Everyone loves a good horror story. Gore, shocks, scares and death. There's nothing quite so delicious. However, adding the element of mystery to the stories can be just the thing to cinch it all together. Now when it comes to television, there are a plethora of great horror shows out there, but what they're missing is that edge that a good mystery brings. Nothing beats a great mystery with plenty of scares.
All of these shows masterfully blend both horror and mystery into something truly terrifying. They'll have audiences almost not wanting to find out the truth for fear of what they'll encounter along the way.
1 'The Midnight Club' (2022)
The Midnight Club centers on a group of teenagers with terminal illnesses who live at Brightcliffe Hospice and form the Midnight Club. At midnight, they gather in secrecy to share terrifying tales. They agree that whoever passes away first will make an effort to get in touch with the other Midnight Club members from beyond the grave.
From the mind behind the hit miniseries The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass, comes the new and modern hit show. Taking a more young adult approach to his already cult classic projects, Mike Flannigan brings his trademark horror and mystery and combines it with teen drama. A great show for younger audiences.
2 'Requiem' (2018)
A young child vanished from a small Welsh community in 1994 and was never heard from again. 23 years later, in London, Matilda Gray's mother, a rising cello star, mysteriously dies by suicide. Matilda (Lydia Wilson) finds intriguing evidence that connects her mother to the Welsh girl's abduction all those years ago among her belongings. As she investigates further, she discovers that malevolent supernatural forces are assembling, and they've been waiting for Matilda for a while.
Described as a slow-burn story, Requiem is not for the impatient. That being said, the show does have interesting plot lines and great characterization. Within the main character, Matilda, viewers can find many off-beat quirks and surprising depth that allows the audience to get swept up in the horror alongside her.
3 'The Haunting of Hill House' (2018)
When the youngest Crain sibling, Nell (Victoria Pedretti), mysteriously dies by suicide within their childhood house, the rest of the Crain siblings are forced back together due to their grief. It soon becomes apparent that they will have to confront their past and whatever ghosts they encounter along the way.
The Haunting of Hill House is at its center a story about the pain of grief and how it haunts you. The audience will be sucked into the family's past and naturally search for answers as to why the Crains' childhood home became the most famous haunted house in the country.
4 'Chapelwaite' (2021 -)
Chapelwaite follows Captain Charles Boone (Adrien Brody), who, following the death of his wife at sea, moves his family of three children to his ancestral house in the quiet, unassuming village of Preacher's Corners, Maine. Charles, however, will soon have to face the dark mysteries of his family's past and strive to expel the evil that has consumed the Boones for countless centuries.
Based on the short story "Jerusalem's Lot" by Stephen King, Chapelwaite more than adequately captures the essence of a Stephen King novel. The horror and mystery elements are showcased evenly throughout Chapelwaite and pack enough punch to leave audiences with a cold, dark and creepy atmosphere.
5 'Servant' (2019 - 2023)
After their thirteen-week-old baby, Jericho, dies, wealthy Philadelphians Dorothy and Sean Turner (Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell) see their marriage fall apart. After Dorothy undergoes a complete psychotic break, the pair engages in transitory object therapy with the aid of a lifelike reborn doll. As a result, a door is opened for an unknown force to infiltrate their house.
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Servant begins as a story about a nanny hired to look after a doll that helps a grieving mother cope, but it quickly takes a number of unexpected twists that leave viewers intrigued and bewildered. Special shout out to Harry Potter's Rupert Grint, who plays the brother Julian and steals every scene he's in.
6 'Archive 81' (2022)
Archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie) finds himself reconstructing the work of documentary filmmaker Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi) and her investigation into a violent cult when he accepts a strange assignment restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994. Dan becomes confident he can spare Melody from the horrific fate she encountered 25 years ago as he is lured deeper into her story.
Allowing the audience to fully understand both perspectives, the show keeps switching between Dan's work in the present and Melody's in 1994. Without making the horror aspect of the show too disturbing, Archive 81 presents a more nuanced and eerie mystery to viewers. This is a true example of podcasts being good as TV shows.
7 'The Outsider' (2020)
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Young Frank Peterson is found brutally killed in Cherokee City, Georgia. Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn), a police detective, is in charge of the case. Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman), a kind kids' baseball coach, is the clear suspect based on all the evidence. Glory, his wife (Julianne Nicholson), is horrified when he is taken into custody on the field. He insists on being innocent and has a solid alibi. This case has overwhelming evidence on both sides. With these contradictory leads, Anderson turns to odd private eye Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo).
With an incredible start, The Outsider will have audiences so enthralled in the story that they won't even want to look away. With the show being a perfect mix being a detective show and horror flick, The Outsider does a truly impressive job at maintaining an increasing level of suspense from start to finish.
8 'The Twilight Zone' (1959 - 1964)
The Twilight Zone is a place that can exist at any time, in any place, and in any state of mind, but it always happens when you least expect it. Watch what you say and do when you're in this world of boundless opportunity. Making the right choices may let you escape, perhaps with more happiness and prosperity. Making the wrong choices frequently results in madness, death, or an eternity locked in this realm.
Rod Serling's unusual style gave The Twilight Zone a distinct personality that will always keep it among the best-remembered of all classic television shows. By attempting to deliver both high-quality entertainment and food for thought, The Twilight Zone takes risks by experimenting with a wide range of stories and content. The Twilight Zone is a famous example of the perfect mix of horror, mystery and intrigue.
9 'Midnight Mass' (2021)
The entrance of a charismatic priest and the return of a disgraced young man intensify the divisions already present in an isolated island village. When Father Paul arrives at Crockett Island at the same time as eerie and seemingly miraculous events, a renewed religious excitement envelops the community. But may there be a price for these miracles?
Midnight Mass manages to create an atmosphere so chilling that even the audience will get goosebumps. With an even mixture of horror and mystery, Mike Flanagan's hit limited series takes a dangerously terrifying look at religion and how people tend to cling to it.
10 'Yellowjackets' (2021 - )
Yellowjackets is about a wildly talented high school soccer team who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the Canadian wilderness. Deep in the wilderness, the young girls start to slip from a tight-knit team to a savage cult. Spliced with present-day survivors' experiences years after being rescued and trying to put their lives back together, Yellowjackets is a mystery that season has barely answered.
With almost a Lord of the Flies feel to it, Yellowjackets gives audiences a story about a group of girls trying to survive. Unfortunately for them, they don't go about it the best way. The show is set in three different timelines; when the girls crash and start to learn how to survive, the present-day survivors' experiences and flashbacks of when they were a full-fledged cult in the woods. Yellowjackets is a show that will keep audiences guessing as to what new horrors and mysteries are around the corner.