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Top Zombie TV-Series

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The zombie genre doesn’t seem to die down anytime soon as it keeps coming back with a twist or a different angle and production value. These are some of the Top Zombie TV-Series with zombies from around the world.

Zombies are everywhere in pop culture these days. From movies to television shows, video games to books, there seems to be no shortage of undead characters on our screens. Here are some of the top zombie TV-series that we’ve seen so far.

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Walking Dead (2010-2020)

The Walking Dead is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series developed by Frank Darabont and based on the comic book series of the same name written by Robert Kirkman and premiered on AMC on October 31, 2010. The show follows a group of survivors in Georgia, USA, living in a world overrun by flesh eating zombies they call Walkers. This is one of top zombie TV-series that really blew new life into the Zombie interests and the show lasted for 11 seasons before ending it.

Check Out: Top American Horror TV-Series

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All Of Us Are Dead | 지금 우리 학교는 (2022)

This is another top zombie TV-series for Netflix that rose to the top streaming, even more so than the hit series, Squid Games. It is an adaptation of the popular webtoon of the same name and are now one of the biggest Korean horror TV-Series. A seemingly normal day at school that ends in an international disaster as a rabid zombie outbreak starts from the schools science lab. The student quickly learn that they are all on their own and must escape so not turn to one of the living dead. This is a gory series that doesn’t shy away from blood, violence and deeply flawed human beings with a twist on the zombie lore.

NB! Confirmed for more seasons!

Check Out: Top Korean Horror TV-Series

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Santa Clara Diet (2017-2019)

This zombie series takes a comedic and every day approach to the zombie genre. Sheila and Joel are married real estate agents who live and work in Santa Clarita, California with their daughter in the peaceful suburbs. When Sheila dies, their lives take a dark turn when she turns into a zombie and needs human flesh to survive.

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The Returned | Les Revenants (2012-2015)

This French series took a new look at the zombie lore with a more haunting approach than a full fledge flesh eating one. In a small French mountain town where everyone knows each other, the dead returns as if it never happened and with no memories of how it happened. This is forcing the townsfolk to confront their difficult past as they seek to understand this phenomenon and deal with their loved ones coming back to life.

Check Out: Top European Horror TV-Series

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Kingdom | 킹덤 (2019)

The mega top zombie TV-series helped turn the tide for Korean horror TV-Series and certainly the interest in Korean zombies. A mysterious illness has befallen the king in a fictionalized version of Korea in the Joseon area. The illness of zombification is spreading throughout the kingdom and the crown prince travels out from the castle to solve the mystery behind his father’s ailment. Out there he finds a kingdom in disarray and hoards of zombies threatening the whole kingdom he was born to protect. With its two season wrapped story it looks like this is the whole of it, but with sidequel/prequel like movies like Kingdom: Ashin of the North, and the original cartoon with its specials, who is to say this a finished series?

Check Out: Top Korean Horror TV-Series

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Helix (2014-2015)

Helix is a science fiction thriller that focuses on an expedition of the Centers for Disease Control into the Arctic to investigate a potential outbreak of a disease. The team encounters a zombie-like threat, and the operator of the facility seems to know more about it than he’s letting on.

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Game Of Thrones (2011-2019)

Can we call the fantasy series about dragons, crowns and the God of light a zombie show? Yes, why not, as some of the seasons heavily focused on the threat of the North coming to Westeros. Behind the wall, the thing separating the civilized south to the wild north, an ancient threat has awakened. And while they squander about who can sit on the throne and not in the south, the people in the north and beyond the wall needs to find a way to protect all humans against these monsters.

Although the plot with the zombies came to a rather abrupt end in the last season, the zombies were a rather fresh take on the zombie genre as well as it place in the fantasy universe.

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In the Flesh (2013 – 2014)

This BBC Drama poses the question: What do we do after the Zombie Apocalypse, and how do we integrate the zombies back into the society? Four years after what they call: The Rising, the government starts to rehabilitate the zombies that goes as The Undead for reentry into society. We follow the teenager Kieren Walker as he returns to his small Lancashire village as an undead to face a hostile reception, as well as his own demons.

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Fear of the Walking Dead (2015-)

Fear of the Walking Dead started out as a spinoff of the hugely popular top zombie TV-series, The Walking Dead. But it quickly found its own fan base and vibe that differed slightly from the original. The series is set in Los Angeles, California with a new cast that battles the zombies from the first day of infection rather than to jump right in 30 days after as The Walking Days did. It follows two families who must band together to survive the undead apocalypse.

