10 Biggest WTF Moments In Recent Horror TV Shows
The marquee instances that left horror audiences cursing.
WTF moments and the horror genre go hand in hand for obvious reasons. A key facet of the genre itself is to disturb and scare the film or show's audience, and to do so requires onscreen moments that have viewers asking themselves what the f*ck they were just witness to.
Horror TV serials lend themselves perfectly to such occurrences. Much to the delight of the more bloodthirsty, adrenaline junkie viewers amongst us, an increased amount of time to tell the story increases the amount of shocking moments that writers are able to cram into it, as well as giving them more to time to work on developing characters into more engaging heroes and villains.
As such, the curtain call of diverse and frightful personalities that feature within these shows have increased capacity and screen time to thrill, baffle and appal their viewers in equal measure; whether it be the sheer depths of their wicked depravity, the emotional impact their death leaves on the audience or the manner in which they utilize good old fashioned rivers of stomach churning gore.
While horror films may hold the prestigious honor of owning more notorious moments that resulted in audiences cursing in disbelief, several recent horror outings on television have apparently sought to reverse the status quo, going bigger and more spectacular than ever before in their pursuit of the ultimate WTF moment.
10. Spears Asks Anna To Kill Him - Black Summer
There is an argument to be that there can be no greater WTF moment within the confines of a television plot line than the death of a main character.
Main characters aren't supposed to die. There's a reason it's such a risky narrative technique; one risks alienating the target audience by introducing a character, making audiences legitimately care about them, and then suddenly bumping them off, but that's exactly the direction Z Nation spin-off Black Summer decided to go in with the penultimate episode of season two.
The strange thing is, the manner of Julius James', aka Spears, death isn't actually that WTF worthy. He is shot in the first episode and spends the remainder of the second season succumbing to his wounds. It isn't even the fact that Rose's young daughter Anna is the one to put the dying soldier out of his misery, hardening herself for the road ahead and letting Spears die happy in the knowledge that Rose - who he cares deeply for - is in safe hands.
The WTF factor surrounding this moment is as a result of Spears' vast character development across two seasons and 15 episodes. An integral part of Black Summer since the show kicked off, Spears underwent as thorough a character examination as conceivable, delving into his sordid past and uplifting journey of redemption. It was confusing and truly heartbreaking to see such a rich character depart so prematurely, the television equivalent of a meticulously constructed house of cards tumbling down.