5 Underrated Horror TV Shows You Forgot About

Image courtesy of NBCWhile shows like The Walking Dead and American Horror Story command massive audiences and marketing budgets, several brilliant horror series quietly created compelling nightmares that deserve more recognition. These underappreciated gems often delivered distinctive atmospheres and innovative storytelling approaches yet somehow vanished into the shadows of streaming catalogs — sometimes despite the high-profile names involved with their productions. Some suffered from awkward scheduling decisions, others from limited marketing resources, and a few simply arrived before audiences were ready for their particular brand of horror innovation.

However, these forgotten series are worth revisiting because they pushed beyond standard horror tropes to create something different and unique.Here’s our pick for 5 horror series that never reached the audience sizes they deserved despite critical acclaim and distinctive approaches to the genre.The TerrorImage courtesy of AMCWhere to stream: ShudderAMC’s historical horror masterpiece The Terror transforms the real-life disappearance of Sir John Franklin’s 1845 Arctic expedition into a nightmarish struggle against both nature and supernatural forces.



The series strands viewers aboard two ice-locked British ships where the 129-member crew faces punishing cold, dwindling supplies, and a mysterious creature hunting them across the endless ice. What elevates The Terror beyond standard monster fare is its meticulous historical accuracy and psychological horror as rational men confront an incomprehensible threat while battling their own deteriorating sanity. Jared Harris and Tobias Menzies deliver extraordinary performances that ground the supernatural elements in human frailty, while the show’s deliberate pacing builds unbearable tension through isolation and darkness rather than cheap jump scares.

Although The Terror later evolved into an anthology with a second season set in Japanese internment camps during World War II, the original Arctic narrative remains television horror at its most atmospheric and thought-provoking.Fear ItselfImage courtesy of NBCWhere to stream: PlexWhen NBC ambitiously launched Fear Itself in 2008, they assembled an impressive roster of genre directors, including John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), and Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II-IV), to create standalone episodes of concentrated terror. Sadly, the broadcast pulled the plug on the series prematurely, after airing just eight of thirteen planned installments.

[RELATED: 7 Underrated Demonic Horror Movies You’ve Probably Forgotten About]Fear Itself experimented with diverse horror subgenres through tightly crafted 42-minute tales: cannibalistic serial killers tormenting rookie cops, a family man swapping bodies with a murderer, a bride receiving a note warning her groom is a killer, and a young woman navigating a world overrun by zombies. Despite featuring talented actors like Elisabeth Moss, Eric Roberts, and Brandon Routh, the series suffered from summer scheduling and being shelved entirely for Olympics coverage, never to return despite critical praise for episodes like “Eater” and “Skin & Bones.” Now largely forgotten except by dedicated horror fans, Fear Itself represents a fascinating experiment in bringing unflinching horror to broadcast television.

MarianneImage courtesy of NetflixWhere to stream: NetflixFrench series Marianne is arguably Netflix’s most criminally underappreciated horror offering, delivering eight episodes of pure nightmare fuel before its abrupt cancellation after a single season. The story follows Emma Larsimon (Victoire Du Bois), a successful horror novelist who discovers the witch she’s been writing about in her bestselling books actually exists in the real world — and is none too pleased about being transformed into commercial fiction. Creator Samuel Bodin crafts deeply unsettling imagery instead of relying on typical jump scares, mainly through Mireille Herbstmeyer’s bone-chilling performance as the possessed Mrs.

Daugeron, whose unnatural grin haunts viewers long after episodes end. The rural French setting provides the perfect backdrop for exploring ancient witchcraft, while the narrative cleverly examines the relationship between creative imagination and genuine evil. Despite earning a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes on release and widespread critical acclaim as genuinely disturbing television, Netflix unceremoniously axed the series in January 2020, making it both a hidden gem and a frustrating example of unfulfilled potential.

The StrainImage courtesy of FXWhere to stream: HuluGuillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain returns vampires to their monstrous roots through a viral outbreak story that spanned four seasons on FX. Departing from genre tropes, the vampires in The Strain are parasitic hosts controlled by disgusting white worms that transform human bodies into monsters, complete with six-foot stingers extending from their throats. The series methodically tracks society’s collapse through the eyes of CDC epidemiologist Dr.

Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) and Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley), who has hunted these creatures for decades. Where The Strain particularly excels is in its unflinching body horror, especially in early episodes focusing on transformation sequences that make viewers physically uncomfortable through grotesque practical effects. Though the series occasionally struggled with uneven pacing and sometimes cartoonish villains, it delivered genuinely disturbing moments that honored del Toro’s creature-feature sensibilities while exploring deeper themes of societal breakdown, addiction, and family bonds tested by apocalyptic circumstances.

The KingdomImage courtesy of ViaplayWhere to stream: MubiLong before Kingdom Hospital appeared on American television, controversial Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier created Riget (translated as The Kingdom), a bizarre supernatural series set in Copenhagen. Shot with handheld cameras and bathed in distinctive sepia tones, this surrealistic medical drama follows staff and patients encountering increasingly bizarre phenomena: a woman impregnated by a ghost, phantom ambulances appearing nightly, and — most disturbingly — a rapidly growing demon child with an adult’s head on an infant’s body. The Kingdom gained cult status for its uniquely unsettling elements, including a Swedish doctor (Ernst-Hugo Järegård) who regularly screams anti-Danish sentiments from the hospital roof and a chorus of dishwashers with Down syndrome who philosophically comment on the hospital’s supernatural events between shifts.

Originally airing two four-episode series in 1994 and 1997, the show finally returned for a long-awaited third installment in 2022 after a 25-year hiatus. Von Trier’s ability to blend genuinely disturbing horror with absurdist comedy creates a viewing experience unlike anything else in television, a fever dream that influenced countless filmmakers while remaining defiantly, wonderfully weird.What other underrated horror series do you think deserve more recognition? Share your hidden gems in the comments below!The post 5 Underrated Horror TV Shows You Forgot About appeared first on ComicBook.

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