Every Halloween, the candy comes out and the scary movies get put on. But those looking for frights come All Hallow's Eve can also find them in various TV boxsets or across streaming service subscriptions.
From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to The X-Files, with a dash of Mike Flanagan and Steven Spielberg for good (and chilling) measure, here are some essential, terrifying episodes of television to add to your watchlist for October 31.
The Twilight Zone, "The Masks"
One of the scariest episodes of television, period, and the first episode on our list to be written by the man himself, Rod Serling. In New Orleans, an aging, wealthy businessman (Robert Keith), calls his family to his bedside. That's when he hands them the titular masks (designed by the legendary William Tuttle), which reflect their inner ugliness.
You can probably see the twist coming even before the episode concludes, but that doesn't make "The Masks" any less powerful or disturbing. What makes this episode even more incredible is that, even five seasons into the original series' run, Sterling and his collaborators were able to mine new narrative ground to make bona-fide classics. "The Masks" is also notable for being directed by Ida Lupino, the only woman to direct episodes of The Twilight Zone (and she only directed two).
Amazing Stories, "Mirror, Mirror"
Executive producer Steven Spielberg's short-lived anthology series ran on NBC from 1985–86, with episodes that were more Amblin-y in tone than all-out scarefest. But director Martin Scorsese's "Mirror, Mirror" (cowritten by Spielberg) achieved horror movie–level scares with its tale of an arrogant horror novelist Jordan Manmouth (Sam Waterson), who can't stop seeing a very disfigured (and murderous) man in reflective surfaces. Jordan's fear (and our blood pressure) quickly rise when he sees the man not only in mirrors but also reflected in glasses and eyes.
Scorsese's inspired and taut camera work overcomes the very dated set design and costumes to deliver one of the Oscar-winning filmmaker's most unsettling narratives.
Are You Afraid of the Dark, "The Tale of Laughing in the Dark" (Season 1)
Zeebo joins horror's deep bench of frightening clowns in this fan-favorite episode of Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
Sure, the creepy carnival vibes don't hold up as well as they did when we were kids, but the chills that come from watching a young Josh steal Zeebo's prized red nose certainly do. Cocky to a literal tragic fault, Josh ignores warnings of what happens when you steal the clown's nose and gets chased by one of the scariest things Nick ever made. We still get goosebumps hearing the episode's infamous line of dialogue: "Pick the right door, and you'll go free. Pick the wrong door, and there he'll be."
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Hush" (Season 4)
"Hush" is one of Buffy's most popular standalone episodes, thanks to its memorable mix of laughs and scares. In this largely silent episode, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her fellow Scooby Gang pals struggle to save their town from the voice-stealing Gentlemen. Clad in black suits and sporting ghastly faces, the Gentlemen snatch Sunnydale's voices and cut out some hearts before Buffy and her friends find an inventive way to stop them. "Hush" is a perfect entry point into the Buffyverse; if you've never seen an episode before, this haunting hour will keep you tuned in.
The X-Files, "Squeeze" (Season 1)
"Squeeze" was only the third episode of the series — ever! — and many believe it to be among the greatest "Monster of the Week" installments.
What's incredible is that the creatives brought back the creepy character later that same season, in a very rare move. (There were some two-part X-Files episodes, and this is probably the only one that followed half-a-season after the first.) But the character of Eugene Tooms — who, when he's not hybernating, can stretch and squeeze his body through very tight spaces (like an air vent or doggy door) in his pursuit of human livers — was just too fascinating to discard after a single episode.
The inspired and (shocking) sequel to "Squeeze," "Tooms," gives Mulder one final, gory showdown with the baddie that involves an escalator. Both installments are load-bearing columns of the series and worth watching together.
The X-Files, "Die Hand Die Verletzt" (Season 2)
The X-Files puts high school, Christian values and suburban life through its signature paranormal lens, and the end result is "Die Hand Die Verletzt," an hour of pure nightmare fuel that even unnerves our intrepid FBI agents. When a small-town teenager's ritualistic murder points to satanic practices, Mulder and Scully discover a deadly occult headlined by members of the local school's PTA. When a substitute teacher arrives, who is either the Devil or their emissary, Mulder and Scully confront legit proof of the supernatural as the body count rises in tandem with the demonic events that plague the school and its students. (The dissection of a pig fetus is one of the show's most terrifying moments.)
The episode, written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, ends on a satisfying but ambiguous note that may haunt you as much as it does the lead characters.
The X-Files, "Home" (Season 4)
An episode so intense that Fox threatened to never air it again (they did, of course, and it can be streamed any old time you want), "Home" is certainly one of the series' most terrifying episodes — and one of its most memorable.
Written by the renowned team of Glen Morgan and James Wong, Mulder and Scully travel to Home, Pennsylvania, to look into the discovery of a discarded, horribly deformed baby corpse. (When an episode starts with a baby corpse, you know it's going to be bleak.) Eventually they stumble upon the Peacocks, a family of inbred, murderous mutants who make the Texas Chainsaw Massacre clan seem like Care Bears. There are so many unforgettable moments from this episode, including one of the series' most brutal murders ever, set to the cheery strains of Johnny Mathis' "Wonderful! Wonderful!," and the hour's tone is so pervasive and atmospheric, it will leave an indelible mark.
Supernatural, "Bloody Mary" (Season 1)
With a titular ghost design inspired by The Ring's Samara, "Bloody Mary" brings the infamous urban legend to life with unrelenting tension and terror. Supernatural's most effective episodes often center on weekly threats that have a personal connection to hunters and brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester, and "Bloody Mary" uses the infamous urban legend as a way for Sam to exorcize his personal guilt over his girlfriend's recent murder.
