10 Best Slasher Horror TV Shows

The beauty of an anthology is its ability to allow individual seasons of a show to take on different subgenres and tropes, and this is something upon which every casual viewer’s favourite horror show, American Horror Story, has capitalised upon to greater or lesser success. The show overall has had some standout hit seasons, and some which admittedly failed to find that quintessential AHS spark.

Luckily, ninth season 1984 solidly hits the mark by paying homage to the seventies and eighties golden age of slasher films, with enough period appropriate pop culture references to rival Stranger Things and a healthy helping of camp to accompany the classic Ryan Murphy twists. Despite being the first season to not feature either Sarah Paulson or Evan Peters, the ensemble cast of summer camp workers lead by Emma Roberts provide solid and convincing performances as they are terrorised by not just one, but two serial murderers, plus ghosts. Now that’s a serious slasher!

Critical reception to the season was overwhelmingly positive. However, it did receive some backlash thanks to its portrayal of real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the Night Stalker, which the families of his victims felt glamorised him. Valid as this criticism is, if taken at face value as a fictional tale, it's difficult to find another show that better exemplifies the strengths of the slasher genre in its narrative.