We take you on a chilling journey through the history of our favorite legitimately terrifying TV episodes.
Theres a long history of television shows playing dress up for Halloween.
Sometimes that helps, to be sure, but its not a hard and fast rule.
Watch this Rod Serling masterpiece and you will.
When she is locked in the store with the mannequins, things get terrifying quickly.
Watch this episode and then hit Macys.
Not as many as there should have been.
The viewers imagination conjures worse images than any makeup artist could.
Who knew that television horror came this potent in 1961?
But the hilarity of thisTwilight Zoneclassics play on words is the horror of them.
When aliens come to Earth to offer an end to the Cold War and all famine with miraculous M.A.P.
(mutually assured protection) force fields and cure-all vaccines, we think our ship has come in.
The third seasons thirty-third (!)
Of course no one believes Jerry when he claims the dummy is alive since he has a drinking problem.
By the end of the episode, Willie has become the man and Jerry is the dummy.
Its one of those terrifying episodes that you dont forget.
The Twilight Zone definitely dished out many of them.
Jim
The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 7: O.B.I.T.
Lets just say things dont go real well.
Now, when this first aired in 1963, audiences found it a little unnerving and disturbing, maybe.
The masks the unpleasant relations are forced to wear are the opposite of their personalities.
There she was, pulling pedals off of daisies and I think she made a mistake when she counted.
She did in my head where it replayed until about grammar school.
I watched TV incessantly, waiting for it to come back again, but never caught it.
Ive seen it dozens of times though in my dreams.
To me it was no different fromThe Guiding Lightexcept, yknow, for all the vampires and witches.
But there was one episode deep in the series run that got me.
So anyway, Barnabas is up in his study late one night, pacing and fretting.
Behind him through the tall windows we see a strange shadow swinging back and forth.
Cut back to the study where Barnabas continues weighing his options.
Then all of a sudden a damned GORILLA smashes through the window and starts throttling him.
I sure wasnt expecting that!
Jim
Night Gallery (1969-1973): The Title Sequence.
I always really, really wanted to likeNight Gallery, given how hooked Id been onThe Twilight ZoneandOuter Limits.
Maybe it was the switchover to color.
Yes, the shows themselves always thwarted the build-up the opening sequence promised, thats okay.
This is cerebral horror at its finest as Serling and company explore the horror of rejection.
but everyone rememnbers chopper.
But it was Amelia that stands out amongst the glorious yarns featuring Ms. Black.
Just watch this little murderous doll in action, youll be checking under your bed for a month.
But on this very rare tip of the cap toHalloween, the veils are lifted for just one moment.
He hits on both marks and it is amazing.
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Watching Jack Soo, as Det.
Nick Yemana, and Ron Glass as Det.
Ron Harris,react to the wolfmans itching and scratching is equally spine-tingling and yet brilliantly funny.
It goes to show how end the beats of horror and comedy could be.
Not so in Dreams.
I dare you to watch this one with the lights out this Halloween.
That lady was intense.
What pushes this one above and beyond the original is the crazy Santa.
If that sentence doesnt leave you intrigued, then obviously horror isnt your bag.
Ezra Thorntonberry was cheap ass funeral home director who cut corners at every turn to save a buck.
The fate Ezra suffers is satisfying yet shocking as the Crypt claims another bad, bad human.
You know, seriously, with comics ruling television right now, HBO needs to bringTales from the Cryptback.
It plays out perfectly, too.
This is a must-watch!
Seriously, we dare you to watch this one without washing your hands.
Marc
Are You Afraid of The Dark?
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My favorite episode, and a series highlight, is The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner.
The most unsettling part is the blue ooze that seeps from the mouths of the Grinners victims.
It was spooky stuff for a kids show.
Nick
Goosebumps Season 1 Episode 1: The Haunted Mask
Original Airdate: 10/27/1995
R.L.
For young kids, the mask is really a sight that scares.
For horror entertainment for children, you really cant go wrong with any episode ofGoosebumps.
Fox Mulder and Dana Scully must investigate the crime and discover the true horrors of rural America.
Their quests leads the two beloved FBI agents to three brothers who the local constabulary dont want to disturb.
The brothers were simple they said, they live alone.
The episode was so hardcore, the FOX web connection refused to rerun it.
For years, the only place to see the introduction of the Peacock Family was on syndicated cable.
Youll never look under a bed again.
The episode opens with Betts, a paramedic, being decapitated.
At the morgue, Betts body eerily rises headless from the slab.
When Mulder and Scully are called in, they find Betts head and perform an autopsy.
Yes,X-Filesintroduced a cancer eater.
line-up throughout the 90s.
Having an older sister, I was subjected to every episode of the family-friendly teen dramedy, multiple times.
Coming out during Scream-mania, the killer is a skull-masked baddie in a black cloak.