Having faced not one but two demonic homicides in his lifetime, Sam's shame spiral leads him on a collision with the deadly Mary, who targets those who have contributed to the deaths of innocents by pushing into our world after being summoned to a mirror. Since Sam had visions of Jess' demise leading up to her death, and he didn't think to warn her, Sam uses himself as bait to lure Mary out of her mirror in an antique shop full of them. After shattering mirrors to defeat the ghostly entity, the brothers end the episode with one of the show's most emotional exchanges.
Classic Supernatural: Finding heart-filled moments in between heart attack–inducing scares.
Supernatural, "The Benders" (Season 1)
Dean being submitted to intense and disturbing levels of torture is a popular trope on the show, and it arguably reached its highest (er, darkest) point early on in "The Benders." The twist here is that the threat the brothers face isn't a monster from Hell but rather hillbilly cannibals. Despite Dean and Sam having a roster of villains comprised mostly of ghouls and demons, "The Benders" argues that the deadliest (and scariest) threat the brothers face is the pain humans can inflict upon each other.
Doctor Who, "Blink" (Season 3)
"Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink."
Fans of David Tennant's run on the BBC's Doctor Who know that "Blink" is one of the show's most important and influential episodes. It introduced the deadly Weeping Angels into the show's lore, making them a recurring villain in several episodes, but not one of them comes close to the chilling, slow-burn dread of their first appearance.
Starring then-newcomer Carey Mulligan, this third-season episode centers on a band of aliens disguised as religious statues that move when you aren't looking at them. The horror that hides in our field of vision is nothing compared to what lurks outside it, and "Blink" explores that rich (and chilling) concept to its fullest, scariest potential.
American Horror Story, "Halloween" (Season 1)
The first season of FX and Ryan Murphy's long-running American Horror Story is often cited as the scariest, with fans pointing to the "Halloween" two-parter as definitive proof.
Written by former X-Files scribes James Wong and Tim Minear, Murder House's macabre vision comes to terrifying life with the help of rubber men, childlike spirits and the burning down of the American dream. The two-parter invokes the best of John Carpenter, which is fitting given the title.
Black Mirror, "Playtest" (Season 3)
While episodes like "The Entire of History of You" or "Be Right Back" are better showcases for what makes Black Mirror, well, Black Mirror, the anthology series' installment most likely to make you sleep with the lights on is "Playtest." Starring Wyatt Russell as a man struggling to escape a real-life survival horror videogame, this third-season outing steadily blurs the line between reality and virtual nightmare thanks to director Dan Trachtenberg's (Prey) thrilling visuals aimed to maximize and ratchet up tension. "Playtest" is both adrenaline-pumping and heart-stopping television.
Atlanta, "Teddy Perkins" (Season 2)
FX and Donald Glover's Emmy-winning series excelled at effortlessly straddling the line between drama and comedy. But when it took on Jordan Peele-esque horror in its second season with the disturbing "Teddy Perkins," the series achieved a new level of boundary-pushing storytelling.
Presented without commercial breaks and directed by Hiro Murai, the episode finds Darius (Lakeith Stanfield) arriving at a recluse's mansion to pick up a piano and ends up tractor-beamed into the unsettling and uneasy world of Teddy Perkins (played by Donald Glover). In fact, Stanfield reportedly didn't realize it was Glover in the role of Perkins due to the heavy makeup. (Glover is also not credited in the episode). With The Shining-esque visuals and production design, Atlanta's bold mix of horror with parody is one of the last decade's most essential half-hours of television.
Hannibal, "Futamono" (Season 2)
It is nothing short of a miracle that Bryan Fuller manifested the R-rated (and, at times, X-rated) world of Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) on network television as grizzly and effectively as he and his staff did with NBC's Hannibal. Each season seemingly found new ways to push the envelope (and gore factor) when it came to peeling back the layers of the mental health professional's unique brand of murder and cannibalism.
Season two's "Futamono" is a feast for fans of the series who like their TV served with extra nightmares. The episode is a slow-burn battle of increasingly disturbing wits as Hannibal's latest dinner guest, the manipulative Dr. Abel Gideon (Eddie Izzard), is kidnapped by Lecter in an attempt to forever silence him — starting with Gideon's own leg.
Evil, "Genesis 1" (Season 1)
Evil, which started on CBS before recently wrapping up its run on Paramount+, is one of horror TV's most reliable sources for X-Files-type scares and creeps. From the jump, pilot episode "Genesis 1" establishes the show's eerie tone — an hour of television that blends religion with supernatural threats in terrifying ways that audiences haven't really seen since Scully first met Mulder in his basement office. Evil pairs a skeptical shrink, Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers), with priest-in-training David Acosta (Mike Colter) as they are forced to investigate the Catholic church's backlog of events that test even the most devout of faiths.
It's not every day you see a demon named George (Marti Matulis) torment and taunt a series lead while she is frozen in bed, but TV audiences are all the better for it.
The Haunting of Hill House, "The Bent-Neck Lady"
It's hard to pick just one scary installment from writer-director Mike Flanagan's loose adaptation of Shirley Jackson's classic novel, because all 10 episodes range from decent jump scares to all-caps fright fest. Ghosts lurk in the background of most of Hill House's shots as Flanagan mines one family's complicated history into a compelling narrative about loss, grief and love's ability to still be felt from beyond the grave.
As visually impressive as "Two Storms" is, with its story mostly unfolding under one uninterrupted take, the edge goes to "The Bent-Neck Lady" for its emotional and anxiety-spiking storyline. When "Bent-Neck" isn't finding new ways to make our skin erupt with goosebumps, it explores the events leading up to the reveal that the titular ghost is one of the show's main characters, a specter that has haunted this person since childhood. The "timey-wimey" nature of that revelation, coupled with the unsettling build up to it, is one of the series' most unforgettable moments.
