It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for the Thursday Movie Picks feature. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.
The entirety of October is dedicated to a special Halloween Edition, meaning we’ll take a look at themes through the lens of Spooktober! This week, however, is also the week we focus on TV shows instead of movies, so the theme was kept simple with – horror! I don’t watch a lot of horror shows in general, but I already have a few in mind that I’d love to discuss with you. Here we go!
Nancy Drew
I thought I’d start off with an example of super light horror, but it still has some really creepy scenes, plenty of ghosts and hauntings and not all things end well. Still, I was never much into the whole Nancy Drew lore, but I adore this show (not at the least, because it gave me one of my comfort characters – Ace). They keep getting better each season, while also proving that they know how to write a continuous story with plenty callbacks. I’m curious about the Tom Swift spin-off!
From Dusk Till Dawn
I wrote a whole detailed post about this show, which you can check out here. I never in a million years expected to like this, but I did. I was bumbed when it ended, but I have my headcanon where they are now. That’s what matters the most.
Helstrom
You all know how obsessed I am with Marvel, so it should have come as no surprise to you that I watched Marvel’s first attempt at a horror show. It definitely was creepy in atmosphere, but I suppose it could have gone further. They also cancelled it after one season and didn’t make it part of their MCU, although TV shows are canon now, so I always should have known it wasn’t going to last long. Impeccable casting though!
SurrealEstate
I was almost going to put Wynonna Earp (it IS a supernatural western horror show), but then I figured, why not hype up Tim Rozon’s aka Doc’s new show? SurrealEstate is a mix of real estate stuff and paranormal things. Enough said. It’s cool!
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Bly Manor was the first time, I felt like I put on a horror show on purpose, fully knowing what kind of show I was getting into. I sought it out, more than feeling pressured into it. No regrets whatsoever! In the end, it was more of a love story than a ghost story, or maybe a bit of both, and I fell in love with it too. Bly Manor also paved the way for me to watch the next show…
The Haunting of Hill House
I love Hill House so much. The characters, the complexity, the end! So amazing! I will never forget the emotional journey they took me on. I can’t even say if I like Hill House or Bly Manor better, because I wouldn’t have one without it the other, even if they are two separate stories.
Life and Other Disasters 
Bly Manor and Hill House are the only two picks of yours I’ve seen this week. I enjoyed them both.
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Glad you enjoyed them as well!
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Nancy Drew is horror now? Who knew! When I watched both the old movie serial and the 70’s series she was a amateur girl detective. I’ve never seen this take on the material.
I actually haven’t seen any of these though I did see the ’63 film The Haunting with Julie Harris that is based on the book The Haunting of Hill House. It’s excellent if you haven’t seen it.
Horror series just aren’t something I watch regularly but I would watch anthologies like Twilight Zone or Night Gallery on occasion so I turned to them this week.
Hammer House of Horror (1980)-British anthology series created by Hammer Films consisting of thirteen hour-long episodes featuring various kinds of horror-witches, werewolves, ghosts, devil-worship, voodoo etc. The stories were populated with some of the leading performers in England at the time-Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliott, Diana Dors-as well as future stars like Pierce Brosnan who were just starting out.
Circle of Fear aka Ghost Story (1972-73)-Similar in construction to House of Horror but produced in America offered tales of the supernatural horror with an astonishing list of talent-Jodie Foster, Gena Rowlands, Jason Robards, Patty Duke, Patricia Neal, Tyne Daly, Helen Hayes etc. every week.
Thriller (1960-62)-Anthology series hosted by Boris Karloff originally was conceived more in the mystery/thriller vein of Alfred Hitchcock Presents but moved more towards Gothic horror shortly after its debut. Again, the cast list is packed with future stars-Mary Tyler Moore, Elizabeth Montgomery, William Shatner, Leslie Nielsen and Cloris Leachman to name only a few.
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Nancy Drew is paranormal horror! I wasn’t quite prepared for it at first, but it works really well! It’s not super jarring, but it’s better than the network it airs on might suggest.
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Wow, you’re a very talented artist!
The majority of these are all new to me. From Dusk Till Dawn – is that a similar concept to the film? I really enjoyed the film. I think it’s about time for a rewatch!
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Thank you!!
The show starts off more or less like the film, as in, it has the same characters and initial storyline, but then becomes its own thing 🙂
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I have only watched The Haunting of Hill House from your list and it was SO good! I started Bly Manor but sadly I haven’t been able to finish it yet 😔 I liked what I saw so far though 🥰
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I really hope you’ll get to continue it and enjoy it!! I love how Bly Manor had such a similar cast to Hill House.
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Nancy Drew – It’s CW so it’s very YA and Scooby-Doo-ish. I’ve only seen the 1st season, won’t continue.
From Dusk Till Dawn – I only like the first season.
I absolutely love The Haunting of Hill House. Bly Manor is good but I just didn’t love it as much…I just don’t really like The Turn of the Screw story
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