After Stranger Things, where to get your horror fix on Netflix

Fans of Stranger Things are still hotly debating the finale of the latest season of the Netflix show. The third installment in this breakout YA series has been handled with a defter, more confident touch than the previous run, compressing a compelling sequence of terrifying events into a pared-back flight of just eight episodes that ramp up the tension to breaking point before ending on a cliff-hanger.

Series 3 moves the action on in a fast-paced ride that sees a new cast of monsters ripping up the status quo in beleaguered Hawkins, while our young heroes grapple with the tensions of teenagerdom, at the same time tackling the existential threat that casts a pall over the town. It’s a well-told story of love and sacrifice that culminates with the loss of more than one character and a classic did-they-or-didn’t-they death scene that threatens to bring the Stranger Things juggernaut to a screeching halt – that is, if we didn’t already know that the show’s progenitors, the Duffer Brothers, have different plans…

While Stranger Things takes a short break, Netflix has plenty to offer horror and paranormal aficionados.

More haunted houses

The Haunting of Hill House, last year’s smash hit, is set for a spooky return next year. While it didn’t have Stranger Things’ lighter side, the thrilling series’ first season impressed critics with its artful exploration of a tragic family drama set against the truly spine-chilling backdrop of a house peopled by unquiet spirits. The series delivered some of the scariest scenes in TV history as the narrative unwound the personal stories of each of the protagonists, traveling along their timelines towards its illuminating endpoint.

Happily, a second season, promising fresh thrills, will land in 2020, under a new guise: The Haunting of Bly Manor. The good news – for those of us who don’t like showrunners messing with a neatly tied-up ending – is that the new episodes will explore an adventure based on Henry James’s 1898 horror novella The Turn of The Screw, rather than serving up a lukewarm reboot of the original Shirley Jackson set-up.

Dark drama

If you like your horror with a splash of Euro-noir, Dark offers a tempting option. Set in the fictional town of Winden in Germany, the drama centres around the story of a child’s disappearance and time travel across multiple generations. The latest season premiered in June and shooting for the final instalment is currently underway.

Dark slipped under the radar on its first Netflix outing – largely because it was an under-hyped German-language drama dubbed by some critics as a foreign-language Stranger Things. While the two shows are superficially similar on account of their 80s vibe, unsettling space-time shifts and missing-kids tropes, Dark actually has more in common with David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, thanks to the methodical unravelling of small town secrets that are key to the story’s development.

Its trajectory over a planned three-series arc demonstrates how Netflix can give its writers and producers more control over how shows are created and delivered than is usual with traditional broadcasting platforms, partnering sky-high production values with tightly woven scripts and the freedom to explore more complex plot lines and themes that are ideally suited to binge watching. The series creators are remaining tight-lipped about the revelations that are planned for Season 3 but explosive viewing seems guaranteed.

Into the unknown

Looking for a more indie international option? Paranormal Investigation, from France, adapts the found-footage approach pioneered by American films like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, transposing it to a spooky house in the French countryside.

A Netflix exclusive, this film wrings every drop of tension out of the chain of events that drives a regular family in an ordinary setting into a maelstrom of terror. The set up feels authentic: a paranormal investigator attempts to make sense of a case of Ouija board-related spirit conjuring by installing CCTV cameras throughout the house, only to discover more than he’d bargained for. Scares aplenty ensue – surely the level of audience interest in this kind of reality-inspired drama could easily justify a dedicated Paranormal Investigation series?

Watch and wait

So far, Stranger Things’ creators have only committed to a fourth season, which could be available as early as 2020, although executive producer Shawn Levy has intimated that the series could possibly spill over into a fifth. The plucky band of teens – El, Mike, Dustin, Will, Lucas and Max, together with their older siblings and Steve – will return to face new monsters, though whether El will have regained her psychokinetic abilities by then remains to be seen. And, as to Hopper’s untimely demise – well, maybe it won’t be as abrupt an ending as it seemed?

In the meantime, Netflix’s other offerings in the horror and thriller genres should tide you over until Stranger Things 4 bursts on to screens.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.