but none of the other limited series Flanagan worked on had the same sense of lightness thatThe Fall of the House of Usherpossesses. As each Usher sibling falls to their dramatic Poe-inspired end, the audience learns why their punishment fits the crime. The dynamiccast of Flanagan regulars looks like they’re having a great time, and in doing so, they play off one another well, making it a highly rewatchable experience.
The Fall of the House of Usher
Created by Ivan Raimi, Sam Raimi & Tom Spezialy
The coolest one-handed hero, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), comes out of retirement when a new Deadite threat makes itself known. Joined by two new allies, Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo), Ash picks up his chainsaw and boomstick to show a new generation why he’s the best demon killer to live in a trailer park. Bloody and action-packed,Ash vs. Evil Deadis alovingly made piece of fan servicethat also works as a standalone adventure.
Continuing where the movies left off,Ash vs. Evil Deadis a fun and purposefully silly exercise in mixing comedy and horror without leaning too far in one direction at any given moment. Ash wasn’t a character suffering from a lack of backstory, but the serialized formatallows opportunities to let the hero breathe and explore what makes him tick from different angles. Campbell doesn’t miss a beat in his performance as fan-favorite Ash, and it’s only a shame viewers dwindled enough that ratings couldn’t continue the show into a fourth season.
Ash Vs. Evil Dead
4’Chucky' (2021-)
Created by Don Mancini
America’s favorite killer doll returns inChucky, a serialized continuation following the saga of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) as he soul hops from one Chucky Good Guy Doll to the next, always on the hunt for a fresh victim. Those are in no short supply, with the three seasons of the show so far offeringnew kills in suburbia, a Catholic School,and even the White House. On again, off again, love interest Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) is still along for the ride, but new adventures lead to new tensions for the murderous pair.
Unhinged and envelope-pushing,Chuckyis a delightfully gruesome ride thatnever takes itself too seriously while continuing to expand the loreseries creatorDon Mancinistarted building all the way back in 1988 when the firstChild’s Playmovie was released. More squeamish viewers should be warned – the kills are frequent and gory. One example of brutality is a cameo withKenan Thompsoncut short by an umbrella in Chucky’s hands. Otherwise, horror fans with a twisted sense of humor should definitely addChuckyto their watch list.
3’Scream: The TV Series' (2015-2019)
Created by Jay Beattie, Jill E. Blotevogel & Dan Dworkin
Similarly to howFargouses the style of the film to spin stories in new and unexpected directions, so too doesScream: The TV Series. While not a direct sequel toScream’splot of Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and company avoiding Ghost Face, the television series developed for MTV sees a new cast of teens thrown into a similar situation.Willa Fitzgerald(who also appeared in The Fall of the House of Usher) stars as final girl, Emma Duval, a teenager with a mysterious past.Scream: The TV Serieswould follow Emma’s struggle for two seasons before rebooting with a new cast and location for its third and final season.
Scream: The TV Serieswas a little gem for fans of the slasher genre, benefiting from a pre-ReacherFitzgerald anchoring a likable cast of possible killers. The show may not have produced as many future stars as the film series did, but it’s anoverall strong outing for the unlikely destination of MTV, which was years away from doing something even scarier: runningRidiculousnessall day.
Scream: The TV Series
2’Slasher' (2016-2023)
Created by Aaron Martin
Much like the ahead of its timeHarper’s Island,Slasheris an anthology horror series that features a different mysterious killer and set of victims for each season. From a group of camp counselors hiding a deadly secret, to a wealthy family literally killing one another for a large inheritance, Slasher is heavy on the melodrama and graphic kill scenes. Unlike many of its contemporaries,Slasherrarely delivers the plot with a wink, choosing to explore the darker side of humanity.
Fans of the slasher genre will appreciate the elaborate kills, which frequently happen thanks to large casts of side characters viewers won’t have time to learn the names of. A slasher film, at its core, is a murder mystery, andSlasherstrives toinclude a compelling mystery as to the killer and their motives in each season.The challenge of taking a two-hour film and stretching the plot into eight one-hour segments is avoiding the reliance on filler scenes that only exist to pad the run time, butSlashermanages to keep things moving at a steady pace, regardless of the murderous setting.
1’American Horror Story “1984”' (2019)
The show most inspired by the cabins and woods of Camp Crystal Lake,American Horror Story: “1984”is a retro slice of bubblegum terror evoking the style ofFriday the 13th. Aerobics instructor Brooke Thompson (Emma Roberts) and four of her friends decide to work as counselors at Camp Redwood,the site of a brutal massacre more than a decade ago. In trueAmerican Horror Storyfashion, the subplots will be plentiful, the ghosts will be deadly, and real-life killers make fictional cameos for heightened shock value.
Each new season of American Horror Story provides reliable camp and bloodshed, and “1984” is no different. It shouldn’t be expected that the anthology series would closely follow the trappings of a standard slasher film, but theretro-themed season pays homage to the homicidal killers from the VHS era of cinema. Without giving spoilers, the densely plotted season isn’t high on survivors, but dying inAmerican Horror Storynever means being gone. Horror fans who want something light with a few scares will enjoy all nine episodes of“1984.”
