Many top-notch horror TV shows, like It: Welcome to Derry, are rooted in films, elevating the storyline and offering new terror. The horror genre found a home on the movie screen long before it reached TV. As such, some of the best stories we’ve ever seen premiered in theaters. However, there has been a horror renaissance on television.
With every decade, more and more horror TV shows have come out, and they’re now considered prestige TV instead of campy schlock. What’s more, they’re building on the success of excellent horror movies, creating shows that expand on those stories or make new plots within the same world.
These ten horror TV shows based on movies offer fun new stories and plenty of scares to keep audiences thrilled, and each one deserves praise.
10 Scream: The TV Show
MTV’s Scream: The TV Show is deeply underrated, with most people either loving it or hating it. It gets a bad rap because they didn’t use the iconic Ghostface mask, and they didn’t bother to finish the existing story, shifting to something entirely new for season 3. However, there is still so much to love about the Scream show.
The episodes include solid kills with intense gore. I am still haunted by the character who’s bisected on the farm. On top of that, the characters were well-written. Willa Fitzgerald was the perfect horror scream queen.
MTV’s Scream: The TV Show didn’t get the rights to use the original mask until season 3.
Unfortunately, the two aforementioned criticisms of the show mean that Scream: The TV Show has to rank at the bottom of the top 10 horror TV shows based on movies.
9 Freddy’s Nightmares
Freddy Krueger is one of the best slasher villains of all time, and his hat, striped shirt, and claw glove are absolutely iconic. After the success of the 1984 film, it’s no surprise that Wes Craven would jump at the chance to make a TV show. Shockingly, Freddy’s Nightmares is actually pretty good, not undermining the movies or feeling derivative.
Rather than have Freddy torture a cast across a season, each episode features different characters, with the villain serving as the host. He makes quippy remarks and provides an epilogue to all the stories. What’s more, they occur on Elm Street in Springwood, Ohio, giving them another connection to the franchise.
The series leans into campiness and embraces pretty much all imaginable horror tropes. There’s a fantastic amount of violence and gore. However, it also ranks lower because Freddy isn’t the actual villain in every story.
8 The Exorcist
The 1973 movie The Exorcist is an absolute masterpiece, and it’s audacious for anyone to assume that they can make a sequel to it. Unfortunately, The Exorcist’s sequel movies, except for The Exorcist: Believer, were godawful. This makes it an absolute miracle that the TV show The Exorcist, which ran from 2016 to 2018, is actually really good.
The show features strong horror imagery, ranging from mildly unsettling to nightmarish. It connects to the original film without relying too heavily on nostalgia or familiar characters to justify its existence. What’s more, it subverts expectations with the perfect daughter being possessed instead of the troubled daughter in the first season.
The reason why The Exorcist ranks lower on the list of the “bests” is the fact that its first season isn’t nearly as good as the second season. The Exorcist season 2 is an absolute masterpiece, which makes season 1 a little less impressive by comparison.
7 Hannibal
Cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter only appeared onscreen for around 16 minutes in The Silence of the Lambs, but that was enough to mark his place in cinematic history. Since then, writers have continued to explore the character. The most surprising success was Hannibal, which featured Mads Mikkelsen in the title role instead of Sir Anthony Hopkins.
The casting change was a risk that actually paid off really well. Nobody will ever beat the original actor, but Mads Mikkelsen did an incredible job as Hannibal. The cast is filled with equally impressive actors, such as Laurence Fishburne, Suzy Eddie Izzard, Gillian Anderson, and Hugh Dancy.
The story is just as good as the acting, dabbling in surrealism and incorporating a gothic style. There’s a constant cat-and-mouse dynamic and blurred morality that keep the plot moving forward. Plus, Hannibal includes brutal, shocking murders that also feel artistic and theatrical. The beauty in these kills ranks it above other great horror TV shows based on movies.
6 Ash vs Evil Dead
The horror-comedy Ash vs Evil Dead is one of the funniest and most gory series. It brings back Bruce Campbell’s Ash as a chainsaw-handed monster fighter, determined to take out the new Deadites. Plus, he has a group of compelling characters around him to support his efforts.
It lands among the best horror TV shows based on a movie because it embraces everything that makes Evil Dead fantastic. It’s campy and embraces Sam Raimi’s style. There’s a solid balance of the genres.