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Zombie Detective | 좀비탐정 (2020)

This Korean Drama tells the story about Kim Moo-Young (Choi Jin-Hyuk) who has been a zombie for the past 2 years. He has learned how to pass as a living human and goes to live in the city. There he starts a private detective office where he solves cases as he tries to regain his past memories as he doesn’t remember anything before becoming a zombie.

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iZombie (2015-2019)

Liv Moore is just a normal medical student and gets invited in a party on night. This party turns into a macabre zombie arena and she is infected. She wakes up from the dead and becomes a zombie and must eat human brains to maintain her humanity. This she solves better than any other zombie so far though and she goes to work in the coroner’s office to access to fresh brain. It turns out that eating a brain gives her that person’s traits and memories, and she can assist in more ways to solve the murders.

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The Ghost Bride – The Book and the Real Ghost Marriage

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Ghost Marriage is not something we only read about in fictional books and watch in horror movies. Sometimes the fiction is inspired by the truth, like with the Malaysian book, ‘The Ghost Bride’ from 2013.

Malaysian author Yangsze Choo heard many types of lore, legends and myths when she was growing up in Malaysia. Being a fourth generation Chinese Malaysian, many of the stories she heard were rooted in Chinese tradition. And when she wrote her book, ‘The Ghost Bride’, she wrote a fictionalized version of a real thing based on the stories she heard about Ghost Marriages. 

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Set in 1890s Colonial Malacca, a Malaysian Chinese woman accepts a marriage proposal from a wealthy family to be the “ghost bride” to their deceased son who died a mysterious death to save her family from going bankrupt. Desperate to escape the situation, she needs to battle both the dangers of real life as well as the dangers of the afterlife and the hauntings of the dead. 

Her book was a great success and even got its own Netflix tv-series adaptation. Although a fictional story, the concept of Ghost Marriage is anything but.

Ghost Marriage or Mínghūn

The tradition of Ghost Marriage or Mínghūn 冥婚 is an ancient Chinese tradition in China and chinese communities abroad. The family of the dead arrange a marriage for them in the real life so that they will be together in the afterlife. And although not as common as it used to be, the actual weddings for the dead ones are still a real thing happening in this day and age.

When she researched for her book she remembered all of these stories she had heard about and read in the papers. She also learned that her friend’s family had been involved with a Ghost Marriage many years ago in the 90s or early 00s. 

The Wedding of the Dead

The Ghost Bride: The cover of the book that Yangsze Choo was inspired to write after the old tradition.// Photo

One night, the grandmother woke up from a dream. She said to the family the next day that it was her son who had visited and told her that he had met a girl in the underworld and wished to marry. 

He gave his mother the girl’s name and address to her family so that the grandmother could go see for herself. So she went to the address she had gotten in her dream and found the family. 

When she talked to the mother of the girl who had died, it turned out that she had the same dreams as the grandmother had. She had been visited by her dead daughter in the dream and said that she wished to get married. 

The two families got together and held a wedding for their belated children. Just like they would have if they were alive they had a ceremony with Chinese bridal sedan chairs as well as a feast after they had taken their vows and they got their soul tablets. 

After the wedding the two families were joined and worked as any extended family would, joining them for large family happenings. 

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Featured Image: Netflix ‘The Ghost Bride’ (2020)

What Is a Ghost Marriage? The Real Story Behind the Unusual Practice in New Netflix Show ‘The Ghost ‘ | Inside Edition

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Top Korean Horror TV-Series

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The last few years, K-dramas has certainly taken over much of the media the world consume today and that goes for the Korean horror TV-Series as well.

Although it is largely remembered from the overly romantic dramas with umbrellas in the rain and watching over people with a cold like they are on their deathbed, some more darker series has caught on. In fact one of the more famous k-drama must certainly be the zombie driven historical drama Kingdom that entered as Koreans first entry to the Netflix family. And since then, the gems keeps on coming. Here are ten of the more darker k-dramas out there.

Revenant |악귀 (2023)

This slow burn ghost story is based on Korean folklore. It follows a professor in folklore (Oh Jung-se) who can see ghosts that teams up with a young woman (Kim Tae-ri) after her father dies in what seems to be a suicide. But strange things starts to happen to her and it turns out she is possessed by a vengeful ghosts, and that the string of mysterious suicides that happens around them is something much more horrifying.

