As a master ofhorrorhimself,Stephen Kingmust indulge in some greatTV showsand movies, too. Whether it’s for inspiration or for enjoyment,King has been known to share his love of some new and old horror TV serieson social media. Praising them for being scary, inventive, and intricate, King can be trusted to recognize when something good is airing.
Through some of his social media posts, fans are able to gather King’s taste in horror and watch some of his favorite stuff.Here are the 10 great horror shows recommended by Stephen Kingthat you may watch to get spooked, inspired, or feel maybe like you and the novelist have something in common.
10’NOS4A2' (2019–2020)
Created by Jami O’Brien
NOS4A2was based on Joe Hill’s bookof the same name, and it went pretty much under the radar. The show might deserve a reevaluation today, as it’sone of the scariest series of the past five years with major Stephen King vibesand elements that make it similar to his greatest novels. Hill’s novel is quite terrifying, too, and delves into the psyche of an immortal psychopath with plenty of innovation, imagination, and terror. Well, Hill is King’s son, after all, so we know where that prowess comes from, but it’s still commendable.
TheNOS4A2protagonist is Vic McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings), a young working-class woman who has the ability to sense an immortal killer called Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto). Manx eats the souls of children and then deposits them in a place in his head called Christmasland, where it’s Christmas every day. Vic, of course,must keep her composure and stay mentally strong if she wants to stop Manx, which the show deals with a lot. King wrote that the show is scary, but more importantly, it shows working-class people who are also trying to be good people, adding, “The best horror stories are firmly wedded to real life.”
9’The Outsider' (2020)
Created by Richard Price
Stephen King’s novelThe Outsiderwas adapted into an HBO miniseries in 2020, and it was one of the best shows on TV at the time. This one also got a little less recognition than it deserved, butit’s a very nuanced series with incredible performances by the entire cast. King himself saidThe Outsideris one ofthe best adaptations of his novels, hoping people will watch and accept it. Like all adaptations, it’s flawed but stillhonors the source materialwith great cinematography and superb performances.
The Outsiderfollows the residents of a small town called Cherokee City; it opens with a murder case of a young boy and local baseball coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) being arrested as a primary suspect. When the jaded police chief Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) beginssuspecting a supernatural force, he enlists the help of a private detective and savant, Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo). The Outsider gets quite terrifying at times, especially in the final episodes, and it’s a great recommendation from a great horror connoisseur.
The Outsider
8’Dracula' (2020)
Created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat
Mark GatissandSteven Moffatare a well-known duo on British TV. They created BBC’sSherlockand worked on writing several episodes together, so working together onDraculawasn’t anything new for them. Thethree-episode series was basedonBram Stoker’s classic novel of the same name, andKing praised the series for being smart, “terrific and VERY bloody.“Claes Bang, whomyou might’ve seen inBad Sisters,The Outlaws, or the Swedish movieThe Square, steps into the role of the most famous vampire in history, Count Dracula.
The series follows the life of Dracula, from his origins in Eastern Europe up until his battles with the famed vampire hunter, Van Helsing, and his descendants.Bang does an amazing job portraying the terrifying immortal count, and his performance alone carries the show to new heights; however, the writing and the cinematography makeDraculaa great three hours of high-quality amusement for any fan of classic horror.
7’From' (2022–)
Created by John Griffin
Fromis one of the more recent series that gained a lot of attention for its unique premise.Fromis likeLost, and it was produced by the same people, except this time, the people who can’t leave aren’t stuck in the jungle but in a cursed town.Fromis an ongoing series, and after an explosive season three finale and revelations,fans are waiting for season fourto clarify a lot more.Hoping it doesn’t get the same treatment asLostin its later seasons,Frompromises a twisty and tragic tale at its core.
Fromopens with sheriff Boyd Stevens (Lost’sHarold Perrineau) ringing a bell in a small town, saying it’s going to be dark soon and people need to get inside their homes. We then see an infestation of people dressed in the 1950s and earlier era clothing knocking on the doors of the residents. Realizing these people are haunted by eerie monsters at night,viewers follow the residents ofFrom-town fighting to understand what is haunting themand why. Kinggave the show his personal seal of approvalby writing, “Wonderful concept, beautifully handled.”
6’Evil' (2019–2024)
Created by Robert and Michelle King
Evilis one of the best recent horror TV series that ended in 2024 afterfour very successful seasons. It’s a show that King called “smart, thought-provoking, occasionally VERY scary,” adding that the chemistry between the leading trio is beautiful to watch. That trio consists ofMike Colter,Katja Herbers, andAasif Mandvi, and their characters come from different backgrounds and walks of life but stillmanage to work together in a battle against something more sinisterand bigger.
Evilis aboutthree very different people coming togetherat the request of the Catholic Church to investigate potentially supernatural incidents. They are forensic psychologist, Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Herbers), Catholic priest David Acosta (Colter), and atheist technology expert Ben Shakir (Mandvi).Their lives soon become entwined with the events they’re investigating, so we also get to know these characters on a more personal level. It’s a pretty fun show that gets quite scary, but it’s more than anything cleverly written and engaging with each episode.
