2023 was a great year for horror TV shows, with many new seasons of great horror shows released and other new series debuting. With titles coming from major streaming platforms as well as networks, the range of choices for horror TV shows continues to expand at an incredible pace. As 2023 comes to a close, it’s worth looking back and highlighting the best horror TV shows of 2023.
Horror TV, ranging from anthology series, new miniseries, and sequel seasons, has taken off in 2023. Shows like The Last of Us, an adaptation of a video game, received widespread praise, and spin-offs from popular shows like The Walking Dead also made favorable first impressions. Anthologies have also firmly established their place as a popular format for TV horror with anime series, Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, and Black Mirror season 6.
10 Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre
Anime Anthology Horror
Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre is an anthology anime series that focuses on the works of illustrator Junji Ito. Ito is responsible for creating several award-winning horror mangas and his work has influenced popular games like Death Stranding. The series, produced and distributed exclusively on Netflix is a chilling series of short stories that highlight different elements and aspects of horror. The art styles, creativity, and twisted beauty of the series earn Junji Ito a place among the best horror shows of 2023.
9 Goosebumps
2023 Revival
Deciding to move away from the anthology format that was a key part of the 1995 series, 2023’s Goosebumps focuses on a single linear narrative as a group of five teenagers set out to uncover secrets from the past. The series was launched on Hulu and Disney+ simultaneously and innovatively incorporates elements of the books by R. L. Stine into a thrilling connected story. Nostalgia, a well-laid-out story, and references to the source material make this series a worthy follow-up to the 1995 original, and an outstanding horror show in its own right.
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8 The Last Of Us
Video Game Adapted Dystopian Horror
The Last of Us starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, was released in early 2023 and became a runaway success, winning dozens of awards and praise for the script, performances, set designs, graphics, and direction. Pascal and Ramsey did an incredible job in season 1 and are set to return for a second season in early 2025. While the series is presented as more drama than horror, the presence of a virus that turns humans into infected zombies and the tension between survivors puts it on par with The Walking Dead in terms of horror.
7 The Walking Dead: Dead City
Maggie And Negan In New York
Speaking of The Walking Dead, one of the two spin-offs released in 2023 was The Walking Dead: Dead City. The series is the first sequel to the main series and follows Maggie and Negan as they set off to Manhattan to find Maggie’s son who has been kidnapped. Pitting two characters with a tragically intertwined story, the complexity of the narrative makes this show well worth watching. Featuring a landscape never seen before in any other The Walking Dead show, Dead City highlights a high-rise city in complete disrepair.
6 Yellowjackets – Season 2
Survival Horror Across Time
Yellowjackets is a horror series that follows a group of New Jersey high school girls in two distinct periods of their lives. One part of the story plays out in 1996 when the girls crashed in the middle of the Canadian wilderness and were stranded for 19 months. The other part is the present day, as the traumas and terrors from those long cold months still plague them well into adulthood. Drawing inspiration from the cannibalistic Donner party and the Andes flight disaster of 1972, Yellowjackets season 2 depicts human survival in the harshest conditions and what that does to the survivors with incredible depth and emotion, earning the series a string of awards and critical acclaim.
5 American Horror Story: Delicate
Slow Burn Horror
American Horror Story embarked on its twelfth season in 2023, subtitled Delicate. The show, by creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, focuses on a new story each season, with several regular cast members returning in new roles, joined by new guest stars. Delicate sees Emma Roberts return, joined by Kim Kardashian as two of the more regular cast members for the season. Roberts plays Anna, a young actress struggling with fertility issues, and the series is a slow burn as it plays on the anxieties and subtleties of a complicated and emotionally draining aspect of life before introducing more sinister and twisted elements that heighten the stress and horror of the series.
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4 From – Season 2
It Comes From The Forest At Night
From features a small town in the middle of America that is plagued by terrible creatures and a supernatural force that stops anyone who enters from leaving. Season 1 was released in 2022 and was then followed up with a second season in 2023 which expanded the horrors of the small town and the monsters that come out at night. The show was popular enough to be renewed with From season 3 now in the works, and received largely favorable reviews on critic sites like Rotten Tomatoes.
3 The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
Stranger In A Foreign Land
Another spin-off of the original The Walking Dead series, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon sees one of the central characters from the main series wash up on a beach in France. Daryl struggles to get along in a country where he doesn’t speak the language, and he doesn’t know the landscape, trying to learn how he got here and find a way to get back home to his family. Revealing more details about the birthplace of the virus and seeing Daryl integrate into new groups is an interesting development for the character, as well as some truly gut-wrenching moments for the cast as they come face to face with the walkers.
2 Black Mirror – Season 6
Anthology Horror About Terrible Technology
Black Mirror is an outstanding anthology show by creator Charlie Brooker, with each episode exploring a new and terrifying aspect of futuristic technology gone awry. Black Mirror season 6 was released in 2023 after a lengthy four-year hiatus in the wake of the global pandemic. Season 6 has five distinct episodes with cameos from incredible stars like Aaron Paul, Salma Hayek, and Zazie Beetz, which help to portray a warning about technology that develops beyond human understanding and the threats that come with advancement.
1 The Fall Of The House Of Usher
A Family Full Of Secrets
This TV miniseries made for Netflix by the spectacular Mike Flanagan, The Fall of the House of Usher is a dark and harrowing tale of a family whose lust for wealth gets the better of them. When Roderick Usher tragically loses all six of his children in a short period, he sets out to reveal the darkest secrets of his family to the Assistant District Attorney who has been trying to convict him for years concerning the health risks around his products. ADA Dupin is invited to speak with Roderick and the story splits into two parallels of the past and future with dark secrets bubbling over. Flanagan’s work has been widely praised and House of Usher has continued the tradition with high ratings from critics and audiences alike (via Rotten Tomatoes).