Strangers From Hell | 타인은 지옥이다 (2019)

With a top stellar cast of Im Shi Wan (Run On) and Lee Dong Wook (Goblin), this had to be an iconic duo. The series is a trippy Korean horror TV-Series quest for a poor writer to distinguish between what is and isn’t real as well to figure out his true friends he can trust is. When he moves into a cheap hostel, Eden Gosiwon, he has to deal with the truly creepy residents he has to share kitchen and bathroom with. But although he hates it, he endures it to he has enough money saved up to move to something better in Soul. But then he starts fearing for his life when strange occurrences keeps happening around him.

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All Of Us Are Dead | 지금 우리 학교는 (2022)

This is another zombie series for Netflix that rose to the top streaming, even more so than the hit series, Squid Games. It is an adaptation of the popular webtoon of the same name and are now one of the biggest Korean horror TV-Series. A seemingly normal day at school that ends in an international disaster as a rabid zombie outbreak starts from the schools science lab. The student quickly learn that they are all on their own and must escape so not turn to one of the living dead. This is a gory series that doesn’t shy away from blood, violence and deeply flawed human beings with a twist on the zombie lore.

NB! Confirmed for more seasons!

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Hotel Del Luna | 호텔 델루나 (2019)

A series that managed to balance the campy romantic side of classic k-dramas with the gory horror of ghost is Hotel Del Luna and not purely a Korean horror TV-Series. Although the plot is not that terrifying, some of the characters and ghosts in the hotel definitely are. Super Idol K-Pop star IU stars as the greedy CEO, Man Wol, for a hotel that only caters to the dead to help them cross the bridge to the afterlife. Chan Sung is forced to manage the hotel as his father sort of sold him of to Man Wol as a child. And together they have to manage the hotel together as well as solve the mystery as to why Chan Sung keeps reminding Man Wol of her ex that betrayed her many years ago.

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Sell Your Haunted House | 대박부동산 (2021)

If nothing else, this is a great business idea. Ji Ah runs the company, Deabak Realty, specialising in selling haunted houses. A handy thing as she got her exorcism abilities from her mother (who btw haunts her daughter). She needs an assistant and meets the conman In Beom. He specializes in selling stuff that apparently exorcises ghosts, although it’s mostly junk. But together they team up to sell houses, exorcise vengeful spirits and deal with their pasts filled with sorrow in this action packed Korean horror TV-Series. 

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Bring It On, Ghost | 싸우자 귀신아 (2016)

The cuter entry on the list is Bring it on, Ghost. Although it contains its fair share of ghosts, gore and dead cats so it falls into the Korean horror TV-Series. The series certainly hit its audience, and there is already a Thai adaption of the series. A college boy works as an exorcist part time. On a job he faces a teenage ghost that he accidently kisses, making her regain some part of her memory she searches for in the afterlife. Together they try to piece together the mystery behind her death as well as the strange stuff happening around the college he attends.

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Kingdom | 킹덤 (2019)

The mega series helped turn the tide for Korean horror TV-Series and certainly the interest in Korean zombies. A mysterious illness has befallen the king in a fictionalized version of Korea in the Joseon area. The illness of zombification is spreading throughout the kingdom and the crown prince travels out from the castle to solve the mystery behind his father’s ailment. Out there he finds a kingdom in disarray and hoards of zombies threatening the whole kingdom he was born to protect. With its two season wrapped story it looks like this is the whole of it, but with sidequel/prequel like movies like Kingdom: Ashin of the North, and the original cartoon with its specials, who is to say this is the end of the franchise?

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Sweet Home | 스위트홈 (2020)

This monster flick is truly on testosterone with the most crazy characters and designs for monsters roams freely in this damp and shabby residential building. This Korean horror TV-Series is based on the famous korean webtoon. A strange virus that turns humans to monsters has taken over the world. In a residential building a reclusive teen lives in isolation. But as the dangers of the virus threathernes everyone around him, he must come out of his shell and help fight back for the human survival.

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The Guest |  손 (2018)

A young shaman, Yoon Hwa Pyung, learns about the demon named “son”, (meaning guest) in this Korean horror TV-Series from 2018. The demon is a danger to everyone and leaves a trail of corpses. The young shaman meets up with a catholic guy and the daughter of a detective when their families are killed by a demon. Twenty years later they meet up again when the killings start once again. This time, to work together to bring down the demon.

