The 7 best horror shows to stream now that ‘Stranger Things’ is back
The 7 best horror shows to stream now that ‘Stranger Things’ is back
From terrifying clowns, to totally-normal-but-dead zombies, this list has it all.
I’ve been on a major horror kick lately, and it kind of snuck up on me. I finished Stephen King’s original “It” novel, went back and rewatched “Alien: Romulus,” and now the final season of “Stranger Things” is dropping on Netflix. And there’s a lot more where that came from because there’s a ton of really great horror TV out there right now. So, here’s my list of the seven best horror TV shows on streaming.
Top 7 horror TV shows on streaming right now:
No. 7: ‘Revival’ (2025) | Peacock
“Revival” starts with this creepy little question that kind of wriggles into your brain: what if everyone who died in the last two weeks just came back exactly the same? No decay. No zombie craving. Just back. And no one knows why.
The heart of the show is Deputy Dana Cypress, a single mom who was literally about to leave town before everything went off the rails. She gets pulled into a murder investigation where the victim is technically still alive, and the tone is this really fun mix of dry, small-town humor and slow-building dread. Weird mix, sure, but it works. If you want something weird and moody that doesn’t feel like any other zombie show, start here.
Revival
On one miraculous day in rural Wisconsin, the recently deceased suddenly rise from their graves. But this is no zombie story, as the ‘revived’ appear and act just like they once were. When local officer and single mother Dana Cypress is unexpectedly thrown into the center of a brutal murder mystery of her own, she’s left to make sense of the chaos amidst a town gripped by fear and confusion where everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect.
No. 6: ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ (2023)| AMC+
I don’t remember when I fell off “The Walking Dead,” but “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” pulled me right back in. Dropping Daryl into France just works. New energy. New scenery. New types of walkers that make the originals feel almost friendly. He washes up after a shipwreck and instantly gets shoved into the middle of two French factions fighting for control. Things get even stranger when a nun asks him to escort a boy named Laurent, who some believe is a sort of messiah. The road trip through France is gorgeous and eerie and honestly feels like a totally different show in the best way. Then Season 2 brings Carol back into the picture, and their dynamic still hits. If you want a zombie series that actually feels alive again, it’s this one.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
After washing ashore in France, Daryl struggles to piece together how he got there and why, as he navigates a fractured, walker-infested landscape to find his way home. During his journey, Daryl has to protect a young boy, Laurent, who is seen as a messiah, while facing new, dangerous walker variants and the “Power of the Living” paramilitary group, as the connections he forms along the way complicate his plan to return home.
No. 5: ‘Alien: Earth’ (2025) | Hulu
I’ve been deep in my “Alien” era lately, so “Alien: Earth” showing up right now feels like a gift. The show is set two years before the original movie and brings the Xenomorph home to Earth, which is wild to see. Earth is run by five mega corporations at this point, and humans exist in all these forms, like cyborgs, synths, and hybrids, which are basically human consciousness stuffed into an artificial body.
Wendy is created by transferring the mind of a dying kid into an adult hybrid, which is as unsettling as it sounds. She’s sent with a group of synths to investigate a crashed ship carrying something that absolutely should not have landed here. The retro sci-fi vibe hits hard. Lots of neon. Lots of tension. And when the creature finally shows up in this setting, it lands in a totally different way. It asks big questions about survival and humanity while giving us the exact vibe the franchise is known for.
Alien: Earth
When the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, Wendy and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat.
No. 4: ‘The Institute’ (2025) | MGM+
Stephen King stuff can go either way for me, but “The Institute” grabbed me fast. The show starts with a 14-year-old genius waking up in what looks like his bedroom, except everything is wrong. The doors don’t open. The windows are sealed. Every detail is just slightly off. Turns out he’s in a place called the Institute, which is full of kids who have strange abilities like telekinesis and telepathy. The adults running the place keep telling the kids that they’ll go home after a few tests, but none of them believe that at all. There’s also this separate storyline with a former cop in a nearby town who starts to notice strange things happening around the Institute. The tone is very eerie and clinical, and it feels like this cool mix between “Stranger Things” and a psychological thriller.
The Institute
When 14 year old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped, he awakens at The Institute, a facility full of children who all got there the same way he did, and who are all possessed of unusual abilities. In a nearby town, haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson has come looking to start a new life, but the peace and quiet won’t last, as his story and Luke’s are destined to collide.
No. 3: ‘The Last of Us’ (2023) | HBO Max
I loved this video game. It’s the last video game I ever played, beginning to end (though I am working my way through “Hogwarts Legacy” right now), which tells you how hooked I was. So yeah, I was a little nervous about the show. Shouldn’t have been. “The Last of Us” is fantastic. The first season is one of the best seasons of any TV in the last few years. The story follows Joel and Ellie trying to survive in a world destroyed by a fungal pandemic. Ellie might be the key to saving humanity, which makes every step more dangerous. What I love is how much time the show spends on quiet character moments. It’s scary when it needs to be, but it never forgets the emotional core. And the show has one of the best single-episode love stories I’ve ever seen on TV. Watch it.
The Last of Us
Twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed, Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the United States and depend on each other for survival.
No. 2: ‘Welcome to Derry’ (2024 to 2025) | HBO Max
Reading the original “It” made me way more excited for “Welcome to Derry.” The show goes back decades before the Losers Club and digs into how the nightmare in Derry actually began. It pulls in big moments from the book that King only hinted at, like the burning of The Black Spot and the Bradley Gang massacre. Andy and Barbara Muschietti are back guiding the tone after directing “It” and “It Chapter Two,” and Bill Skarsgard returns, which just feels right. What I love is how much heart this story has. Beneath all the scares, it’s still about friendship, trauma, and the kind of fear that grows with you. If you’re into the world of Derry, this is a no-brainer.
IT: Welcome to Derry
In 1962, amid a spate of unexplained disappearances of local children, a group of misfit friends begin to suspect a long-buried ancient evil lurking. As the kids set out to determine what’s really going on, a rising unease prompts several townspeople to work together to restore peace – all while a U.S. military operation seeks to exploit Derry for its own objectives.
No. 1: ‘Stranger Things’ (2016 to 2025) | Netflix
The return of “Stranger Things” has basically taken over our house. We plan our nights around when we can sit down and watch. Season 5 feels like the moment everything finally clicks into place. The first batch of episodes reminded me instantly why this show made Netflix such a powerhouse. The energy is huge. The cast slips back into their characters like they never left. The Hawkins mystery and the giant supernatural threat are both firing again. It answers some questions, avoids spoiling the big stuff, and still gives you the emotional hits that made people fall for this show in the first place. The season drops in three chunks, which keeps everything feeling like an event. This is the top pick for a reason… it’s back, baby!
Stranger Things
When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.