The greatest single seasons slices of small screen terror.
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00:00There is so much horror TV out there that it can be pretty overwhelming knowing where
00:04to start.
00:05Decades and decades of different styles and trends and focuses and monsters and baddies
00:11and heroes.
00:12When you look at them all, how are you meant to know what's good and what's not?
00:15You don't want to waste a bunch of time watching things that are just no good and not going
00:19anywhere.
00:20And that includes sitting through 14 seasons of a show when really it stops being good
00:23after one.
00:24So let's keep things short and we'll tell you where to look for the good stuff.
00:28I'm Amy from WhatCulture and here are the 10 best single horror TV seasons ever.
00:3310.
00:34Midnight Mass
00:35A limited series with actually only one season to offer, I thought Midnight Mass was a great
00:40place to start here.
00:41Not necessarily because I think this should be lowest on your list of priorities, but
00:44more because I'm saying it first, I'm hoping you'll watch it first.
00:48Released in 2021, this Mike Flanagan offering made a fantastic addition to his already highly
00:53regarded list of horror TV shows.
00:55Set on a remote fishing island plagued by a host of issues following a past oil spill,
01:00this supernatural horror series has more scares to offer than you initially think.
01:04Managing to work on a psychological level, looking at the residents' isolation, complex
01:08relationships and their fear of the future in an unstable world, it uses its supernatural
01:13vampiric baddies as a vehicle for the horror.
01:15It's not all flying Draculas and sucking blood out of virgins, instead it's cleverly framed
01:20against a backdrop of fanatical religion, emphasising society's flaws as a whole in
01:24supporting our people and on leaning on religion when maybe we should be leaning on each other
01:29sometimes.
01:30There's gore and guts, but there's also discussions of life and consciousness itself,
01:34and moments so perfectly pitched in emotion that they will make you weep.
01:38Also there's Rahul Kohli as a brooding sheriff with a troubled past.
01:42At this point, need I say more?
01:449.
01:45Lovecraft Country Season One
01:46Blending horror and drama, fiction and fact, HBO's Lovecraft Country seems destined to
01:51become one of the modern greats of TV.
01:53Applaudits from critics and viewers led to showrunner Misha Green starting to map out
01:57a second season, when it was surprisingly announced by HBO that they would not be pushing
02:02forward with this.
02:03Added to that, ratings for Lovecraft Country were decent, and the series was nominated
02:06for a massive 18 Emmy Awards, picking up two Emmy wins.
02:10For its one season, Lovecraft Country was dripping with quality all across production.
02:14Dropping many of H.P.
02:15Lovecraft's creations into the landscape of segregated 1950s America, the tale itself
02:20initially focused on Atticus Freeman traveling across Jim Crow USA in search of his father,
02:25and it's a story where Jonathan Major's Atticus faces racism that's just as troubling
02:29as any one of the Lovecraftian monsters.
02:32The show looks glorious, the performances are mesmerizing, and the series brings far
02:37more than simply classic scares.
02:39It's a crying shame that for whatever reason, Lovecraft Country only got the one season
02:44to wow us.
02:458.
02:46American Horror Story Murder House
02:48This one could be controversial, saying that Murder House was the best of all the series
02:51of American Horror Story, because I know everyone has a very different opinion on that.
02:55But still, with the insane amount of seasons it now has under its belt, you'd be hard
02:59pressed to find anyone that disagreed that the first few seasons were the best.
03:03And its very first season, Murder House, was certainly the most memorable.
03:07One of the great things about this first American Horror Story offering is that none of us knew
03:11what to expect.
03:12This was a fresh, sleek show that wasn't afraid to shock in twisted, and at times tragic
03:18ways, with the Harmon family moving into the titular house and slowly falling apart
03:22in their new surroundings.
03:23Throw in a subplot centered around a school shooting and the sobering imagery of the act,
03:27and Murder House genuinely had most of us in awe, and that is for reasons both good
03:31and bad.
03:32Regardless of the varying quality of subsequent seasons, American Horror Story is famed for
03:36its fantastic ensemble casts and stellar performances.
03:40And frankly, since Murder House, that ensemble and those performances have simply never been
03:44bested.
03:45Of course, there has to be special praise here for the marvelous Jessica Lange as a
03:48sniping, sinister neighbor.
03:51Ever since she left the series, things have not been the same.
03:547.
03:55Stranger Things, Season 1
03:57I myself was a huge fan of Stranger Things Season 2, but I know that I might be quite
04:01alone on that.
04:02And now, with the fourth season creeping ever closer, the show has a hell of a lot to live
04:06up to.