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Possessed | 빙의 (2019)

A classic detective meets a medium to hunt down criminals in this Korean horror TV-Series. They meet when the detective is working a case and he immediately takes an interest in her. With both of their abilities, they start to solve cases together. One of the more divisive shows as many watchers found the k-drama way to dark for their expectations and for some it was right up their alley. Decide for yourself.

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Missing: The Other Side | 미씽: 그들이 있었다 (2020)

This is one of those rare cases were a k-drama actually gets a sequel with a second season confirmed. The first season started with a small village named Duon Village, that holds the spirits of missing and deceased people were they gather. A group of a fraud man, detective, a hacker and a mysterious man teams up to solve the mysteries behind the strange village and to find the missing people.

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Night Watchman’s Journal | 야경꾼일지 (2014)

One cannot complete a k-drama list without a historical drama on the list from the Joseon period, that is the law! And here comes the Night Watchman’s Journal in as a ghostbuster story in hanbok in this Korean horror TV-Series. With the backdrop of the royal palace, a group of guys spends their time fighting demons and vengeful spirits as well as dealing with the living trying to usurp the king.

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The Dark Christmas Episodes From TV-Series

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If there is one thing that I hate, it is a merry Christmas. Overly joyous elves working as slaves for Santa, the amount of money that goes into useless presents and baked good that never tastes as good as it looks. And then, Santa Claus. Good dammit, the amount of therapy leading back to the annual encounters of this creep… gad dammit. It is truly the most terrifying character the world brought to the jolly festivities. And yes, the Grinch is my favorite Christmas movie.

Luckily, it looks like some series got the memo as well. If you’ve never seen a Christmas Special, just have a look to basically every Dr. Who specials there is. But for those that need something more, this is a collection of a horror fueled Christmas. For those looking to hunt the ghost of Christmas past, and stake that devious Krampus Santa, let’s go for a dive to the Christmas specials of TV shows.

Supernatural

The of Supernatural this year is the most bitersweet thing that has happened for a long time. It is sad because of all the memories and that it was the first show that showcased all the paranormal stuff I was into that I saw. The writers of Supernatural must be as damaged of Santa as I was. They have only one episode featuring Christmas heavily, but also some episodes were the time is around Christmas times.

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A Very Supernatural Christmas: Episode 8 – Season 3

The episode was written with the intent of being “the most violent Christmas special in the history of television”. In any case, it certainly had a lot of blood and gore.

Synopsis

The narrative follows series protagonists Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) as they confront a pair of pagan gods who annually take human sacrifices. And they also give some great flashbacks to how their little dysfunctional family celebrated Christmas when they were young.

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The Devil In The Details: Episode 11 – Season 10

Not a true Christmas special, but does feature a Christmas scene with Crowley. So no complains here.

Synopsis

Now that he has Sam in the cage with him, Lucifer offers Sam a way out but it comes with a steep price. Dean and Castiel look into the angel smiting that might have killed Amara.

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The Spear: Episode 9 – Season 9

Doesn’t really have a Christmas plot but does include Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree in the soundtrack and a Christmas decorations.

Synopsis

Dean and Sam get help from their friend Garth to get some information regarding what Micheal is planning. They split up to find weapons that will work against the Archangel.

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The X-Files

The X-Files gave some great Christmas episodes, with some great quotable lines. Like Sculder wanting to take hostages in “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas”. The now vintage 90’s style gives an extra nostalgic touch of how the Christmases looked when you were a kid, or at least younger and more exited about it.

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How the Ghosts Stole Christmas: Episode 6 – Season 6

The episode is a “Monster-of-the-Week” story, unconnected to the series’ wider mythology. And those episodes were some of the best one in my opinion.

Synopsis

It is Christmas Eve and Mulder makes Scully to come to a house that is supposedly haunted. They do a stakeout of the house. Two lovers allegedly killed each other in a lovers pact almost a century ago.

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Christmas Carol: Episode 5 – Season 6

A bit calmer episode than many here, the focus is on how awesome Gillian Anderson is.

Synopsis

Scully and her mother visit her brother Bill and his wife Tara, who is expecting, around Christmas time. Scully answers the phone, and the person on the other line, who sounds just like her dead sister Melissa, tells her that someone needs her help. Scully traces the call to a nearby home in San Diego where local police are investigating the suicide of a woman, Roberta Sim. Kresge, the lead detective on the case, tells Scully that it was impossible for Roberta to have dialed, as she died before the telephone call was made. 

