The horror movie franchise Saw didn’t only make playing games into a deadly business, but was somehow able to mix suspense, gorse, and a very strange concept into something people wanted to see. Although, for those who enjoy binge-watching shows instead of sitting down for a movie, there are some amazing horror-suspense TV series out there that are must-sees, thanks to the interesting sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat plots, intriguing characters, and scares that might lead to leaving the lights on at night.
Movies aren’t the only medium that is allowed to use horror and mystery to gain the attention of an audience! Shows about cursed families, people with their own questionable agendas, and mysterious towns are there for viewing pleasure with, of course, a whole lot of horrific circumstances in between. From one specific season of American Horror Story to a haunted town not on a map in From, here are some shows fans of Saw need to watch.
10 ‘True Blood’ (2008)
Created by Alan Ball
In the town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) finds herself in a life full of vampires, werewolves, demons, and fairies. True Blood follows Stackhouse as she falls in love with Bill (Stephen Moyer) and finds herself in a wide array of different conflicts, many of which revolve around her small, rural town’s dislike and mistrust of vampires and the unknown. The horror fantasy show has many themes of violence, as it is not scared to show blood and torture, politics, as well as romance and betrayal.
Known as a blood-drenched Southern Gothic, True Blood doesn’t shy away from death, character destruction of their own making, or mystery surrounding supernatural beings. It is a show that mixes tropes and carries itself on the back of its female antagonist as she journeys through a new world where vampires have “come out of the coffin,” and her life is turned upside down.
Watch Now on MAX
9 ‘From’ (2022)
Created by John Griffin
Horror and suspense mixed with a little Lost-like mystery, From takes viewers to a small town not found on a map, somewhere deadly creatures stalk the night, and townspeople govern themselves, unable to escape the mystical place. Town sheriff Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau) tries to maintain peace among the scared and trapped citizens, but it becomes difficult when tensions run high, and there are no answers as to why they’re stuck there or how they escape.
A series about survival and human instinct, From is a horror-filled masterpiece that brings together elements of mystery, violence, and hostile beings. While it is a supernatural town taking the people hostage and not a man, From, like Saw, doesn’t shy away from bloody displays or, more importantly, raising the question as to why these people are trapped with no way out but certain death.
8 ‘Castle Rock’ (2018)
Created by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason
Set in horror author Stephen King’s fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, and based on his stories, the Castle Rock anthology is ambitious and terrifying as it brings viewers back to a well-known death row prison, Shawshank State Penitentiary. The first season of the anthology follows criminal attorney Henry Matthew Deaver (André Holland) as he travels back to his hometown of Castle Rock after receiving a mysterious phone call from one of the Shawshank inmates. It is an intense, character-focused season that only makes the Misery-inspired second season with Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan) that much more captivating.
In true King fashion, the horror and mystery of both seasons of Castle Rock reel viewers and don’t let them leave until all of the questions surrounding the paranormal, plot twists, and characters are answered. It is one of those rare shows that has the ability to bring an author’s unique voice to life, translating it onto the small screen. Playing with people’s emotions within a creepy setting while following unsettling characters makes Castle Rock a defining horror show.
Watch now on Hulu
7 ‘Penny Dreadful’ (2014)
Created by John Logan
Weaving together a monster mash of iconic literary characters, Penny Dreadful drops viewers into Victorian London to experience a different level of Gothic horror. The three-season series intertwines characters such as Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), the creature (Rory Kinnear), and even Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), diving into the characters’ psychological scars and lives to create a bloody drama reminiscent of dark, thrilling, and violent 19th-century penny dreadfuls, sensational and entertaining serials people bought for a penny.
Even though the series always had the chance of running off the rails with its wild concepts and characters, it never did. The ensemble of macabre characters and plot twists only had the show push boundaries and play on characters’ emotions and motives to leave viewers wanting more of the violence and heartache associated with some fan-favorite literary monsters.
6 ‘Hannibal’ (2013)
Developed by Ryan Fuller
In an interesting adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel The Red Dragon, Hannibal follows the story of FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) as he tries to find the prolific serial killer known as the Chesapeake Ripper. The interesting part of this series is that Graham is set to work with Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic psychiatrist and food connoisseur. Little does Graham know, but the doctor with whom he begins forming a kind of kinship is actually the killer he is looking to arrest.
Throughout the course of three seasons, viewers watch as the two men become friends, sharing meals with one another and talking about life, namely that of Graham’s career and how he sympathizes with those he arrests and puts away. Weirdly enough, this empathy is what puts the profiler on Hannibal’s radar, leading him to hypnotize Graham in hopes of making him a killer and cannibal like him. The doctor plays on Graham’s sanity and emotions in a gruesome series that viewers can’t look away from, with flashbacks and come-to moments that almost make people root for the strange friendship that formed between the two. With plot twists and gripping characters seen throughout Hannibal Lecter projects, it is considered one of the best TV series in the horror genre.
