Culture / Society

6 spooky things to watch this Halloween weekend

By Olivia Ekelund

Photo: Getty Images.

From zombie apocalypses to haunted houses and possessed children, these series are really set to scare...

Halloween is just around the corner and this season we’re getting you the fix for frights that make you jump in the night. Series that you know you shouldn’t watch alone but just can’t help it. These are the six best nightmare-inducing series to stream right now.

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1

Archive 81 (Netflix)

Photo courtesy of Netflix.

Multiple timelines, disappearances and murdering cults, a man on the edge of his sanity. This creepy and deeply atmospheric series has been praised as one of this year’s best. An archivist is enlisted to restore tapes, and in the process stumbles upon a terrifying story of their missing director and an obscure cult, which slowly leads to his unravelling. Eerie in the way that makes you want to double check that you locked your doors and windows, it is the perfect series to kick off Halloween.

2

All of Us Are Dead (Netflix)

Photo courtesy of Netflix.

This Korean masterpiece weaves together deep emotion with scenes that make you jump out of your skin. Set at a local high school, what starts out as a flick suddenly turns on its head when a zombie virus spreads through the school, forcing classmates to choose between killing their friends, or being killed themselves. With poignant underlying messages at its core, such as the consequences of bullying, it’s more than just a scary series. Beautifully filmed and full of shock-horror moments, its perfect for a fast-paced scare that will trigger all of your senses.

3

Midnight Mass (Netflix)

Photo courtesy of Netflix.

From the creators of The Haunting of Hill House comes a series that shakes you to your core. After a captivating young priest arrives in a small and remote island town, strange but seemingly miraculous incidents begin to take place. The community is thrown into a religious passion, desperate to have something to cling to. Their frenzied need for hope, and fleeting glimpses of it, make the terrible unfolding all the more tormenting when they start to arrive. Deeply unsettling, this horror has a gratifying plot and soul to it, nailing both the depth of existential dread, whilst delivering all the disturbing, hair-raising shocks you so crave this weekend.

4

The Walking Dead (Disney +)

Photo courtesy of Disney +.

An oldie but a goodie, The Walking Dead has been a go-to horror show for years. And this is the year that it reaches its conclusion, with its final and eleventh season wrapping up just after Halloween. Showing the truly dark side of humanity, The Walking Dead is set during the zombie apocalypse. A group of survivors are thrown together and forced to fight both the monsters and rival groups for survival. Few shows can deliver consistent fear factor for over ten years like this one, and if you haven’t seen any of it yet, lucky you.

5

From (Epix)

Photo courtesy of Epix.

A small town becomes a prison when a reoccurring road accident leaves travellers unable to find their way out again. A sweet family of four find themselves trapped, forced to settle in the gloomy community and adapt to the evil forces that control it. And if they obey the rules, they might only just survive the horrors that torment the town every night. Praised by critics and filled with terrors and jolts, this series will have you grasping on with dread until the final scene.

6

Servant (Apple TV+)

Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

It captures you from the first moment. A mother hires a nanny for her baby, all seems picture perfect. But rather quickly, the perfect picture begins to crack and the darkness and grief they harbour start to show. The child is not what it seems. The parents are living under a veil of deceit, bordering on madness. But most chilling of all is the nanny. Who have they let in, and what does she want with the child? Enrapturing direction from M. Night Shyamalan with a disturbing plot that drags you in, daring you to keep watching.