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Sein und Zeit: Episode 10 – Season 7

“Sein und Zeit” was written as the first part of a two-part arc that would eventually reveal what had happened to Samantha Mulder.

Synopsis

Fox Mulder asks to be a part of the investigation looking for a little girl, Amber Lynn LaPierre, who disappeared from her home in Sacramento, California. Mulder’s superior, Walter Skinner, initially denies his request, noting that the investigation is not an X-file, but simply a missing persons case. Mulder, however, convinces Skinner to allow him to investigate.

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American Horror Story

This is what I picture whenever I was told by mom Santa was coming and I had to sit on his lap. No thank you, never again. American Horror Story seems to have understood that when the Santa here is a murderous killer from solitary cell.

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Unholy Night: Episode 8 – Season 2

Synopsis

It is Christmas at the asylum, but everyone is too busy with celebration. A serial killer with an obsession for Christmas and Santa Claus is taken out from solitary. He did some truly crazy things last Christmas, and intends to do it again.

The Twilight Zone

How many more proof do we need before banning Santa Claus? A hashtag #bansanta is something we must get trending.

The Night of the Meek: Episode 11 – Season 2

A kind of sad and creepy story about a tragic department store Santa Claus that have a dream of becoming the real one.

Synopsis

After a derelict Santa Claus is fired on Christmas Eve, he finds a mysterious bag that gives out presents. With this bag he sets out to fulfill his one wish – to see the less fortunate inherit the bounties of Christmas.

Black Mirror

No Santa here, thank God, but Black Mirror is also extremely scary, not necessarily in jump scares, but the awful twists that exposes humans as they really are- awful!

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White Christmas: Episode 4 – Season 4

Starring Jon Hamm, gives a bleak insight to the white and modern (but dark and grim) Christmas.

Synopsis

Three interconnected tales of technology run amok during the Christmas season are told by two men at a remote outpost in a frozen wilderness.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer

No Christmas without blood sucking vampires and scream queen Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Amends: Episode 10 – Season 3

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Supposedly a bot romantic, but I was team Spike, so go away Angel! Although, Joss Whedon know how to bring a little Christmas miracle.

Synopsis

It is Christmas in Sunnydale and Angel is haunted with dreams of the people he murdered over the years as Angelus. When Buffy starts getting dragged into his memory-nightmares, experiencing Angel’s dreams also, they realize something unnatural is happening. Visions of his past victims, appear to him and try to get him to kill Buffy, saying that he will be released from the pain if he does so.

Inside No. 9

Inside No. 9 is a British black comedy anthology TV series. Each 30-minute episode is a self-contained story with new characters and a new setting. Aside from the writers, each episode has a new cast, allowing Inside No. 9 to attract a number of well-known actors. The stories are linked only by the number 9 in some way and a brass hare statue that is in the background of all episodes.

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The Devil of Christmas E1S3

Now, hear me out. No matter how much marketing Coca Cola does for the Santa Claus image, the image of Krampus will not be erased. #santaiscancelled

Synopsis

A director talks about his old horror film. It’s Austria, Krampusnacht, December 1977. The Devonshires arrive at the alpine chalet for a holiday. The caretaker, Klaus, tells them about a local legend of Krampus, the Devil of Christmas.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Not the biggest fan of the new installment of Sabrina, but nonetheless, they have winter solstice, witches, magic and a lot of candles. A creepy Christmas it is!

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A Midwinter’s Tale Episode 11- Season 1

This works as a more stand alone special than a normal “monster of the week”, or as a part of a bigger arch.

Synopsis

As the winter solstice approaches, Sabrina orchestrates an emotional seance with serious consequences, and Susie’s merry plans turn menacing.

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The Addams Family

So this is from the original series from 1960’s. There are also several reboots with a Christmas episode in on of those. But for those feeling the vintage vibes, this is from the first sit-com adaption of the comic strip.

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Christmas With the Addams Family: Episode 15 – Season 2

This picture is the only picture of a Santa get up I approve of.

Synopsis

Not wanting the children to be disappointed after hearing once again from Mr. Thompson that there’s no such thing as Santa Claus, each member of the family dresses up as him to prove to Wednesday and Pugsley that he’s real.

