Summary
Joko Anwar’s Nightmares & Daydreamsis a terrific new addition to the classic horror anthology genre, but there are plenty of other great ones to check out after binging its first season. Streaming on Netflix,Joko Anwar’s Nightmares & Daydreamsis a curious blend of sci-fi mystery and supernatural horror consisting of seven loosely interconnected episodes each telling their own terrifying, thought-provoking standalone stories. The horror anthology series has been one of TV’s most reliable genres for decades – going back to the long-gone days of black-and-white – andNightmares & Daydreamsfits the bill perfectly.
The anthology format is perfect for the horror genre. Serialized shows likeStranger ThingsandThe Walking Deadcan certainly frighten audiences, but there’s a safety in knowing that the main cast’s contractual obligations give their characters a nice, comfy suit of plot armor (up to a point, anyway). There’s no sense of imminent danger in a show like that, because the status quo needs to be maintained. But in an anthology, when a new lead character is introduced every episode and their fate is always uncertain, no one is safe.
A Quiet Place: Day One Review - John Krasinski’s Horror Franchise Has Officially Overstayed Its Welcome
Lupita Nyong’o is great, but A Quiet Place: Day One has the depth of paper and less effective scares and tension than either of the first two movies.
American Horror Story
Cast
American Horror Story is a Horror Anthology series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The franchise has seen stars like Connie Britton, Jessica Lange, Denis O’Hare, Zachary Quinto, Evan Peters, and Dylan McDermott. Each season follows a new premise and spans an array of horror genres like witches, ghosts, serial killers, and more.
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk brought back the horror anthology format in a big way when they launchedAmerican Horror Storyin 2011. Rather than telling a new story in every episode like most anthology shows (includingJoko Anwar’s Nightmares & Daydreams),American Horror Storytells a new story each season. Every newseason ofAmerican Horror Storybrings in a new cast of characters to explore the themes and conventions of a different horror subgenre.
The show has taken audiences into a mental institution, a coven of witches, a freak show, a haunted hotel – the list goes on. The recurring cast includes such revered actors as Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, and John Carroll Lynch, all playing a different character in each season.American Horror Storyhas powerful performances, stunning visuals, and a healthy dose of horror.
Castle Rock
Castle Rock is a supernatural/horror television series based on the works of Stephen King. Set in the titular town in Maine, the show covers an anthology of supernatural stories surrounding various characters that work, live, and visit Castle Rock, all of which sharply turn the mundane lives of northeasterners into compelling tales of the extraordinary - both good and bad.
Stephen King readers will be familiar with the town of Castle Rock, Maine, because it’s the fictional setting of a lot of King’s stories. The TV series of the same name explores themes and characters from the King oeuvre in an anthology format. The characters featured in the series include the bully fromStand by Me, an inmate from Shawshank State Prison, and Paul Sheldon’s biggest fan, Annie Wilkes. Suffice to say, it’s a must-see for King fans.
The series only lasted for two seasons, but that was the plan from the beginning. Within those two seasons,Castle Rocktold some great horror stories. It’s essentially anAvengersmovie in the Stephen King universe, with characters from a bunch of different stories crossing over with each other, but it’s also a great horror anthology in its own right.
Channel Zero
Channel Zero is an anthology horror series that is based on the most popular Creepypasta stories, including Candle Love, The No-End House, Search and Rescue Woods, and Hidden Door, to name a few. The series originally aired on Syfy and lasted for four seasons before being canceled by the network.
LikeAmerican Horror Story, Nick Antosca’s anthology seriesChannel Zerotells a new story with every season, but unlikeAmerican Horror Story, it takes all its storylines from popular online creepypastas. But rather than going for the obvious choices,like the Slender Man, Antosca adapted more obscure creepypastas.The first season, for example, is based on theCandle Covestory about a disturbing children’s TV show starring pirate puppets.
Antosca takes the premise of those viral storylines and builds a solid narrative
The first season,Candle Cove, was followed by a second season calledThe No-End House, a third season calledButcher’s Block, and a fourth season calledThe Dream Door, each one creepier than the last.Channel Zerohas plenty of scares, but it’s also held up by strong plotting. It might not seem like an impressive feat of storytelling to adapt creepypasta, but Antosca takes the premise of those viral storylines and builds a solid narrative structure around them.
V/H/S/94
V/H/S/94 is the fourth film in the horror anthology franchise. It continues the series' found footage format with a new story surrounding a police SWAT team who discovers a cult’s collection of disturbing VHS tapes. Each tape (written and directed by different people) covers an event linked to the overarching plotline. From an incident involving a sewer cult to a terrifying science experiment that leaves a man with mechanical spider legs, the SWAT team digs deeper into the mystery, unknowingly endangering themselves with each subsequent viewing.
Technically, theV/H/Sseries is a movie franchise, not a TV show, but the principle is the same. It tells a series of standalone horror stories like any TV horror anthology; it just happens to collect those stories into feature films as opposed to seasons of television. Created by Brad Miska, theV/H/Sfranchise revolves around a collection of disturbing video tapes. In each movie, the tapes are discovered by an unsuspecting viewer who unwittingly falls under their demonic possession after watching them.
This is a solid framing device for a horror anthology, and each of the videos presents viewers witha unique perspective of horror cinema. Every segment is directed by a different filmmaker with their own vision of the horror genre. Renowned directors like Ti West, Adam Wingard, and Joe Swanberg have put their stamp on theV/H/Sfranchise.
