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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 to start.
00:05Decades and decades of different styles and trends and focuses and monsters and baddies and heroes.
00:11When 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. And that includes sitting through 14 seasons of a show when really it stops being
00:23good after one. So 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. Midnight Mass
00:35A limited series with actually only one season to offer, I thought Midnight Mass was a great
00:40place to start here. Not necessarily because I think this should be lowest on your list of
00:44priorities, but more 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. Set on a remote fishing island plagued by a host of issues
00:58following a past oil spill, this supernatural horror series has more scares to offer than you
01:03initially think. Managing to work on a psychological level, looking at the residents' isolation,
01:08complex relationships and their fear of the future in an unstable world, it uses its supernatural
01:13vampiric baddies as a vehicle for the horror. It's not all flying Draculas and sucking blood out of
01:18virgins. Instead, it's cleverly framed against a backdrop of fanatical religion, emphasizing society's
01:23flaws as a whole in supporting our people and on leaning on religion when maybe we should be
01:28leaning on each other sometimes. There's gore and guts, but there's also discussions of life
01:32and consciousness itself, and 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. At this point, need I say more?
01:439. Lovecraft Country Season 1 Blending horror and drama, fiction and fact,
01:49HBO's Lovecraft Country seemed destined to become one of the modern greats of TV.
01:53Claudettes from critics and viewers led to showrunner Misha Green starting to map out a second season,
01:58when it was surprisingly announced by HBO that they would not be pushing forward with this.
02:03Added to that, ratings for Lovecraft Country were decent, and the series was nominated for a massive
02:0718 Emmy Awards, picking up two Emmy wins for its one season. Lovecraft Country was dripping with
02:12quality all across production, dropping many of H.P. Lovecraft's creations into the landscape of
02:17segregated 1950s America. The tale itself initially focused on Atticus Freeman traveling across Jim
02:23Crow USA in search of his father, and it's a story where Jonathan Major's Atticus faces racism that's
02:29just as troubling as any one of the Lovecraftian monsters. The show looks glorious, the performances
02:34are mesmerizing, and the series brings far more than simply classic scares. It's a crying shame that,
02:40for whatever reason, Lovecraft Country only got the one season to wow us.
02:458. American Horror Story Murder House This one could be controversial,
02:49saying that Murder House was the best of all the series of American Horror Story,
02:52because I know everyone has a very different opinion on that. But still, with the insane
02:57amount of seasons it now has under its belt, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone that disagreed
03:01that the first few seasons were the best. And its very first season, Murder House was certainly the
03:06most memorable. One of the great things about this first American Horror Story offering is that none
03:10of us knew what to expect. This was a fresh, sleek show that wasn't afraid to shock in twisted and at
03:17times tragic ways, with the Harmon family moving into the titular house and slowly falling apart in
03:22their new surroundings. Throw in a subplot centered around a school shooting and the sobering imagery of
03:27the act, and Murder House genuinely had most of us in awe, and that is for reasons both good and bad.
03:32Regardless of the varying quality of subsequent seasons, American Horror Story is famed for its
03:37fantastic ensemble casts and stellar performances. And frankly, since Murder House, that ensemble and
03:42those performances have simply never been bested. Of course, there has to be special praise here for
03:47the marvellous Jessica Lange as a sniping, sinister neighbour. Ever since she left the series, things have
03:52not been the same. 7. Stranger Things Season 1
03:57I myself was a huge fan of Stranger Things Season 2, but I know that I might be quite alone on that.
04:02And now, with the fourth season creeping ever closer, the show has a hell of a lot to live up to.
04:07All three prior seasons of this behemoth of a show have been incredibly strong,
04:11but nothing has 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 so 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. It threw in the disappearance of young Will Byers and gave
04:35us the unique, all-powerful figure of the ego-devouring Eleven. And that's just in the very first episode.
04:40Stranger 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 schoolyard chatter
04:50as soon as it debuted on Netflix back in 2016. Few series have managed to become as instantly popular,
04:55and then sustain that popularity as Stranger Things. And that's testament to just how fantastic that
05:00debut season was. 6. Hannibal Season 2
05:04It feels like barely a month goes by where there's not some speculation that Hannibal could be back for
05:09a fourth season, with star Mads Mikkelsen only recently talking about the chances of just such a
05:14return. Of course, the reason that there's still hope of Season 4 is because the passionate fans of
05:19Hannibal are forever keeping the show in the public eye. Such was the quality of the series,
05:23it's so disappointing that it was just curbed at three 13-episode seasons. Still, though,
05:28what a three-season run it was. Very much a game of cat and mouse by this point. The first half of
05:33the season has Hugh Dancy's FBI agent, Will Graham, locked up and desperately trying to prove his
05:38innocence. All whilst Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter manipulates the situation to gleefully keep Will
05:43imprisoned. Once freed, Dancy's character would get closer and closer to Lecter. That is, until the
05:48spectacular season finale left audiences reeling as Will joined Jack and Alana in being left to bleed
05:54to death as Hannibal strolls free. Hannibal, and in particular its second season, show that you can
05:59do smart, thoughtful horror and still make it delightfully gory and twisted when called for.