Tales From the Crypt

Ho, ho, ho, kiddies! Just your old pal the Crypt Keeper having a little holiday fun.
– The Crypt Keeper

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And All Through The House Episode 2 – Season 1

#cancelsanta #bansanta #santaclausisthedevil

Synopsis

On Christmas Eve, a mother controls the anxiety of her little daughter Carrie Ann for Santa Claus and puts her to bed. Then she comes to the living room and kills her husband, hitting his head with a fireplace poker, expecting to receive his life insurance and stay with her lover. While she is dumping his body on the yard, the dangerous patient of a mental institution dressed like Santa Claus attacks her but she succeeds to escape and lock the door. However, she is unable to call the police since the body of her husband is in the front yard. Out of the blue, Carrie calls her mother with an unexpected guest.

Grimm

Grimm got some Christmas episodes as well. As they are deeply into their Germanic stories, they explore some of the pagan and scary part of old Germanic folklore.

The Grimm Who Stole Christmas: Episode 7 – Season 4

Nick and Hank are called to investigate a bizarre string of home invasions that lead to an even stranger Wesen phenomenon. Monroe has a very special Christmas surprise in store for Rosalee. Meanwhile, Trubel comes to a life changing realization that will affect everyone.

Let Your Hair Down: Episode 7 – Season 1

Although not strictly a Christmas episode, the episode is set during Christmas times.

Synopsis

A mysterious homicide deep in the woods leads to Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) reopening a long-aborted missing persons case. When Nick suspects this abducted person might be a feral creature, he asks Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) to help remind this wild child of her human nature.

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Twelve Days of Krampus

See all Krampus/santarelated posts in this posts. Now, I’m going to lock the door. I think this post brougth up some bad memories and bad mojo. Stay safe and don’t seek santa when he comes!

Synopsis

An “anti-santa claus” character from Austrian folklore begins to stalk and kidnap the juvenile delinquents during the holidays with more than a lump of coal on it’s mind; Monroe learns of why Rosalee is uncomfortable about the holiday decorations.

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Ju-On: Origins – a Look at the Truth Behind “the Grudge”

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The legendary horror franchise that is “Ju-On” is back, Japanese style. Please America, don’t try to make any more remakes. Enough. But is the franchise really strong enough to carry a full fledged miniseries?

Me when someone announces an origin installment of anything. Source: IMDB

Netflix Japan tries to do just this in the first-ever horror of Netflix Japan Original, “JU-ON: Origins”. We once again visits the cursed house, seeing lots of unkempt long hair and listens to the sound of a growling cat. Usually when I see a franchise installment marked “origins”, I go NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, as most of them is just. Well, just plain lazy. But here, I have to give it to them, props for making this, but not for the reasons you might think. Written by Written by Hiroshi Takahashi and Takashige Ichise, the well known story gets a new lens to be seen through.

Haruka Honjo (Yuina Kuroshima) is a rookie actress. She hears the sounds of footsteps at night in her house. When she learns of psychic researcher Yasuo Odajima (YosiYosi Arakawa) from a TV variety program, she seeks counseling from him about her problem. She teams up with a paranormal investigator to find out the truth is. Also, there are a lot of parallel stories to follow.

Classic Ju-On, Confusing the Audiences Since the Birth of the Franchise

The atmosphere is what driving the story, mentions of the Chernobyl disaster, the fashion trends together with a moody music. It is more an exploration of the psychological drives of the characters and their story more than the scares. If there is one thing that I was left with, it was that I liked it, it just didn’t scare me. Perhaps that is because I compared it to how I felt as a younger viewer in the early 2000 watching the original. Or it could simply be that the scares they did put into it, relied more on very dramatic screaming, blood and many weird and wonky film effects.

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There are some nods to the fans of the franchise, like the cats and the their screams, working like an image of the human grief, and anger the character feels. The narratives and plot is overlapping, going in circles and bites itself in the back, just as the rest of the installments. But as a six episode long series, not a movie, does this work? Jury is out!

The very polite man: e-eee-eeetoooo Source IMDB

The characters are in the first episode all over the place, with a lot to keep tabs on in what seems to be unrelated people. And they continue to be confusing to follow, at times frustratingly so throughout the series. If you want complete closure and all questions answered, you will be truly disappointed. It takes a while until the characters really cross paths except all being connected to the house. And the only connecting device they have in the start are the same news feed through the news on retro TV’s and in passing.