04:07All three prior seasons of this behemoth of a show have been incredibly strong, but nothing
04:12has yet to quite eclipse the debut year of the Duffer Brothers series.
04:15Part horror, part sci-fi, part kid-friendly, and part bringing the sort of scores that'll
04:20unsettle any adults in the room, Stranger Things ticks so many boxes and appeals to
04:24so many.
04:25Set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, in 1983, this show started off hot by introducing
04:30mysterious monsters and the Upside Down.
04:32It threw in the disappearance of young Will Byers and gave us the unique, all-powerful
04:36figure of the ego-devouring Eleven.
04:39And that's just in the very first episode.
04:41Stranger Things is a mainstream pop culture phenomenon these days, and the show was positioned
04:45in that spot thanks to how immediately it struck a chord and became water-cooler and
04:49schoolyard chatter as soon as it debuted on Netflix back in 2016.
04:53Few series have managed to become as instantly popular and then sustain that popularity as
04:57Stranger Things, and that's testament to just how fantastic that debut season was.
05:026.
05:03Hannibal Season 2
05:04It feels like barely a month goes by where there's not some speculation that Hannibal
05:08could be back for a fourth season.
05:10With star Mads Mikkelsen only recently talking about the chances of just such a return.
05:15Of course, the reason that there's still hope of Season 4 is because the passionate fans
05:19of Hannibal are forever keeping the show in the public eye.
05:22Such was the quality of the series, it's so disappointing that it was just curbed at three
05:2613-episode seasons.
05:27Still, though, what a three-season run it was.
05:30Very much a game of cat and mouse by this point.
05:32The first half of the season has Hugh Dancy's FBI agent, Will Graham, locked up and desperately
05:37trying to prove his innocence.
05:39Hannibal, whilst Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter, manipulates the situation to gleefully keep
05:43Will imprisoned.
05:44Once freed, Dancy's character would get closer and closer to Lecter, that is, until the spectacular
05:49season finale left audiences reeling as Will joined Jack and Alana in being left to bleed
05:54to death as Hannibal strolls free.
05:56Hannibal, and in particular its second season, show that you can do smart, thoughtful horror
06:01and still make it delightfully gory and twisted when called for.
06:055.
06:06The Walking Dead Season 4
06:08Few TV shows have once been so hot, then gradually become so cold as The Walking Dead.
06:13When it's been good, The Walking Dead has been the absolute best horror show on TV.
06:18But the problem is that when the series has been bad, it's been utterly dire.
06:23In terms of the best season from the series so far, that honor goes to one of them in
06:27the first few, but the debate is very hot as to which.
06:30For argument's sake, we're gonna say Season 4 because that seemed to be the opposite consensus.
06:35With Frank Darabond at the helm, The Walking Dead's debut season was brilliant and very
06:39much in the conversation for the show's greatest run.
06:41However, it's the fourth year of shuffling undead action that edges that out there, and
06:45in fact a large part of what made Season 4 so special is its use of the series' first
06:50great villain.
06:51We'd seen Shane framed as a no-good rogue previously, but in David Morrissey's Governor
06:56we had a thorough bastard at the highest order.
06:59Having been introduced in the year prior, the fourth season of The Walking Dead had
07:02the Governor truly cement his spot amongst the great modern-day villains of TV.
07:07Here, there's the introduction of Abraham, Rosita, Eugene and Tara, there's the shocking
07:11beheading of beloved Hershel by the Governor, remember we also get those really poignant
07:15flashbacks to Michonne's life as a mother, and the heartbreaking look at the flowers
07:19moment which haunts everyone still.
07:21Honestly, I could sit here all day and just list great moments.
07:25Regardless of whether you agree that Season 4 was the absolute best, you have to admit
07:29that it was so incredibly strong.
07:324.
07:33All of Us are Dead
07:34A fairly recent addition to my mental library of horror TV, All of Us are Dead offers something
07:39a bit different from everything else on this list in that it's the only one not from
07:43the good old US of A, or at least anywhere in the West.
07:47Most of us are guilty of failing to really enjoy international TV and cinema, but as
07:51many of us found when this started being pushed on Netflix, we have been really missing out
07:56if we're not looking into it.
07:57This Korean limited series follows a group of teens who find themselves trapped at school
08:02as a zombie outbreak begins, all with a new take on the zombie virus, a great host of
08:07lovable characters, and some incredibly well-crafted emotional moments.
08:11Whilst not exactly being a straight-cut horror-comedy, it does lean into a good bit of humor.
