American Horror Story season 13 is back, and by all accounts it is doing the reunion thing properly. According to Wikipedia, the season is set primarily in New York City and centres on Ben DeSoto (Joey Pollari), a hospice caretaker with triskaidekaphobia, who takes a strange job at The Apollyon, an eerie residential building populated by characters from seasons past. Lucky number 13, then, in every sense.
The returning cast is substantial: Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Emma Roberts, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Gabourey Sidibe, Mena Suvari, and Jessica Lange are all back, some playing multiple roles. In Paulson’s case, multiple is something of an understatement. Horror Forever reports she is portraying six different characters across the season. Six. Whether that is a treat or a logistical headache for the wardrobe department is a question for someone else to answer.
If that still is not enough horror to see you through the season, here are ten more shows worth your time.
Anthology Horror Worth Streaming Alongside American Horror Story Season 13
Channel Zero (2016-2018) is the pick of the bunch for anyone who likes their dread slow-building and genuinely strange. Nick Antosca’s series takes four online creepypastas and spins each one into a full season-long story. The first anticipates a certain strain of indie horror with a tale about a half-remembered children’s TV show linked to missing kids. Subsequent seasons take in a tourist-attraction haunted house that opens onto a disturbing alternate reality, cannibals and a mysterious woodland staircase, and a newlywed couple who find a door that unlocks childhood anxieties (plus a killer clown, naturally). The imagery (a child composed entirely of human teeth among the highlights) is the kind of thing that stays with you. Antosca also has what amounts to a stealth fifth season over on Netflix with Brand New Cherry Flavor. Stream Channel Zero on Shudder and AMC+.
Castle Rock (2018-2019) sold itself as a Stephen King omniverse, set in his fictional town and pulling characters from across his back catalogue. That billing may have set expectations it could not quite meet. In practice it is a solid anthology series, and the first season’s episode “The Queen”, built around Sissy Spacek’s portrayal of Ruth Deaver and her struggles with dementia, stands as one of the better single hours of television in recent memory. Season two introduces a young Annie Wilkes and a cult, with Bill Skarsgård returning from both season one and his film role as Pennywise. Stream it on Hulu and Netflix.
Creepshow (2019-2023) is consistently enjoyable in a way anthology horror rarely manages. Each episode contains two stories, both very much in the spirit of the films that inspired the show. Greg Nicotero, who got his start on Creepshow 2, runs the series and brings a genuine affection for old-school practical effects. Stream it on Shudder and AMC+.
Folklore (2018-2022) is the list’s most underrated entry. Six Asian countries, six locally produced episodes, six different directors. Each is a modern take on traditional folkloric horror, the South Korean episode, for instance, deals with the mongdal gwisin, a bachelor spirit so desperate for a wife that he will kill until he finds the right ghost bride. For anyone used to Western horror conventions, it is a genuine revelation. Stream it on HBO Max.
More Shows to Scratch the American Horror Story Season 13 Itch
Slasher (2016-2023) takes the slasher-movie format and stretches it over several episodes per season, which gives it room to build actual characters rather than just body counts. The first three seasons are on Netflix; the last two are Shudder exclusives. It has also since spun off into two seasons under the name Hell Motel. Any season stands alone, so start wherever you like.
Scream Queens (2015-2016) is Ryan Murphy doing broad, sharp-elbowed comedy-horror, with Emma Roberts, Ariana Grande, Billie Lourd, and Abigail Breslin as sorority sisters facing a serial killer dressed as their school’s Red Devil mascot, all of it looping back to events from 1995. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a vicious dean and clearly enjoys every second. Stream it on Hulu.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-2020) runs on a similar energy to AHS: Coven, silly and spooky until it suddenly is not. Kiernan Shipka plays Sabrina Spellman, a witch who refuses to choose between signing Satan’s book and staying in high school with her human friends. Cannibalism and blood rituals follow. Stream it on Netflix.
Hannibal (2013-2015) is the cult classic that ended before its time. Bryan Fuller’s adaptation of the Thomas Harris novels pairs Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy in a relationship loaded with subtext, while the visual style tips its hat to Grand Guignol in a way that sits naturally alongside AHS. More than a decade on, talk of a revival continues. Stream it on Prime Video and Netflix.
Room 104 (2017-2020) confines every episode (comedy, drama, sci-fi, horror) to a single motel room. The guest cast across four seasons includes Tony Todd, Michael Shannon, Mahershala Ali, Dave Bautista, and Brian Tyree Henry, among others. Stream it on HBO Max.
The Terror (2018-) operates on the principle that real life is more disturbing than anything supernatural. Season one follows two ships trapped in Arctic ice while searching for the Northwest Passage. Season two takes the Japanese-American internment of World War II as its canvas. The most recent stars Dan Stevens as a man held involuntarily in a psychiatric facility. Stream it on AMC+ and Shudder.
