When the 2010s rolled around, the horror genre in television kind of pivoted into a new realm. Instead of relying on gore and jump scares to ensnare an audience, psychological horror and complex narratives took over, creating a more in-depth world and multifaceted characters. While violence, the supernatural, and the occasional jump scare are still included throughout the storylines, 2010s horror, more often than not, relied on the pacing of its story, gradually building tension instead of relying on a quick shock.
It allowed for a more sophisticated approach to the genre, something that didn’t have a simple one-dimensional plot and instead favored character growth and development. From the psychological landscape surrounding Bates Motelto the intense backstory of the Upside Down in Stranger Things, 2010s horror shifted how audiences viewed the genre. And it is no surprise either, considering some of the best shows came out during this particular decade!
10 'The Living and the Dead' (2016)
Created by Ashley Pharoah
Image via BBC One
After moving back from London, England, back to his hometown of Shepzoy Summerset to help his ailing mother with the family farm, psychologist Nathan Appleby (Colin Morgan) isn’t prepared to figure something out that has no scientific explanation in the show The Living and the Dead. At the farm, Nathan is thrown into what can only be called a scary ghost story as spirits from the past come back to haunt him. Losing his grip on reality and the respect of his wife, Charlotte (Charlotte Spencer), Nathan quickly spirals out of control.
Set in 1894, the limited horror series does a marvelous job of creating the spooky and eerie feeling of rural England, which looks misty, foggy, and haunted. Watching mysterious events unfold in each episode and never getting a clear resolution to those events, viewers are left with a slow progression of intrigue that leaves the slow-burn ghost stories up to interpretation. The story unfolds episode by episode, relaying the over-arching plot surrounding Nathan little by little until it finally comes to a climax in the last episode.
Set in a fictional Wild West, Wynonna Earpfollows the story of the title character (Melanie Scrofano) as she inherits a special power to return revenants, animated corpses, back to the underworld on her 27th birthday. Wynonna is recruited by the secret government agency, the Black Badge Division (BBD), and is joined by Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon) and her half-sister, Waverly Earp (Dominique Provost-Chalkley), as they take out undead outlaws once killed by her infamous ancestor, Wyatt Earp. Of course, she does all of this with the help of her magic gun, “Peacemaker.”
Based on a Beau Smith comic book series of the same name, Wynonna Earp takes the traditional Western genre with gunslingers and well-known historical names and does something a little different – it mixes in demons, zombies, witches, angels, and even vampires. Needless to say, there are a lot of supernatural occurrences happening in the Ghost River Triangle. The dark fantasy show kept viewers seated with its well-developed characters, amazing representation, and dark twists and turns in each episode.
Release Date April 1, 2016
Seasons 4
8 'The Order' (2019-2020)
Created by Dennis Heaton
Image via Netflix
Jack Morton (Jake Manley) has one goal when he is accepted to Belgrave University in The Order: to avenge the death of his mother. Little does he know that joining the secret society known as the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose would thrust him into a world of magic, dark family secrets, and an age-old war between practitioners of the dark arts and werewolves. Jack’s life at Belgrave turns upside down, though, when he finds himself in the middle of two warring factions as he is a magic user and also a member of the Knights of Saint Christopher, the werewolf faction he finds himself involved in once he turns into a creature of the moon.
Leaning into the supernatural TV shows of the early 2000s, this series doesn’t solely rely on romance but brings in spooky elements with its imagery, mystery, and suspenseful twists and turns around dark corners of the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose’s secret sanctuary. With unreliable characters with their own agendas, viewers are unsure who to trust and who is going to betray everyone. Sadly, in the end, audiences are left on a season two cliffhanger with no hope of seeing conflicts resolved.
The Order
Release Date March 7, 2019
Cast Jake Manley , Sarah Grey , Adam DiMarco , Louriza Tronco
Seasons 2
7 'Bates Motel' (2013-2017)
Created by Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin, and Anthony Cipriano
Image via A&E
A sequel to one of the best psychological thrillers of all time, Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho, Bates Motel follows the lives of Norman (Freddie Highmore) and his mother, Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga), as they purchase the roadside motel after the death of Norma’s husband. Starting a new life as a motel owner, Norma watches as her son’s psyche becomes more and more fragile, and she begins making dangerous decisions. All of it leads up to the epic season four climax that begins the tale of the iconic film.
Falling into the dysfunctional family trope, Bates Motel leaves viewers in grisly suspense with its psychological manipulation and fear tactics of not knowing what Norman is going to do next. It is an epic start to a well-known story, showcasing the start of Norman’s descent into becoming "Mother" and his first "shower scene" incident. Between the distinguished writing and impossible-to-look-away character development, Bates Motel takes the horror genre and takes complete control of an uncontrollable situation.
Release Date April 18, 2013
Directors Carlton Cuse
Seasons 5
6 'The Purge' (2018-2019)
Created by James DeMonaco
Image via USA
Set in a dystopian United States ruled by a totalitarian government, The Purgebrings viewers into a horrifying 12-hour period in which all activity is legal, including typical crimes such as arson, assault, theft, and even murder. Throughout two seasons, viewers watch characters who don’t seem to have any connection to one another fall into different paths during Purge night, have it be in a Death Cult, a fraternity-sanctioned scavenger hunt, or hunkering down in order to survive the night. It is a horrific tale of what happens when anarchy rules and the worst of human nature takes over, resulting in vengeful acts, greed, and experiences that haunt people for the rest of their lives.