The violence is the worst. So graphic, so grotesque. Always coming as a surprise in the most mundane situations, lasting for so long, reminding us that humans really is the worst. Also, in addition to that, it truly have some of the more bizarre scene I’ve witnessed in a long time. Bento in prison scene I’m looking at you.

Based on a True Story

A lot of marketing for the series have been, a “based on a true story” spin. It is not uncommon for horror movies to go this route. But is this it? What is the true story?

The legend of Ju-On is based on the legend of the Onry from Japanese folklore. A vengeful ghost, most often a woman killed by the hands of her husband or another man in close relation. And although the legend may be old stories, the news stories connecting the characters in the TV, sure reminds us about some real stories.

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Onryō — the Vengeful Japanese Spirit

In many cultures, ghosts are put in different categories. Such is the case with Onryō (怨霊 onryō,) It basically means “vengeful spirit” or “wrathful spirit” in Japanese and is a mythological spirit of vengeance from Japanese folklore. They also have ghosts, called yurei, but these differ in the will of the ghost. As opposed to…

But a clever thing they did was to subtly, or nor so subtly, actually, show real cases of murders. Poorly disguised with cover up names they always makes references to real cases when the characters are sitting, watching the news. And they do that, a lot. For instances this one case her:

In the second episode they show a news footage of the body of a girl in cement. It is 17 year old Sakura found that were held captured by three peers for a month. Something that surely reminds us of the real case of Junko Furuta back in 1977.

They also mentions the Matsumoto sarin attack in 1994 that killed eight and injured 500, perpetuated by a doomsday cult that would attack the year after in the  Tokyo subway sarin attack, with the desire to kick start their apocalypse and World War 3. Mindless violence.

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This is just some of the cases they referenced. Some actually happened in the years they are telling the stories in, from 1988 to 1997. Like for instance, they show what seems to be the Kobe Child Murders where a severed head in school 1997. And the perpetrator, a 14 year old boy, was responsible for several murders.

In my opinion this is a clever way of showing the audience a more sinister truth, lurking under this low crime country, filled with politeness and pride. There is this taboo of domestic abuse, parental neglect, misogyny, rape and intense violence that seeps through the cracks of the society.

A Social Commentary on Violence

And this is were I think the series stays strongest. Not in the jump scares, but in the social commentary. It is like a well written essay were it keeps punching away criticism of being over the top. “Oh, you think this gruesome murder of pregnant women was bad? BOOM, have a look at this actual true murder case”. It is truly were the heart of the series is, and always have. Now, the showrunners are just confident enough to rely mostly on it.

It is a lesson on violence repeating itself. Of how quickly domestic violence goes away, it is just inherited to others, creating this cycle of violence and a want for revenge in death as the characters had no way of protecting themselves in life. And so the abused becomes the abuser, and the cycle continues.

And no, I wasn’t as scared as in 2004 when Sarah Michelle Gellar introduced me to the franchise, or later when I watched the original Japanese version. But I still liked it, standing on its on. It begs the question, can men and women ever live peacefully together, as well as feeling free?

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How the TV-series Penny Dreadful is Influenced by Old Literature

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In honor of the new spin-off series, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (2020), we took a nostalgic look back to the awesome Showtime series that started it all. RIP Original series, you were cancelled all too soon.


Penny Dreadful is a British-American horror drama television series created for Showtime and Sky by John Logan. It ran for three seasons from 2014-2016.

Iconic Vanessa Ives (Eva Green).
An original character and
also some of the most well crafted ones.

Penny Dreadful is an old term used during the nineteenth century to refer to cheap popular serial literature. Sort of like pulp fiction. It was also called penny blood, penny awful, or penny horrible. It means a story published in weekly parts, with the cost of one (old) penny. The main plot of these stories were typically sensational, focusing on the adventures of detectives, criminals, or supernatural entities.

This is exactly what Penny Dreadful was, and what it payed homage to. So we found some old stuff the series borrowed or was inspired by. And there is A LOT. So get your cigarette on a stick and let’s go on some vampiric monster hunt with out pals.

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Frankenstein

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley (1797–1851) that tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a hideous sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. 

Harry Treadaway played Victor Frankenstein, an arrogant, reclusive young doctor whose ambition and research involve transcending the barrier between life and death. In this show, Dr. Victor Frankenstein likes to quote the romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley’s second wife was Mary Shelley.

