The Growth of the New TV Thrillers

Much like horror movies have been around since pretty much the invention of the silent film, the same can be said about horror-laced TV shows that date back as early as many of the stories shown on The Twilight Zone in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.

Horror shows – or what they are more commonly termed as thrillers now-a-days – have been just as plentiful, but not every TV season has seen the abundance of thrillers as the last few TV seasons.

As most TV viewers know, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk brought us American Horror Story on FX in 2011. The first season of the series followed the Harmon family who moved from Boston to Los Angeles after wife Vivien had a miscarriage and husband Ben had an affair. They moved into a restored mansion where they soon encountered the former “residents” of the home who are haunting the “old” place. Season 2 focused on the Briarcliff Mental Institution in 1964 founded to treat and house the criminally insane where the doctors and nuns who oversaw the asylum were far-below the standards of proper treatment of the patients. A third season is already underway.

Meanwhile, Jeff Davis introduced a reinvented Teen Wolf to MTV back in 2011. The show centers on Scott McCall, a high school student who was bitten by a werewolf, which caused him to transform into one too. He then has to balance his new life – that includes hunters set on killing him – and what he attempts to make of his “normal” life with his mom, his friends and going to school.

Shows centered on vampires have, of course, been long-time staples on TV for many years, including (but not limited to) shows like Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Moonlight, Angel, Dark Shadows, Blood Ties, Forever Knight, Blade: The Series and Kindred: The Embraced.

More recently, Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson brought the world of The Vampire Diaries, based on the novels by L.J. Smith, to the small screen on The CW starting in 2009. The simple premise (if there is such a thing) of the series is focused on the Salvatore brothers, both who have been vampires since the Civil War, who both fall for the same human girl, Elena Gilbert. The series features not only vampires but also werewolves, hybrids, witches, hunters and ghosts.

One year earlier, Alan Ball introduced True Blood, based on the books by Charlaine Harris, on HBO. This series revolves around Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic Human-Fairy hybrid who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton. Much like The Vampire Diaries, True Blood features vampires and werewolves as well as witches, shapeshifters, demons and other creatures that go creep in the night.

This TV season has brought even more thrillers in the form of The Following on FOX that focuses on Joe Carroll, a convicted serial killer who escapes a maximum security prison in order to finish off the remaining victim from his previous murder spree while his “followers” carry out a well-orchestrated plan to bring down his nemesis, Ryan Hardy.

The CW introduced the new series Cult last month with a show-within-a-show plot that focuses on a former cult member who is now a cop, gunning for the evil man behind the cult while in the real world a newspaper reporter is attempting to find his missing brother who was completely wrapped up in the world of the TV show.

Last night, the new series Bates Motel, based on the characters from the classic Hitchcock film Psycho, debuted on A&E, focusing on a young Norman Bates and his mother, as they start a new life for themselves at what, will later, become known as Bates Motel.

Next month, the new show Hannibal will debut on NBC, focusing on the budding relationship of the legendary fictional character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter and FBI criminal profiler Will Graham from the series of novels by Thomas Harris. Also next month, the folks at Netflix in conjunction with Hostel director Eli Roth will introduce us all to Hemlock Grove, based on the Brian McGreevy novel. The plot of this online series involves two young murder suspects – one a werewolf – who decide to embark on their own search for a killer.

Not to be outdone is Stephen King, the master of horror, who will see his 2009 novel Under the Dome come to the small screen on CBS this summer. The series will focus on the small town of Chester’s Mill that is abruptly and gruesomely separated from the outside world by an invisible, semi-permeable barrier of unknown origin. And, of course, there is the Syfy series Haven, based on the Stephen King novella “The Colorado Kid” which has been on the air since 2010. The series has focused on a shrewd FBI agent with a lost past who arrives in the small town of Haven to solve the murder of a local ex-con only to discover that the curious enclave is a longtime refuge for people with supernatural powers that holds a lot of secrets, including her own past.

What I would like to know is if our readers want to see more shows like those above introduced as the network bigwigs decide on their pilots for next season. Or maybe you prefer something a little more sedate. What horror-laced TV thrillers have you enjoyed most? Please share your thoughts in our comments section below.