Part of the iconic franchise of the same name, the television series does away with the typical horror tropes of jump scares and monsters. Rather, it pulls into the horror of human beings left to their own whims and desires, resulting in an action thriller with blood, gore, and more than one conspiracy theory that might have viewers hiding behind a pillow. The series goes to show what happens when the people are under the thumb of complete power, a dictator who will stand for nothing but absolute subservience.
Release Date September 4, 2018
Creator(s) James DeMonaco
Cast Gabriel Chavarria , Derek Luke , Hannah Emily Anderson , Max Martini , Jessica Garza , Paola Núñez , Joel Allen , Rochelle Aytes
The French show Marianne wasn’t playing around in 2019. Horror author Emma Larsimon (Victoire Du Bois) is lured back to her hometown to confront the tales she writes about that might actually be more than fictitious. She soon realizes that the evil characters haunting her dreams, well, nightmares, are actually real and, somehow, have made it to the real world and are wreaking havoc wherever they go. Learning that her stories weren’t from her imagination at all, Emma must deal with the truth of her childhood while trying her best to stay alive.
With an unsettling evil entity and horrific imagery eerie enough to fuel real-life nightmares, Marianne takes the genre and utilizes mysterious psychological horror to unveil a series of dark experiences with some expertly placed scares. The show embodies elements of classic horror with a unique trickiness found in modern TV, leaving viewers entranced with the ghoulish tale and wondering what it will take for Emma to figure out the mystery surrounding Marianne before it is too late.
Marianne
Release Date September 13, 2019
Cast Victoire Du Bois , Ralph Amoussou
Seasons 1
4 'Servant' (2019-)
Created by Tony Basgallop
Image via AppleTV
After dealing with the heartbreak of losing their infant son, Dorothy(Lauren Ambrose)and Sean Turner (Toby Kebbell) learn to cope with the help of a lifelike reborn babydoll. However, their semblance of a “normal” life is uprooted when they take in a mysterious nanny, Leanne (Nell Tiger Free), to care for their child. Once she enters their lives, strange circumstances begin to happen around the house, and what the Turner family thought was their way to deal with grief turns into something much more sinister as supernatural forces invade their home.
Known for the quick twists that come quickly in his projects, executive producer M. Night Shyamalan surprised viewers when he did the exact opposite with Servant. Instead of giving everything away with the snap of his fingers, the series is a slow burn, full of twists that leave viewers waiting for the next episode. One of the more underrated horror showsthat deserves attention, Servant brings together disgust and confusion while leaving the jump scare trope at the backdoor, inviting people to unravel the mystery surrounding Leanne and the horrors the Turner family has been facing ever since inviting her into their home.
Zeroing in on childhood fears like haunted houses, mysterious television programs, and kidnappings, Channel Zero’s horror anthology is pretty much a creepy look into age-old terrors. Throughout the course of four seasons, viewers are brought into episodes featuring mysterious tales and suspenseful plots surrounding complex characters who really don’t know what is happening around them.
The anthology series is based on the internet sensation of homespun horror stories found on Creepypasta; urban legends and tales were taken and expanded on to grace the small screen. With eerie monster designs and a whole lot of jump scares, Channel Zero brings the horror genre to new heights with unsettling and unique stories that, little by little, peel back layers of the mysterious circumstances surrounding each season, such as the cannibal in the season “Butcher’s Block” and the TV show that plays a hand in children disappearances in “Candle Cove.” The show was ambitious and innovative, making it one of the better horror shows in the 2010s.
Release Date October 11, 2016
Seasons 4
2 'Stranger Things' (2016-)
Created by The Duffer Brothers
Image via Netflix
A young girl with mysterious telekinetic abilities due to human experimentation, an alternative dimension called the Upside Down, and a small town in 1980s Indiana. What could possibly be scary about that? Stranger Things follows the story of a group of kids who come across a huge secret in their town of Hawkins, something that is bound to take over not only the town but the world. With Demogorgons and a “big bad” called Vecna, time is not on the side of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and her friends as the Upside Down begins leeching into the real world, and people begin to die.
Stranger Things took inspiration from other 1980s projects, such as Stand by Me, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,A Nightmare on Elm Street, and more, to get the spooky, psychological sci-fi horror that is widely considered one of Netflix’s best original series. The series uses a slow build, drawing viewers in with nostalgic 1980s imagery, to really set the tone before releasing the horrors audiences knew were eventually coming. The thing is, with the mysterious nature of the show, the horror elements don’t necessarily come in ways people expect, such as Max (Sadie Sink) almost dying by Vecan’s hand (spoiler alert!) since she is one of the main characters. Instead of giving viewers a glimpse into what is about to happen, the series takes a different approach, giving a “here is plan A, but we’re most likely going to throw that out the window” situation people have no choice but to go along with while gripping the edge of their seat.
Stranger Things
Release Date July 15, 2016
Creator Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
Seasons 5
1 'The Haunting of Hill House' (2018)
Created by Mike Flanagan
Image via Netflix
Loosely based on a Shirley Jackson novel of the same name, The Haunting of Hill House is not for the faint of heart. The plot follows two timelines—a past and a present—and revolves around the Crain family. In the past, five siblings moved to Hill House with their parents with the grand idea of remodeling the old mansion and selling it. But strange, paranormal happenings and psychological feats begin to happen, leaving the children and their now estranged father in various states of unrest in their present time twenty-six years later.
The limited series does 2010s horror right, building up immense anticipation before unleashing it all on screen. With the overlapping timelines, viewers get exact answers to character personalities and developments, learning why they are the way they are in adulthood. Unforgettable horror imagery that doesn’t shy away from tropes of a traditional ghost story, The Haunting of Hill House was called the most complex and complete horror story of all time.
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