08:16Aided by this and the romantic undertones, although they're not exactly low-key, so
08:19maybe more romantic overtones, the show manages to keep its forward momentum even when things
08:24are looking a bit bleak.
08:26Visually fantastic, wonderfully acted, and directed in a way that'll have you binging
08:30the whole damn thing without a second thought, All of Us Are Dead is an all-round delight.
08:35And if you're looking for some horror TV on Netflix that isn't just directed by, like,
08:38one of the same three guys, I'm sorry Mike Flanagan, but you're too damn powerful, search
08:43this up and I promise you will have a good time.
08:463.
08:47Twin Peaks Season One
08:48Whilst it also works as a drama series, or a thriller, Twin Peaks is undoubtedly a prime
08:53piece of horror television.
08:54Well, at least the first and third seasons are, the less we say about the second season
08:59the better.
09:00In 2017's Twin Peaks, the return was phenomenal, yet it's hard to look past the show's debut
09:05year when looking at the all-time great seasons of horror TV.
09:08The basic premise of that first season was the question of who killed Laura Palmer, yet
09:12in reality, Twin Peaks was so, so much more.
09:16Whilst some of the seasons featured elsewhere on this list revolve around jump scares, terrifying
09:20creatures, or supernatural shenanigans, Twin Peaks was a meticulous slice of psychological
09:25horror.
09:26The mystery of Laura's death was the driving force of this first season, but it was the
09:30journey, not the destination, that really counted in the search for her truth, as the
09:34wiggling, windy unravelling of this puzzle really had audiences hooked.
09:38The tension and fear are crafted expertly, as all the dread is amped up through trippy
09:43dream sequences, chilling visuals, and an exquisite use of sound.
09:47For all the amazing stuff they did for the story arc in Season One, it's a shame that
09:51they scuppered it all within seven episodes of Season Two.
09:542.
09:55The Haunting of Hill House
09:57In terms of single-season stories, few slices of horror television have ever been as consistently
10:02brilliant and obviously terrifying as The Haunting of Hill House.
10:06Sure, it was followed up by Bly Manor, which was really good and I genuinely did enjoy
10:10it, but despite featuring many of the same cast, Bly Manor was an entirely different
10:15story, with different characters, and a very different vibe.
10:18It was well-made, the story was good, and of course the actors were phenomenal, but
10:22it just couldn't quite live up to the standard that Hill House set.
10:25Set across two different timelines, The Haunting of Hill House revolved around the Crane family,
10:30their time having previously been spent living in the titular abode.
10:33The show explores the terrors they experienced during this time, and the long-lasting impact
10:37Hill House still has on them 26 years later.
10:40This Mike Flanagan-crafted show, you know, I told you it was already too powerful, is
10:44loosely adapted from Shirley Jackson's novel of the same name, and truthfully, it's everything
10:48you want from a horror series.
10:50There is no lag here at all, with each of the ten episodes bringing new information,
10:54new twists, and new scares.
10:56And trust me when I say, my good God, it does bring those scares.
10:59Thoughtful, stylish, and delicate, this really is horror TV at its best.
11:041.
11:05Bates Motel Season 5
11:08Across all five of its seasons, this A&E offering managed to maintain the sort of consistently
11:12high quality we rarely see.
11:15To pinpoint one season as being the series' high point is quite a tough task, but it's
11:19fair to say that Bates Motel has the unique honor of saving its finest season until last.
11:25By the time we reach Season 5, the action has jumped ahead two years from the conclusion
11:28of the previous season.
11:29Here, Norma Bates is dead, Detective Romero is locked up in prison, Marion Crane is introduced,
11:35Norman was in full mother mode, and audiences were more than ready to see what the show
11:39was going to bring in terms of its own version of what was originally seen in Alfred Hitchcock's
11:43Psycho way back in 1960.
11:45Bates Motel is the ideal example of taking an existing IP and reworking it for a new
11:50audience, whilst also staying somewhat faithful to what has come before.
11:54In that final season, the audience had a fear of how this might all end, but there
11:57was no need to fear at all.
11:59Because when it does end, it does so in the most heartbreaking, inevitable way.
12:04And with that, we've actually reached the end of this list of the 10 Best Single Horror
12:08TV Seasons Ever.
12:09When you call anything the best list, you're gonna get some pushback, so let me know in
12:13the comments below what your actual favorite seasons are.
12:16Are any of these on there?
12:17And tell me what seasons you would have put on this list instead.
12:20At the same time, remember to check out WhatCulture.com for more lists and articles like this every
12:25single day.
12:26As always, I've been Amy from WhatCulture, and I'll catch you next time.