06:055. The Walking Dead Season 4
06:07Few TV shows have once been so hot, then gradually become so cold as The Walking Dead. When it's been good,
06:14The Walking Dead has been the absolute best horror show on TV, but the problem is that when the series
06:19has been bad, it's been utterly dire. In terms of the best season from the series so far, that honor
06:26goes to one of them in the first few, but the debate is very hot as to which. For argument's sake,
06:31we're going to say Season 4, because that seemed to be the office consensus. With Frank Darabont at the
06:36helm, The Walking Dead's debut season was brilliant and very much in the conversation for the show's
06:40greatest run. However, it's the fourth year of shuffling undead action that edges that out there,
06:45and in fact, a large part of what made Season 4 so special is its use of the series' first
06:50great villain. We'd seen Shane framed as a no-good rogue previously, but in David Morrissey's
06:55Governor, we had a thorough bastard at the highest order. Having been introduced in the year prior,
07:00the fourth season of The Walking Dead had the Governor truly cement his spot amongst the great
07:05modern-day villains of TV. Here, there's the introduction of Abraham, Rosita, Eugene and Tara.
07:10There's the shocking beheading of beloved Herschel by the Governor. Remember we also get those really
07:15poignant flashbacks to Michonne's life as a mother, and the heartbreaking look at the flowers moment,
07:20which haunts everyone still? Honestly, 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 that it was so
07:30incredibly strong. 4. All of Us Are Dead
07:34A fairly recent addition to my mental library of horror TV, All of Us Are Dead offers something a
07:39bit different from everything else on this list, in that it's the only one not from the good old
07:43US of A, or at least anywhere in the West. Most of us are guilty of failing to really enjoy
07:49international TV and cinema, but as many of us found when this started being pushed on Netflix,
07:54we have been really missing out if we're not looking into it.
07:57This Korean limited series follows a group of teens who find themselves trapped at school as
08:02a zombie outbreak begins, all with a new take on the zombie virus, a great host of lovable characters,
08:08and some incredibly well-crafted emotional moments. Whilst not exactly being a straight-cut horror
08:13comedy, it does lean into a good bit of humour. Aided by this and the romantic undertones, although
08:18they're not exactly low-key, so maybe more romantic overtones, the show manages to keep its forward
08:23momentum even when things are looking a bit bleak. Visually fantastic, wonderfully acted and directed
08:28in a way that'll have you binging the whole damn thing without a second thought, All of Us Are Dead
08:33is an all-round delight. And if you're looking for some horror TV on Netflix that isn't just directed
08:38by, like, one of the same three guys, I'm sorry Mike Flanagan but you're too damn powerful,
08:42search this up and I promise you will have a good time.
08:453. Twin Peaks Season 1 Whilst it also works as a drama series or a thriller,
08:51Twin Peaks is undoubtedly a prime piece of horror television. Well, at least the first and third
08:56seasons are. The less we say about the second season, the better. 2017's Twin Peaks The Return
09:02was phenomenal, yet it's hard to look past the show's debut year when looking at the all-time great
09:07seasons of horror TV. The basic premise of that first season was the question of who killed Laura
09:11Palmer. Yet in reality, Twin Peaks was so, so much more. Whilst some of the seasons featured
09:17elsewhere on this list revolve around jump scares, terrifying creatures, or supernatural shenanigans,
09:22Twin Peaks was a meticulous slice of psychological horror. The mystery of Laura's death was the driving
09:28force of this first season, but it was the journey, not the destination, that really counted in the
09:33search for her truth, as the wiggling, windy unraveling of this puzzle really had audiences hooked.
09:38The tension and fear are crafted expertly, as all the dread is amped up through trippy dream sequences,
09:44chilling visuals, and an exquisite use of sound. For all the amazing stuff they did for the story
09:49arc in Season 1, it's a shame that they scuppered it all within seven episodes of Season 2.
09:542. The 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. Sure, it was followed up by Bly
10:08Manor, which was really good and I genuinely did enjoy it, but despite featuring many of the same
10:12cast, Bly Manor was an entirely different story, with different characters, and a very different
10:17vibe. It was well made, the story was good, and of course the actors were phenomenal, but it just
10:22couldn't quite live up to the standard that Hill House set. Set across two different timelines,
10:27The Haunting of Hill House revolved around the Crane family, their time having previously been spent
10:31living in the titular abode. The show explores the terrors they experienced during this time,
10:36and the long-lasting impact Hill House still has on them 26 years later. This Mike Flanagan-crafted
10:41show, you know, I told you it was already too powerful, is loosely adapted from Shirley Jackson's
10:45novel of the same name, and truthfully, it's everything you 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. And trust me when I say, my good god, it does bring those scares.
11:00Thoughtful, stylish and delicate, this really is horror TV at its best.
11:041. Bates Motel Season 5
11:07Across all five of its seasons, this A&E offering managed to maintain the sort of
11:12consistently high quality we rarely see. To pinpoint one season as being the series' high point is quite
11:18a tough task, but it's fair to say that Bates Motel has the unique honour of saving its finest season
11:23until last. By the time we reach season five, the action has jumped ahead two years from the
11:28conclusion of the previous season. Here, Norma Bates is dead, Detective Ramiro is locked up in
11:32prison, Marion Crane is introduced, Norman was in full mother mode, and audiences were
11:37more than ready to see what the show was going to bring in terms of its own version of what was
11:41originally seen in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho way back in 1960. Bates Motel is the ideal example of
11:47taking an existing IP and reworking it for a new audience, whilst also staying somewhat faithful to what
11:52has come before. In that final season, the audience had a fear of how this might all end,
11:57but there was no need to fear at all, because when it does end, it does so in the most heartbreaking,
12:02inevitable way. And with that, we've actually reached the end of this list of the 10 Best
12:07Single Horror TV Seasons Ever. When you call anything the best list, you're gonna get some
12:12pushback, so let me know in the comments below what your actual favourite seasons are. Are any of these
12:17on there? And tell me what seasons you would have put on this list instead. At the same time,
12:21remember to check out whatculture.com for more lists and articles like this every single day.
12:26As always, I've been Amy from WhatCulture and I'll catch you next time.
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