The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits is a science fiction anthology television series that explores various themes of speculative fiction. Each episode features a self-contained story often involving elements of alien encounters, futuristic technology, or otherworldly phenomena. The show blends moral, philosophical, and existential questions within its narratives, offering a diverse array of tales that challenge human understanding and societal norms. The series first aired in 1963 and has since been revived, continuing to captivate audiences with its imaginative storytelling.
WhileJoko Anwar’s Nightmares & Daydreamsis undeniably a horror anthology series, with plenty of atmospheric frights, it puts more focus on science fiction than something likeV/H/SorAmerican Horror Story. Long beforeNightmares & Daydreamscame along to put a sci-fi spin on the horror anthology,The Outer Limitsdid the same.The Outer Limitstellstwisty sci-fi stories under the Orwellian guiseof taking over the audience’s television set.
The Outer Limitsessentially blends the speculative sci-fi mystique ofScience Fiction Theatrewith the chilling plot twists ofThe Twilight Zone. It might not haveThe Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling, butThe Outer Limitsdid have a star-studded team of writers. There are episodes ofThe Outer Limitspenned byChinatownscreenwriter Robert Towne,Psychoscreenwriter Joseph Stefano, and sci-fi legend Harlan Ellison.
Stephen King
Creepshow
Creepshow is a Shudder original series that is formatted as a horror anthology. Each episode consists of two twisted tales hosted by the Creep. Like the Creepshow movies before the series, Creepshow pays homage to the EC horror comics of the 1950s, such as The Haunt of Fear, Tales from the Crypt, and The Vault of Horror.
George A. Romero and Stephen King brought the horror anthology format back to the big screen with their 1982 movieCreepshow.The stories ofCreepshowhave their fair share of scares, but they also have an eccentric, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor that made the film stand out amongst other horror anthology movies.In 2019, Shudder brought the film’s signature comedic sensibility to the small screenwith a TV adaptation of the same name.
The TV show might not have the involvement of Romero or King, but it was developed by a different horror icon: Tom Savini’s protégé, Greg Nicotero. Nicotero assembled a crack team of writers to come up with original stories for the series, including Paul Dini, Dana Gould, Rob Schrab, and Heather Anne Campbell. No one can replace Romero, but the TV version ofCreepshowwas in good hands.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, a horror anthology series, comes from a collection of visionary filmmakers, including and curated by Guillermo del Toro. Eight terrifying tales, both new and adapted from classic writers, are brought to the small screen to challenge modern horror conventions and get some of the works of del Toro to life. Each episode tells a unique tale with a different cast, with the beginning of each one starting with an introduction by del Toro himself. Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities positions itself as anthology series set to give new minds a chance to shine in a crowded medium.
Guillermo del Toro, one of the few genre filmmakers to command the respect and admiration of the snooty arthouse crowd, tried his hand at the TV horror anthology format with his 2022 Netflix seriesCabinet of Curiosities. Del Toro presents the series, Rod Serling-style, but he took more inspiration fromNight GallerythanThe Twilight Zone.Del Toro co-wrote a couple of the scripts himselfand recruited former collaborators like David S. Goyer and Guillermo Navarro to help bring the series to life.
Some of the biggest names in modern horror came along to direct an episode of del Toro’s anthology series.Mandy’s Panos Cosmatos directed an episode.Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke directed an episode.A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’s Ana Lily Amirpour directed an episode.The Babadook’s Jennifer Kent directed the season finale.
3Hammer House Of Horror
Alan Gibson, Peter Sasdy and Tom Clegg
Hammer Films took its own stab at the horror anthology genre in 1980 withHammer House of Horror. It only ended up running for one season,consisting of 13 hour-long episodes,but one season was all it needed to earn a reputation as one of the genre’s greatest entries.Hammer House of Horrordelivered some of the most petrifying moments in TV history, like an unsuspecting soul getting imprisoned by a former Nazi concentration camp guard, or blood drizzling all over a child’s birthday party.
The show’s subjects range from supernatural threats like ghosts, witches, and werewolves to real-world horrors like cannibalism, serial killers, and Nazis.Hammer House of Horrorhas everything that makes Hammer’s movies so great. It has legendary British actors, old-school horror FX, fresh takes on familiar genre tropes, and a palpably unsettling atmosphere.
Black Mirror
Black Mirror is a dystopian anthology series that explores the unsettling and profound impact of modern technology on society. Premiering in 2011, it examines various scenarios where technological advancements intersect with human nature, creating thought-provoking narratives about contemporary and future issues.
Charlie Brooker took his particular brand of satire to the horror genre with his widely acclaimed anthology seriesBlack Mirror.Black Mirrorepisodestell unsettling stories about the cracks in social order and the monstrosity of human beings through the lens of technology. There’s an episode about an Instagram-like app that runs the world. There’s an episode about a hacker who starts a social media trend that condemns celebrities to death, then hacks into robot bees to kill the chosen celebrity.
Black Mirrorkicked off its more-than-decade-long run with an episode about the UK’s Prime Minister being forced to have sex with a pig on live television – and it only got darker and more disturbing from there. Brooker has used his horror anthology to satirize universal themes like grief, jealousy, and helicopter parenting.Black Mirroris a dystopian gem with a distinct aversion to happy endings.