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Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. Fearing the story was indecent, the magazine’s editor deleted roughly five hundred words before publication without Wilde’s knowledge. It is Wilde’s only novel.

In the series he was played by Reeve Carney. A charismatic man who is ageless and immortal. And this Dorian Gray had a great, but utterly confusing story line. Where his purpose in the show was to throw great balls and parties and have sex with absolutely every character.

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Frankenstein’s bride

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein is tempted by his monster’s proposal to create a female creature so that the monster can have a wife: “Shall each man,” cried he, “find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone?”

In Penny Dreadful, the bride of Frankenstein is Brona Croft (portrayed by Billie Piper), an Irish immigrant with a dark past who dies of tuberculosis at the end of Season 1. In season 2, she is brought back to life with no memory after Frankenstein’s monster demands a bride and given the new name “Lily Frankenstein” by Victor. That last scene of her speech will haunt television forever.

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The creature

Often called John Clare. He was a labour poet in the mid 1800’s England. But if it is a reference to the creature is unclear. What is clear though is that the creature often is called Caliban as well, a character from Shakespear’s The tempes. Half human, half monster. In some traditions he is depicted as a wild man, or a deformed man, or a beast man, or sometimes a mix of fish and man, a dwarf or even a tortoise. Another connection from the creature to penny dreadful is Dorian Gray. In the preface of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde muses: “The nineteenth century dislike of Realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth century dislike of Romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.”

In the series he was played with Rory Kinnear, and had long storylines without many of the characters, alone.

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Dracula

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. Dracula was a big influence from the start. From Mina being taken by him, the chase after Dracula and several character that appears in the series. Van Helsing included. But the series managed to make a twist of it all, and the influence of Dracula is almost as if just a eerily familiar setting and feeling of the series. He did however show up in series three in the flesh. Christian Camargo as Dracula, the brother of Lucifer who fell to Earth to feed on the blood of the living as the first vampire. In London, he takes the guise of kindly zoologist Alexander Sweet to captivate Vanessa.

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John Seward

In season 3 of TV series Penny Dreadful, Patti LuPone portrays Dr. Florence Seward, a female version of the character. It is originally a character from Dracula, a doctor in the insane asylum, He calls in his mentor, Abraham Van Helsing, to help him with her illness, and he helps Seward to realize that Lucy has been bitten by a vampire and is doomed to become one herself. He was in love with her and proposed to her, but was rejected. After she is officially destroyed and her soul can go to heaven, Seward is determined to destroy Dracula.

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1886. It is about a London legal practitioner named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde.

Dr. Jekyll (Shazad Latif) as a former classmate of Dr. Frankenstein’s.

Varney the vampire

Abraham Van Helsing gives a copy of Varney the Vampire to Victor Frankenstein, explaining that the story is more truth than fiction and that the mysterious creature the series’ characters are pursuing is a vampire.

Justine

Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue is a 1791 novel by Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, better known as the Marquis de Sade. Justine is set just before the French Revolution in France and tells the story of a young girl who goes under the name of Thérèse. Her story is recounted to Madame de Lorsagne while defending herself for her crimes, en route to punishment and death.

In Penny Dreadful she is the a homeless, brutalized young prostitute who becomes an acolyte to Lily played by Jessica Barden. In an interview with John Logan from the show, he also said the relationship between Justine and Lily was inspired by th Novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu

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Wolfman

Larry Talbot was the main character in the movie series the Wolfman from 1941 and onward. There are sequels, reboots and several other medias tied into this franchise. He has his own interaction with all the Penny Dreadful characters from Dracula, Frankenstein and so on in his own franchise as well.

In the TV series Penny Dreadful, Ethan Chandler’s real name is revealed to be Ethan Lawrence Talbot, and he suffers from the curse of lycanthropy. This version of the character is played by Josh Hartnett.

Hecate

Hecate Poole is the witch played by Sarah Greene and is Evelyn Pool’s eldest daughter. She is the witch who pursues Ethan Chandler in seasons two and three. She shares her name with the ancient Greek goddess of witchcraft and the moon. Like Ethan’s relationship with the moon and her witchcraft ability as a Nightcomer witch.

The unquiet grave

“The Unquiet Grave” is an English folk song in which a young man mourns his dead love too hard and prevents her from obtaining peace. It is thought to date from 1400. It is heard in the mansion of the Nightcomer witches.

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