5 ‘The Haunting Of Hill House’ (2018)
Created by Mike Flanagan
Bouncing back and forth between two different timelines, The Haunting of Hill House is like Saw in the sense that it has viewers gripping their seats, but it is more of a paranormal hostage story and less of a serial killer taking people hostage. Created by Mike Flanagan to be a horror anthology, Hill House follows the Crain family, consisting of a mother, father, and their five children, as they move to the Hill House mansion in hopes of fixing it up and flipping it. Little did they know that paranormal occurrences were going to affect them for the rest of their lives.
Based loosely on Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name, Hill House became a quick Netflix favorite when it premiered on the streaming platform in 2018. It received critical acclaim, getting called one of the most effective ghost stories of its time, and horror author Stephan King even called it “close to a work of genius” in a Twitter (X) post. The build-up, anticipation, and chilling conclusion make this show essential viewing for those who love the horror genre.
4 ‘American Horror Story “Asylum”’ (2011)
Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk
Created as an anthology, American Horror Story: Asylum is by far one of the creepiest. Set in 1964, the season is centered around a mental institution called Briarcliff Manor and runs under the authoritarian rule of Sister Jude (Jessica Lange) in what is arguably one of Lange’s top performances in American Horror Story. With some over-the-top crazy characters with interesting backstories, nefarious plots and experiments happening in the basement of the manor, and patients claiming to be innocent, nothing is as it seems.
Asylum is a quick watch with plot twists at every turn. With mystery and intrigue, it is a great choice for those who love the “games” played in the Saw franchise, as this season does not stray away from gory displays of violence or characters playing with each other’s emotions in order to get what they want, especially the brutal Dr. Arthur Arden (James Cromwell) who performs questionable procedures and experiments on patients. The success of Asylum and American Horror Story’s first season, Murder House, led the anthology on a run of amazing horror stories, none of which end how the viewer imagines.
3 ‘Yellowjackets’ (2021)
Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson
With brilliant casting and themes of horror, trauma, and grief, Yellowjackets takes viewers into the Canadian wilderness where a high school girls’ soccer team has crashlanded. There, they are stranded for nineteen months and must learn to survive in a very Lord of the Flies-type manner. One of the best TV shows with alternating timelines, switching back and forth between their time in the wilderness as young girls and the characters’ present-day adulthood, the series centers on what human beings are capable of when they find themselves in unknown and uncertain circumstances.
With exceptional performances by Christina Ricci and Melanie Lynskye, Yellowjackets is a violent and gruesome portrayal of human instinct and how past actions can affect a person later in life. The series touches on horror and even the supernatural, but it is truly the survival instinct of teenage girls, and how quickly someone can turn on a person makes this series horrifying. Even though people would hope to make the best of a situation and work together, Yellowjackets prove that, sometimes, it isn’t that simple.
2 ‘Servant’ (2019)
Created by Tony Basgallop
M. Night Shyamalan brings his customary horror, twists, and humor to the Apple TV+ series Servant. Struck by the tragedy of losing their infant son, Dorothy Turner (Lauren Ambrose) and Sean Turner (Toby Kebbell) must learn to cope and move on with their lives. Obviously, that does not happen. In order to help them deal with their son’s death, the Turners decided to go through transitory object therapy, which consists of a reborn doll that is a surrogate for their baby. The issue is that Dorothy believes the doll is a real baby, which leads to her hiring a nanny, Leanne Grayson (Nell Tiger Free), and a slew of horrifying instances occurring.
Spooky, dark, and full of epic performances, Servant brings viewers into a world where suspicion, psychotic breaks, and more than a little dread are around every corner. As the show is set within the Turners’ home, the show has a feeling of containment, which, compounded by the suspense caused by the character interactions, makes for a bone-chilling haunted house-type series, even though Servant doesn’t necessarily fall into that genre, it is an urban nightmare that the family can’t seem to escape.
Watch now on Apple TV+
1 ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (2023)
Created by Mike Flanagan
What poet doesn’t love a little drama? In Flanagan’s Edgar Allan Poe-inspired miniseries, viewers watch as Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) builds a fortune from others’ misfortune, becoming the CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company. He watches as his children lead privileged lives, partying and doing pretty much anything they want, and then slowly but surely, everything he builds falls to ashes. Each of his adult children falls prey to a Poe-inspired death.
Fun to watch and yet gruesome at the same time, The Fall of the House of Usher brings viewers on a whirlwind journey of what happens to a family when greed gets in the way. While the characters in the show are not known in Poe’s works, each episode is based loosely on his tales, such as “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and more. The Gothic horror show brings Flanagan’s typical flair for the dramatic, bringing together complex character emotions, jump scares, engaging mystery, and tension that doesn’t break until all of the show’s questions are answered at the very end.
