10 Horror Television Episodes That Are Practically Flawless

Stranger Things' fourth season is widely regarded as the acclaimed show's finest to date. Embracing a darker and more adult tone to reflect the maturation of the once-babyfaced cast, the fourth entry in the Duffer Brothers' epic is absolutely masterful television.

Appropriately, the season's crowning jewel comes in the form of its fourth episode, Dear Billy. This out charts Max Mayfield's attempts to escape the clutches of the season's main antagonist - Jamie Campbell Bower's gloriously creepy Vecna - in a desperate race against time.

Dear Billy is contentiously the single greatest piece of horror television ever made. Sadie Sink is mesmerizing as Max, turning in a performance of depth and passion that utterly belies her young age. Touching on delicate mental health topics in the vein of suicide and depression, the episode still manages to channel all of the beloved touches that have established the show as one of television's best.

The superbly shot, chaotic attack on the Byers' home is a notable highlight, but Vecna's scenes with Max are the episode's most outstanding moments. Season Four's big bad demonstrates the full extent of his terrifying abilities, tormenting Max across 78 nail-biting minutes and amplifying the tidal wave of feel-good emotion that is released when she finally manages to escape.

A wonderful Robert Englund cameo and the inspired use of the uplifting tones of Kate Bush's iconic 1985 single Running Up That Hill are just the finishing touches on what is a truly exemplary episode - arguably, horror-based television's finest.