One Season Horror shows that you can binge

Horror is becoming more and more of a prominent genre on television, with multiple new scary shows set to debut this month. But for those who are in the mood to binge a show, there are plenty of one-season horror shows that can be watched in just one weekend.

They will be easy to watch but still give you that good ol’ Halloween scare. Here are five scary shows that are only one season long from HBO’s Lovecraft Country to the classic 1990 IT.

5. Constantine (2014) on NBC

Constantine has been a cult favorite DC character for a long time. While the best-known version of the character is probably the Keanu Reeves movie from 2005, the one that fans like to point to as the best is the television series that lasted for one season.

Constantine is a detective who specializes in cases concerning the occult and mystic arts. The highly praised performance of Matt Ryan is one of the biggest reasons that the series is cited as the best adaptation of the character.

In fact, Ryan’s performance was so successful, that after the show was canceled, he was brought into the CW’s Arrowverse. He first appeared in a guest spot on the show Arrow and then later becoming a series regular on Legends of Tomorrow.

The inclusion of Matt Ryan as Constantine retroactively added the entire show to the Arrowverse, expanding the franchise even further. But it’s the original thirteen episode run that got this version of the character started and is still worth checking out for a trip to some of the scarier elements in the DC universe.

4. Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) on ABC

Kolchak: The Night Stalker was one of the earliest examples of a “one season wonder,” that would reach a large fan base despite being quickly canceled. The series was based on two successful made-for-TV movies featuring the main character; an investigative reporter who would look into strange occurrences that may or may not have supernatural origins.

The made-for-TV movies were massive successes, with the first one gathering the highest ratings for a television movie up to that point. When the property was adapted to a series, it only lasted one season before being canceled.

Still, despite its short time on television, Kolchak would grow to have a successful fanbase. A fanbase so strong it would end up including Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files.

Years later he would cite Kolchak as a major influence on the long running supernatural television series. As the years went on with Kolchak gaining a cult-like status among fans, the show was remade as a series called Night Stalker in 2005.

This new, updated version of the show was a failure both with critics and fans of the old show, getting canceled with the last four episodes remaining unaired. The original series continues to have a following.

It is cited as an inspiration for many major successful series in modern television.

3. Lovecraft Country (2020) on HBO

Based on a novel by the same name, Lovecraft Country takes place in the 1950s in Jim Crow, America. A Black man by the name of Atticus Freeman has to make his way across the states in a road trip facing not only the racist horror of the time and place, but also having to face monsters the likes of which wouldn’t be out of place in a story written by H.P. Lovecraft.

The series has a fantastic internal mythology that it plays with. This includes the real life book the show is based on existing within the world of the series and the main characters trying to grapple with the book’s ending. Starring Johnathan Majors who would later go on to play Kang in the MCU, the series received widespread praise.

A second season was being developed before HBO decided to ultimately cancel the series, leaving it with one season.

2. Resident Evil (2022) on Netflix

Though it’s best known for video games, the Resident Evil franchise has become so much more over the years, including an anime, a book series, and multiple movie franchises. In 2022 the franchise debuted its first step into live action television with an eight-episode season released on Netflix.

The series was divided in two; half of each episode explored the events that would lead to an eventual outbreak of the zombie creating T-virus, with the other half set fourteen years later in a world where the apocalypse has happened. The series exists in its own universe, but it uses the events of the video games as a basis for building its own timeline.

It sets the story as a possible future timeline of some of the events from earlier moments in the series. The series had the potential to be a long running franchise with the first season having several teases of where the show might go in future seasons.

However, Netflix chose not to renew the show. The eight episodes that were produced are now the complete Resident Evil live action series.

1. IT (1990) on ABC

While Stephen King’s IT has regained prominence in pop culture recently thanks to the 2017 movie and its sequel, the book’s first adaptation was a television mini-series from 1990. The two-part television event aired in November of 1990.

It was a major hit for the network at the time with almost thirty million views over the two nights. The series is best known for Tim Curry’s defining portrayal as Pennywise the clown, though the cast also included John Ritter, Annette O’Toole and a very young Seth Green.

Because the series aired on television it had to adhere to standards and practices that lead to the show having to get creative with how to evoke scares without violating any restrictions. This led to the show’s horror leaning toward the psychological end.

This ended up helping the show to be a hit both with audiences and critics. While IT wasn’t the first television miniseries based on Stephen King’s work (Salem’s Lot was in 1979) it was such a success that it spawned a whole series of miniseries based on King’s work including Sometimes They Come Back (1991), The Tommyknockers (1993), The Stand (1994), The Langoliers (1995) and The Shining (1997).

Which one season horror show will you be binging this October? Share your answers in the comments below!