‘Tis the season… to watch horror stuff. There’s something delicious about this time of year, when the air gets crisp, the nights stretch longer, and the shadows start to look spooky. It’s the season for blankets, flickering candles, and…

JK, wishful thinking. Halloween in Australia hits a bit different, but that doesn’t mean I can’t summon a little darkness. While the rest of the world is seeping hot cider and shivering through autumn, we’re lighting citronella candles in warm night air to keep mosquitos away, drawing the curtains at 8 pm against the last of the sunlight and pretending, for just a moment, that there’s a chill in the breeze.

But spooky season isn’t about the weather. It’s about atmosphere. It’s about stories that make your skin prickle and your imagination wander down dimly lit hallways. It’s the soft hum of your TV asking, “Are you sure you want to watch this alone?”

I like my horror with a bit of style, something atmospheric, hauntingly moody, beautifully written, maybe even emotionally devastating. So, even if you’re watching under a fan instead of a blanket, here are my ten favorite TV shows to set the tone before Halloween.

10. Harper’s Island

A wedding turns deadly when guests start dying one by one on a remote island. Agatha would faint! It’s part murder mystery, part slasher and part soap opera, completely addictive. Each episode is named after the sound effect made by the character’s death (such as bang and ka-blam), it doesn’t get more camp-y than this. Foggy forests, rocky beaches, creaky old cabins are the perfect setting combined with family secrets, illicit affairs, and revenge: all the ingredients for a perfect whodunnit.

9. Salem

Salem is dark and deliciously unhinged in the best possible way. It takes the familiar bones of the Salem witch trials and twists them into something lush, violent, and deeply sensual. This isn’t history as you learned it in school. It’s blood-soaked folklore, power-hungry witches, and moral rot dressed in Puritan collars. The show leans hard into atmosphere, building a world that feels claustrophobic, cruel, and intoxicating all at once. It’s brutal, messy, and not for everyone, but if you like your horror bold and fearless, Salem commits fully and never looks back.

8. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is equal parts dark fantasy and teen rebellion, very unlike those Archie comics back in the day. It’s a story about power, choice, and the cost of growing up in a world where magic and morality are constantly at odds. What makes it so compelling is its tone gothic yet playful, and the way it balances the larger supernatural stakes with intimate, human moments. The 60s aesthetic is the cherry on top.

7. True Blood

Louisiana is the perfect backdrop for this seductive, sensual, over-the-top story small town Southern life where the heat isn’t just in the air but in the tension, desire, and danger lurking around every corner. Sookie Stackhouse is our main character, a psychic waitress who is always surrounded by so many hot men. Moss-draped oaks, worn porches, neon-lit bars, and a humid, sultry atmosphere that makes every scene feel thick and alive. The setting is as much a character as any witch or vampire, giving the story a unique charm.

6. American Horror Story

This one requires no introduction. With 12 seasons under its belt, you’d have to be an alien to not know of this show. Although “Asylum” (season 2) is undoubtably the best, “Coven” (season 3) will always be my favorite. Witchcraft, New Orleans architecture, dark academia vibes, Stevie Nicks… what’s not to love? Its dark and humorous dialogue, absurd situations and over the top characters create the perfect balance of horror and camp-y humor that makes the show last as long.

Honorable mentions to “Freak Show” and “Hotel” for awesome aesthetics too.

5. A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches feels like slipping into a secret world that exists just beneath the surface of our own. It’s a story of ancient magic, forbidden love and old rules being broken, all wrapped in gorgeous Oxford libraries, dusty manuscripts and slow-burning tension.

Unlike Sabrina or Salem, this one is pretty vanilla, no blood, no gore. The witchcraft is the background for the love story of scholar Diana who falls for the 1500 year old vampire Matthew and with the help of other underworld creatures they fight against prejudice to stay together.

It’s less about spectacle and more about mood, longing, and the weight of history. A cozy show to watch with the lights low and something warm in your hands.

4. Slasher

The name says it all. This one is not for the faint of heart, it’s bloody, it’s vicious, it’s a bit gross sometimes. Like AHS, this Canadian anthology series tells a new gory story every season, but keeps most of the same cast on rotation. Whodunits drenched in blood, a lot of blood. The most recent season “Ripper” (season 5) being the most aesthetic, tells the story of a 19th century killer dubbed “The Widow”, a veiled female figure who targets the Toronto’s elite in late 1800.

Honorable mention to “Guilty Party” (season 2) that plays of the ‘masked killer at camp’ trope, also a favorite.

3. Penny Dreadful

Frankenstein, Dracula and Dorian Gray walked into a bar… in Victorian London. Need I say more? It’s gothic, sensual and utterly tragic. The kind of show that chill your bones and brakes your heart. Eva Green’s performance is the very definition of dark magic. The show is a feast for the senses, gorgeous Victorian costumes, shadowy sets lit by candle light, dialogue that reads like poetry and every frame looks like a haunted painting.

2. The Fall of the House of Usher

Mike Flanagan’s latest masterpiece is a symphony of decay, greed and family curses, told through the eerie words of Edgar Allan Poe. Flanagan has a gift for turning horror into heartbreak and this show might just be his most exquisite tragedy yet. The writing is sharp and occasionally (darkly) funny, it’s not just horror, it’s social commentary with blood under its nails. Carla Gugino steals every scene as the figure in the ‘red death masque’. Think “Succession”, but everyone’s dying horribly while quoting poetry.

1. The Haunting of Hill House

Another Flanagan gem (can you tell I’m a huge fan?). This one mixes ghost stories, family drama and gut punching grief. This series weaves scary ghost stories with real life tragedy so seamlessly you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins.
The cinematography is stunning, the writing is heartbreaking, and it is, at times, truly terrifying (bonus points for spotting all hidden ghosts). The “Bent-Neck Lady” alone episode deserves a place in the horror hall of fame. It’s not just one of the best horror shows ever made, it’s one of the best shows, full stop.