10. Midnight Mass (review)
One of the new series the streaming giant, Netflix, unleashed this year is “Midnight Mass” from brilliant filmmaker Mike Flanagan, whose winning relationship with Netflix has given us hit series such as “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor.”
In “Midnight Mass“, “The arrival of a charismatic young priest brings glorious miracles, ominous mysteries, and renewed religious fervor to a dying town desperate to believe.”
While I did have issues with some of the elements of the show, mainly the ending, it belongs on this list due to the quality of the series and its incredible all-star cast.
9. Shadow and Bone
Dark and supernatural, the series, an adaptation of the best-selling Grishaverse novels, is set in a war-torn world where Alina Starkov has just discovered a power that could be the key to setting her country free. With the threat of the Shadow Fold looming, Alina is torn from everything she knows to train as part of an elite army of magical soldiers known as Grisha.
As she struggles to hone her power, she discovers that allies and enemies can be one and the same and that nothing in this world is what it seems. There are dangerous forces at play, including a crew of charismatic criminals, and it will take more than magic to survive.
8. Chucky
In the new television series, an idyllic American town is thrown into chaos after a vintage ‘Good Guy’ doll turns up at a suburban yard sale. Soon, everyone must grapple with a series of horrifying murders that begin to expose the town’s deep hypocrisies and hidden secrets. Meanwhile, friends and foes from Chucky’s past creep back into his world and threaten to expose the truth behind his mysterious origins as a seemingly ordinary child who somehow became this notorious monster.
Brad Dourif, who has long voiced Chucky, returns along with franchise stars Jennifer Tilly who is back as Tiffany, Fiona Dourif as Nica Pierce, Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay, and Christine Elise as Kyle. Devon Sawa (Final Destination, Hunter Hunter), “Arrow” actress Lexa Doig, Teo Briones (“Ratched”), Bjorgvin Arnarson (“PEN15”), and Alyvia Alyn Lind (“The Young and the Restless”), and Zackary Arthur have joined the cast.
USA and Syfy teamed up to bring back our favorite possessed killer doll and we are so glad they did. Luckily, we’re getting a second season and we can’t wait
7. Creepshow Season 2 (review)
Following CREEPSHOW Season 1’s Saturn Award 2021 win for Best DVD/Blu-ray Television Release comes the second season of CREEPSHOW, the anthology series based on the 1982 horror-comedy classic. A comic book comes to life in nine chilling tales told across five episodes. Explore terrors ranging from murder, creatures, monsters, and delusions to the supernatural and unexplainable. You never know what will be on the next page….
Shudder’s Creepshow is back with its second season and somehow outdoes the first season with more monsters, awesome characters, and some killer stories.
The horror series “Them,” premiered exclusively on Prime Video this April, from creator and writer Little Marvin (The Time is Now) and executive producer Lena Waithe (Ready Player One).
The series, set in the 1950s, centers on a black family who moves from their home in North Carolina to an all-white Los Angeles neighborhood during a period known as “The Great Migration.” The family’s new idyllic home soon becomes ground zero for racial prejudice and malevolent otherworldly forces and other evils that threaten to ravage and destroy them.
Amazon Prime’s 2021 series “Them” hits you like a sledgehammer. Racism drives the series that left me feeling like I was punched in the gut and the fact that real people lived with racism similar to what was seen in the series left me absolutely heartbroken. It is by far one of the most unnerving and well-written series of the year.
5. Brand New Cherry Flavor (review)
Netflix’s adaptation of Todd Grimson‘s horror novel “Brand New Cherry Flavor” features eight episodes.
“Channel Zero” duo Nick Antosca and Lenore Zion will both write and executive produce the new show that centers on “Lisa N. Nova (Rosa Salazar) who comes to LA dead set on directing her first movie. But when she trusts the wrong person and gets stabbed in the back, everything goes sideways and a dream project turns into a nightmare. This particular nightmare has zombies, hitmen, supernatural kittens, and a mysterious tattoo artist who likes to put curses on people. And Lisa’s going to have to figure out some secrets from her own past in order to get out alive.”
I could easily describe this series with one word, insane. I could also say, fresh, dark, bloody, and fantastic.
Ravenous hordes of zombies swarm in the second season of Netflix’s brilliant series “Kingdom.” Directed by Kim Seong-hun, the series set during Korea’s medieval Joseon period tells the story of a crown prince who sets out on a suicide mission to investigate a mysterious plague spreading like wildfire across his kingdom. Marked as a traitor by the family of the queen he must not only save his people but also clear his name.
In the season one finale, we were left with a major cliffhanger, learning that the queen and her father are even more twisted than we thought, and the prince and his people face a huge horde.
“As winter approaches, the battle between the living and the undead in Joseon is just beginning. The royal court is teeming with snakes, the zombies are coming, and the crown prince has a nation to save. The worst is yet to come, and everyone will need to choose a side without knowing who they can really trust.”
Ju Ji-hoon, Ryu Seung-ryong, Bae Doona, and Kim Hye-Jun star.
Netflix’s “The Kingdom” features a fantastic layered story with drama, and life and death battles on top of intense action, and hordes of zombies. It will please both those looking for a period drama and those looking for horror.
3. Squid Game
In the Netflix South Korean series, dubbed in English, “Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits with deadly high stakes. A survival game that has a whopping 45.6 billion-won prize at stake.”
Netflix had me feeling a gambit of emotions and left me screaming at the characters on my TV. I never thought I could hate and love a series at the same time, to my surprise, “Squid Game” had me feeling both. And the ending, OMG! My jaw was on the floor moments before I started throwing my pillows at my tv screen and cussing like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Here’s the good news, a second season is on its way thanks to fan demand.
2. Chapelwaite (review)
Academy Award® Winner Adrien Brody stars alongside Emily Hampshire in EPIX’s “Chapelwaite“, a series based on the short story Jerusalem’s Lot by Stephen King.
“Set in the 1850s, the series follows Captain Charles Boone (Brody), who relocates his family of three children to his ancestral home in the small, seemingly sleepy town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine after his wife dies at sea. However, Charles will soon have to confront the secrets of his family’s sordid history and fight to end the darkness that has plagued the Boones for generations. Rebecca Morgan (Hampshire), an ambitious young woman who left Preacher’s Corners to attend Mount Holyoke College and has returned home with an advance to write a story for the new and prestigious Atlantic Magazine. Her writer’s block lifts when Boone arrives in town with his children, and despite her mother’s protests, Rebecca applies to be the governess of the infamous Chapelwaite manor and the Boone family in order to write about them. In doing so, Rebecca will not only craft the next great gothic novel, she’ll unravel a mystery that has plagued her own family for years.”
“Chapelwaite” is a fantastic, dark series that was born in the mind of Stephen King. The cast is amazing, especially Adrien Brody who gives one hell of a performance that he clearly put all his heart into. Love, family, sacrifice, and vampires, this show has it all.
1. The Best Show Of 2021 Goes To “The Witcher: Season 2“ (review)
Starring Henry Cavill as the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, the series is based on the best-selling book and gaming series and is a tale of fate and family.
“Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. When destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress and a princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the volatile continent together.”
In season Two of “The Witcher,” we learn more about the characters, their origins, their alliances, and what drives them. Henry Cavill and Frya Allen give fantastic performances as we see more emotion, action, story, and heart while continuing to expand on the dark and brutal world filled with magic and monsters. “The Witcher” is no doubt the best series on TV, not just in the horror-fantasy genre. Season two now streaming on Netflix.