Even 90s horror queen Jennifer Love Hewitt guest stars.
In a perfect world, this is where the whole series would have ended, leaving viewers stunned.
But no, the dummies had to come back for a third season and ruin everything.
Not to mention Erics weird roommate who shares somethings in common with one proprietor of a notorious motel.
And why wouldnt we?
(MaybeMy-So Called Life, but their Halloween episode is nowhere as good as this one).
God, this show.
Those leering smiling freaks, they would give nightmares nightmares.
Its old hat at this point, right?
Not in this episode ofAngelthat saw an Ethros Demon possessing the body of a seemingly innocent child.
Early in the first season, the Winchesters are confronted by the very famous ghost of Bloody Mary.
All the pants-wettingly terror that we experienced as pre-teens is suddenly brought to lifebut with a twist.
This is the moment when we learn of Sams visions (hey, remember those days?)
and the searing guilt of how he knew she would die, days before it happened.
The following fifty minutes are relentless as Moonface chases the girl.
through one horrifying set piece after another.
Did we say innocent?
Not all killers are obvious, and this episode ofMasters of Horrorshows that killers can wear many skins.
The episode is as sweet as it is disgusting as McKee brings the grue and the tears.
They cant show a real gun or say kill or whatever.
By this point, hes just a brain inside a robot.
He does the logical comic book thing by just cloning a body and putting his mind into it.
Hes a genius and this is a kids cartoon.
Only his body starts falling apart.
And we get to see it with gory close-ups accompanied by Baxters horrific screams.
Its pure nightmare fuel.
The terror comes from the feeling of always being watched.
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The cramped passageways between the walls of the apartment building give the episode title its weight.
The visuals lead us to some uncomfortable claustrophobic moments.
There really is no escape from the creepiness of this episode.
Bridget
Supernatural Season 2 Episode 9: Croatoan
Original Airdate: 12/7/2006
You cant win em all.
The most frightening realization in this episode is the helplessness.
The boys have no chance to win the battle against mass-demonic possession passed through a blood-borne virus.
Part of the spookiness is due in fact to the historical connection to the lost colony of Roanoke.
Theres barely any Tennant in this episode.
Perhaps its not as scary as it is sad at its core.
Take Midnight for example.
Midnight proved it could frighten viewers to the very core by the dark possibilities of the unknown.
Its what it would do if it got back to civilization that scares the bejeesus out of us.
What it doesnt tell you is just how nasty and claustrophobic this episode is.
The episode explores what happens when a child goes bad.
Very, very, grab innocent road walkers and devour them underground kind of bad.
Why not wake up in time to run away, dude?
The series premiere was expertly written, as we learned what had happened to the world along with Rick.
We knew no more information than poor Rick did.
We hoped everyone would get out of Atlanta except for racist Merle.
WhenFringedid horror, it did it right as evident by this haunting episode, Marionette.
Yeah, thats unsettling.
The Silence is a quintessential Moffat creation.
The showrunner is all about introducing monsters that mess with our senses and/or physiology.
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The Silence have preyed on humans since the beginning of time.
And if youre lucky enough to survive, youll forget the Silence as soon as you look away.
The Silence were a constant threat throughout series 6 and make a smaller appearance in series 7.
They remain one of Moffats more welcome creations.
Or at least, he thinks he is.
He doesnt know whats real, and thats a bad thing for someone with a gun and paranoia.
As Sam is assaulted by internal horrors, we are too.
The disturbing transformation of our beloved Castiel into the bearer of the Leviathan leaves little room for hope.
How can they hope to defeat monsters older than time itself?
Who can forget the first time they journeyed into the fevered world ofAmerican Horror Story?
The first episode warned fans that this ride was for real and there was no turning back.
The episode features the main cast moving into the most haunted house ever.
A house infected by generations of ghosts and something called the Leatherman.
Similar toThe Simpsons,Regular Showdoes annual Halloween installments titledTerror Tales of the Park.
ForgetAnnabelle,Regular Showhas been there, done that.
How aboutAmerican Horror Storyon Halloween.
The episodes also revealed the origin of the thing in the basement.
Yeah, its Fd up.
The murders are crystallized with an irony-free coldness and detachment that would do David Cronenberg proud.
It is ugly, unflinching, and stomach-churning in its realness.
In fact, it might be the most horrifying scene ever put on a scripted TV fiction.
And his use ofTexas Chainsaw Massacreimagery in season two was one of the best.
Charlie Brookers speculative fiction is the logical next step in our evolution as creatures growing alongside technology.
The threats our character faces in VR are anything but holographic, however.
Very few horror scenes on television (or anywhere else) are as unforgettable as this episodes final moments.
Alec
The Haunting of Hill House Episode 6: Two Storms
Two Storms a.k.a.
Two Storms is both a technical and emotional achievement in TV storytelling.
But dont let that distract you from how terrifying it can be.
