Having a Peacock subscription will put audiences in front of many NBC sitcoms such as The Office, Parks and Recreation and Scrubs, not to mention WWE LIve Events, tons of original series, and more. The service also features a sporadically changing lineup of great horror movies for fans to stream, which is rather splendidly complemented by all the killer TV shows that fall under such genre umbrellas.
From melodramatic vampires to taboo serial killers to sympathetic zombies to the dangers of the Internet, Peacock will keep horror fans entertained while waiting for the next wave of new streaming releases, as well as the selection of upcoming horror TV shows. Let’s kick things off with a project that stemmed from the disturbing imagination of the King of Horror himself.
Mr. Mercedes (3 Seasons)
Based Stephen King’s trilogy of novels featuring former detective Bill Hodges and his brilliant second banana Holly Gibney, Mr. Mercedes was developed by David E. Kelley with Lost and Sopranos writer/producer Jack Bender as showrunner. Starring Brendon Gleeson and Justine Lupe as the aforementioned retired cop and partner, with Harry Treadaway’s Brady Hartsfield serving as Hodges’ initial Big Bad.
Even Stephen King celebrated when Mr. Mercedes hit Peacock, since the series began its life on the then-DirecTV exclusive channel Audience, and could only be found in physical formats for a while after the channel folded. King kept that universe going with the 2023 novel Holly, who also appeared in the book and HBO adaptation of The Outsider, and it’d be fantastic to see Lupe return to the role.
The Fades (1 Season)
The second series created by TV and film screenwriter (and accomplished playwright) Jack Thorne, the BAFTA-winning miniseries The Fades is essentially about a high school student (played by future Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Iain De Caestecker) who is plagued by dreams and visions of Fades, which are basically the final remnants of human spirits that have yet to go to the great beyond. Paul soon finds himself caught in an otherworldly battle that threatens the human race itself.
The Fades gives viewers lots of supernatural chaos to enjoy and stress over, but arguably the show’s biggest draw is the “before they were massively famous” cast. Beyond De Caestecker, we have Nope and Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya, Game of Thrones vets Natalie Dormer and Joe Dempsie, Lucifer’s Tom Ellis and more.
Darknet (1 Season)
One of the most under-discussed horror TV shows of the modern era, Darknet is like Black Mirror’s freakier and less existentially minded younger cousin, with each episodes telling threaded tales about characters who find themselves in extremely horrifying and dangerous circumstances, with everything connecting back to the censor-free website that shares the show’s name. The scares and discomfort come quick and constantly, with filmmakers such as Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice), Rodrigo Gudiño (The Last Will and Testament of Rosaline Leigh), and Anthony Scott Burns (Our House), among others.
Interestingly enough, while it was fairly quick to skew Internet norms for horror narratives, Darknet’s lack of widespread recognition is partially due to its net-based origins. It debuted as a web series on Fox’s website in 2013, right as Netflix was on the cusp of turning “streaming” into a household word, and remains one of the only memorable shows to hit pop culture in such a way.
The Ray Bradbury Theater (6 Seasons)
First airing on HBO before shifting over to USA Network, The Ray Bradbury Theater is a genre-mashing anthology series created by the beloved artist of the title, who also appeared on screen at the start of each episode. What’s more, Bradbury famously wrote all of the show’s 65 episodes, basing them on his famed stories and works such as “Here There Be Tygers,” “Mars Is Heaven,” “The Playground” and more. Given his bibliography, the series wasn’t exclusively horror, with sci-fi and thriller stories also in the mix.
The Ray Bradbury Theater ran from 1985-1992 and, as it often goes with anthology series, featured a wild assortment of actors from both film and television. Fans can find episodes featuring a host of horror-centric icons such as Jeff Goldblum, Donald Pleasence, Shelley Duvall, Drew Barrymore, John Glover and John Saxon (a limited list), as well as other faves like Lucy Lawless, William Shatner, Eugene Levy and others. “The Crowd” and “The Veldt” rare great places to start for first-time viewers.
- RELATED: Find out where Peacock landed on CinemaBlend's list of the Best streaming services.
In The Flesh (2 Seasons)
To date, In the Flesh remains the lone series created by playwright Dominic Mitchell, and his only produced TV credits outside of working on the first season of Westworld. And it’s a bit of a shame, since the supernatural BBC Three drama was such a unique alt-take on zombie narratives. The show’s timeline kicks off years after a zombie outbreak ravaged the world’s population, and also after a sense of normality settled back in, with the rise of medications helping to curb the undead’s less savory behaviors.