The only downside that lowers Ash vs Evil Dead’s ranking is the fact that it didn’t get a fourth season. Unfortunately, Starz pulled the plug on the series, and it’s the last time that Bruce Campbell would play Ash Williams in any significant capacity, only making a cameo in Evil Dead Rise.
5 Alien: Earth
Noah Hawley brought his own unique style and perspective to the Alien franchise with the TV show Alien: Earth, which debuted on Hulu this year. From the beginning, it’s clear that the show will feature breathtaking visuals, and it only gets more impressive as it goes on. Alien: Earth does a fantastic job of balancing the sci-fi, action, and horror.
There is plenty of body horror and gore. Of course, the Xenomorphs are as terrifying as ever, creating pulse-quickening moments. On top of that, the show manages to be more than just scares. Alien: Earth is intellectually stimulating, exploring themes about corporate greed, bodily autonomy, and what it means to be human.
Unfortunately, it has to land in the middle of the pack when it comes to the best horror TV shows based on movies because it has some pacing issues and a few peculiar plot choices. Hopefully, Alien: Earth season 2 will be able to fix these problems.
4 Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Most people forget that the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie even exists. It came out in 1992 with pretty poor ratings. However, the TV show is so iconic that we are still talking about it over 2 decades after the finale. Plus, we’re getting a revival called Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale (the working title).
The Buffy TV show features lovable characters with complexity and nuance. The story includes strong worldbuilding and lore. On top of that, there’s a phenomenal balance of horror, teen drama, and romance. Buffy isn’t afraid to embrace the campiness. Luckily, there are actually scary episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer mixed in with less terrifying monsters of the week.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer lands in fourth place when it comes to the best horror TV shows based on movies, not because of its failures, but because of the top 3’s strengths.
3 Chucky
The Chucky TV show ran for three seasons, and it’s some of the best TV I’ve ever watched. The story is hilarious and a bloody good time, pun intended. The show completely embraces the campiness and queerness of the original movie franchise. Chucky is an absolute LGBTQ+ icon, which was always the intention of Chucky’s creator (via The New York Times).
The show embraces the ridiculousness of a serial killer’s spirit getting trapped in a doll’s body. However, it also doesn’t hold back on the violence. The Chucky TV show includes over-the-top kills with plenty of gore. The deaths are outlandish, absurd, and extremely graphic.
What’s more, we get to see franchise favorite characters Glen and Glenda, Chucky’s genderfluid twins, and Tiffany Valentine, Chucky’s murderous partner who takes over Jeniffer Tilly’s body. Ultimately, the Chucky TV show is nothing short of fantastic.
2 It: Welcome To Derry
Andy Muschietti’s It duology is a fantastic adaptation of Stephen King’s story, and Bill Skarsgard’s version of Pennywise is phenomenal. As such, it makes sense that they would want to capitalize on the success of the films. However, the great part about It: Welcome to Derry is that it doesn’t just feel like a cash grab.
The HBO Max show is gorier and more bloody than the movies, upping the fear factor. The plot explores a part of Derry history from King’s book that wasn’t previously depicted onscreen. It: Welcome to Derry expands the Pennywise lore in new and exciting ways. What’s more, the creative team worked closely with Stephen King to make sure their new additions fit the book.
On top of that, It: Welcome to Derry showcases It’s other forms, rather than relying so heavily on Pennywise. What’s more, it shows the creature’s ability to influence the Derry citizens’ behavior. Ultimately, It: Welcome to Derry was top-notch horror TV that elevated the movies.
1 Bates Motel
Bates Motel is an underrated psychological horror show masterpiece that explores how Norman Bates becomes the killer in Psycho. The show is dark and atmospheric, with heavy themes. Alongside the murder, the show delves into incest, rape, and mental illness.
The performances of Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore are compelling, and it’s impossible to look away even in their most uncomfortable situations. Freddie Highmore, in particular, deserves so much praise because he instills the creeping feeling that Norman is losing his mind more and more until it’s completely fractured.
All of this would rank it higher on the list of the best horror TV shows based on movies. The thing that pushes it over the edge is the masterful cinematography and camera work. It has an arthouse, Hitchcockian feel that makes it just as beautiful as it is chilling.