5’Black Summer' (2019–2021)
Created by Karl Schaefer and John Hyams
TheZ Nationspin-offBlack Summerimpressed King mainly for its capability of making the zombie genre once again exciting and appealing on TV. After severalThe Walking Deadspinoffs took over the airwaves, viewers grew tired of watching the same content over and over, butBlack Summerinjected some novelty and grit into the genre. Not to say thatThe Walking Deaduniverse is bad, just that it, at one point began to overpower the rest, like a nice but strong seasoning in a meal.
Black Summerfollows Rose (Jaime King), a mother who is separated from her daughter Anna (Zoe Marlett) during the first few days of a zombie apocalypse. Rose joins a group of survivors to look for Anna and must survive and maintain hope that Anna is still alive, too. The show has two seasons on Netflix, and it’sa dark and gritty look at the zombie apocalypse and the z-horror genre. Stephen King saidBlack Summeris “Existential hell in the suburbs, stripped to the bone.”
Black Summer
4’Servant' (2019–2023)
Created by Tony Basgallop
Servantwas created byTony Basgallop, but it’s more known for its showrunner,M. Night Shyamalan. It’s a pretty terrifying ordeal that often delves into psychological terror, mind games, and hidden meanings.Servantstarts off strong and is great at the beginning; by the end itgets shaky and loses momentum sometimes, though it never loses its excellent cinematography, performances, and atmosphere.Lauren Ambrose,Nell Tiger Free,Toby KebbellandRupert Grintremain the core four of the series and all deliver some of their best stuff yet.
Servantfollows a successful Philadelphia couple, news reporter Dorothy Turner (Ambrose) and chef Sean Turner (Kebbell), who hire a nanny to watch their infant son, Jericho. The nanny who arrives is Leanne (Free), a young and quiet girl with a mysterious backstory. Saying more will spoil the show, which oftendelves into gothic horror and the supernatural, is unnerving and keeps you guessingto the very end. Stephen King said thatServantis “extremely creepy and totally involving,” and in a later tweet, “crawls right up your nerve endings.”
3’The Haunting of Hill House' (2018)
Created by Mike Flanagan
Out of all the horror shows out there,Mike Flanaganhas two on Stephen King’s favorites list, one beingThe Haunting of Hill Houseand the otherMidnight Mass. It makes sense, as these two horror shows are masterpieces in their respective ways and Flanagan understands horror very well. What else can be said about a man who decided to put20 jumpscares in one minuteinhis showThe Midnight Clubjust so he could get them all out of the way?The Haunting of Hill Househas them too, but they’re more subtle, eerily tragic, and intricately connected to all the events in the series.
The Haunting of Hill Housewas based ona Shirley Jackson book, and Flanagan understood the assignment when it came to creating a worthy book adaptation. It follows Hugh and Olivia Crain (Henry Thomas and Carla Gugino) and their five children moving into a mansion called Hill House. They decide to flip and sell the house, butthe mansion has different plans for them, as it begins playing with their psyches. The narrative jumps back to the Crains' childhood and adulthood, unraveling a tragic family story that is unforgettable once you see the series until the very end. Stephen King saidHill Houseis “close to a work of genius.”
The Haunting of Hill House
2’Midnight Mass' (2021)
The second Flanagan miniseries on the list isMidnight Mass, a beautiful and meditative series without many jump scares but plenty of terror that slips under your skin and makes you think about life.Midnight Massis, in its essence, a vampire horror story, but it’s layeredwith religious understandings of the world and the afterlife; most of its characters are devout Christians, some are Muslim, and others are atheists. All of these perspectives and points of view come into play inMidnight Mass' seven-episode brilliance.
Midnight Massfollows the residents of the small Crockett Island. It shows them from the perspective of two people: Riley (Zach Gilford), a man who was born on the island, left to live on the mainland and then ended up in prison for drunk driving and killing a woman; andFather Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater), who comes to replace the now missing Monsignor Pruitt.The arrival of Riley and Hill changes the lives of Crockett Island’s residents, mainly due to mysterious supernatural events but also because of the inevitable unraveling of a small, tight-knit community. King calledMidnight Massa “beautifullyphotographed terror talethat climbs to a high pitch of horror.”
Midnight Mass
1’Marianne' (2019)
Created by Samuel Bodin
Marianneis a series you’ve likely not heard of so far but is one of King’s favorites of the past decade. This French series was created bySamuel Bodinand is a pretty terrifying series thattoys with witchcraft, curses, and the supernaturalin a very unsettling way. King praised the show for having glints of humor and aStranger Thingsvibe in some of its parts, saying at the start of his tweet, “If you’re one of those sickos–like me–who enjoys being scared, MARIANNE (Netflix) will do the job.”
Marianneis about horror novelist Emma Larsimon (Victoire Du Bois), whose best friend comes to her, telling her she believes her mother is Emma’s book character Marianne. The witchcraft she possesses makes Emma suspicious about the whereabouts of the rest of her characters, and so she returns to her hometown to find out more about these strange events.Marianneonly lasted one season before it was canceled, but it holds the title ofone of the most terrifying European horror showsthat will win over the toughest of crowds.