Luke Newberry earned a BAFTA nom for his portrayal of forever-18 Kieren Walker, a rehabilitated zombie who returns to live at his parents house loaded with the guilt that he was responsible for his own death over losing his BFF and boyfriend. In that way, In the Flesh deals with many of life’s small-scale horrors of the mind as much as unfettered zombie carnage, as Kieren navigates his new normal with fellow Partially Deceased Syndrome sufferer Amy (Emily Bevan) and conflicted sister Jem (Harriet Cains).
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (7 Seasons)
Just about anything crafted by master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock is worthy of viewing and picking apart, and even if he wasn’t the sole creative voice behind every episode of the anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents, that doesn’t mean the other installments should be skipped. The Psycho filmmaker helmed 17 of the 268 episodes, with other future-noteworthy directors such as The Exorcist’s Williarm Friedkin, The Amityville Horror’s Stuart Rosenberg and Nashville’s Robert Altman.
Though Alfred Hitchcock Presents didn’t wholly stick to horror stories, with plenty of mysteries, killer thrillers and dread-steeped narratives in the mix, it still gets all the genre-based brain synapses firing. It’s also a veritable who’s who of Hollywood icons, featuring eps starring Charles Bronson, Roger Moore, Burt Reynolds, Bette Davis, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, Jessica Tandy, Vera Miles and many more. Special shout-outs to appearances from M legend Peter Lorre and The Invisible Man himself, Claude Rains.
Chucky (3 Seasons)
One could non-violently argue that Don Mancini’s Chucky franchise is among the most unique (if not the most unique) in modern fiction. A trio of fairly straightforward and beloved slasher movies gave way to a pair of post-modern horror-comedies before returning to its darker and less bonkers roots for Curse and Cult. Mancini then made the glorious leap to TV, where Chucky has spent three seasons (so far) leaning as far as humanly (or doll-ly) possible into both extremes, with magnificent results.
Brad Dourif is as excellent as ever in balancing Chucky’s malicious menace with his more juvenile side, and the series manages to be both a love letter to the franchise’s past while taking its titular killer, Zackary Arthur’s Jake, and Devon Sawa’s seasonal victims into new and completely unpredictable directions. Chucky in the White House? You’ll have to wait until Season 3, and won’t have a single regret along the way.
Hammer's House Of Horror (1 Season)
A24 is very likely the only indie movie studio in years whose name automatically implies a specific level of craft, mystique, and genre direction. (We ranked the best A24 horror movies, for those interested.) But there was a time when the descriptor “Hammer film” was all it took to get fans pumped about seeing one of the UK production company’s signature takes on classic monsters and horror tales. Not that it was exclusively a horror studio, but its biggest actors were Dracula portrayer Christopher Lee, Van Helsing and Victor Frankenstein actor Peter Cushing and others.
Speaking of, Cushing’s final collaboration with the studio was for the 1980 anthology Hammer House of Horror, and in an episode that co-starred Succession’s Brian Cox, no less. While the highlight of the 13-episode season is arguably “The House That Bled to Death,” the season has no lack of spooky standards, from werewolves to vengeful spirits to demonic possession to Voodoo idols and mysterious hitchhikers.
Dark Shadows (1 Season)
Easily the most beloved horror-driven soap opera in the history of television (or whatever other medium allows for such specifics), Dark Shadows ran for six seasons between 1966-1971, telling the tale of the affluent Collins family and their haunt-filled home. Though Jonathan Frid's vampire Barnabas didn't join the show until ten months after it made its debut on ABC, he became an instant hit with viewers and helped develop the repeat-loving fanbase. (Though the less said about the 2012 film, the better.)
Dark Shadows is a big winner with horror fans for using various legendary stories and works for themed arcs, such as Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, The Turn of the Screw, The Crucible, and "The Lottery." Unfortunately, Peacock only has the 40 epiodes from Season 2 available, but it's way better than nothing!
Beyond Belief: Fact Or Fiction (4 Seasons)
A series that can't be defined by strict genre limits, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction is a surprisingly effective mash-up between Unsolved Mysteries and Outer Limits, with Star Trek vet and meme-lord Jonathan Frakes as host. Each episode tells a variety of dramatized stories and situations that are either based on true stories, or were completely fabricated by the writers, with the no-stakes onus on viewers to figure out which is which.
While not all of the stories told fall under the horror classification, there are plenty of hightened tales within Beyond Belief's four seasons that could easily raise the hairs on someone's neck, as it vibes more with campfire ghost stories than viscera-covered slashers. And even some of the verified stories can be downright chilling.
