Scariest TV Episodes... (1 Viewer)

IO9 has listed their "scariest TV episodes ever"

http://io9.com/top-25-scariest-science-fiction-and-fantasy-tv-episodes-1450803057/@Jessica

In a typical meme of discussion. But I'm reminded of episodes that aren't on here. like several from HBO's terrifying "Carnivale" to the Chatty Cathy episode of Twilight Zone.. but plenty of good terror in time for Halloween.

So, if you were picking episodes that scared you, what would be on the list?

A few more X Files would have made the list for me - the first Tooms episode, the Season 2 Die Hand Die Verletzt about a substitute teacher turning out to be more than that and one involving an exorcism of a young boy from Season 2.

Fun list. I would have had at least the pilot of Millennium on there. Some other spooky but lesser known episodes of The Twilight Zone are Perchance To Dream, The Hitch-Hiker, Mirror Image, The Grave, The Jungle and Night Call.

[DORK ALERT]A pet peeve of mine is that Twin Peaks doesn't have episode titles (it just used the episode number). The titles that you see were all made up by a German TV station that aired the show and not the writers or anyone associated with the show.[/DORK ALERT]

Personally I think the entire top 25 should consist of 'American Horror Story' episodes. Admittedly I haven't seen everything on that list (maybe about half of them), but none of the ones that I have seen are as scary as the least scariest 'American Horror Story' episode. If I had to pick one though, what about that episode in the first season with the high school shooting?

That said, glad to see that Amazing Stories mirror episode on there. I remember being terrified of that as a kid.

Totally agree with The Zanti Misfits, still gives me shivers to this day. Would have added The Belaro Shield episode from The Outer Limits as well.

The one where Fonzie waterski-jumped over the shark.

Richard V said:

Totally agree with The Zanti Misfits, still gives me shivers to this day. Would have added The Belaro Shield episode from The Outer Limits as well.

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Richard,My wife cannot (or will not) watch that episode (The Zanti Misfits). Whenever some of my children want to watch it, she's out of there!

To me the creepiest Outer Limits episode is "Corpus Earthling" (with rocks that talk to each other and take over human minds), very dark, creepy episode.


Thriller (1960) has an episode called "Dark Legacy", it's rarely mentioned but it's much creepier, imho, than "Pigeons from Hell" or "The Hungry Glass" which always get mentioned as the best of that mostly lukewarm series.

Glad to see some favorite TZ eps mentioned here: "Perchance to Dream" and "Mirror Image" and I'd add my personal fave "And When the Sky was Opened" very good stuff.

I have to admit that the episode "home" from the X-Files creeped me out and definitely stuck with me for a long time.

The "Unlocked Window" episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Those of us of "a certain age" still remember being absolutely terrified by the ending of this one. A major classic ...

PODER said:

The "Unlocked Window" episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Those of us of "a certain age" still remember being absolutely terrified by the ending of this one. A major classic ...

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Absolutely, possibly the scariest of AHH. And don't forget "The Jar" also AHH, a weird and creepy one

mackjay said:

To me the creepiest Outer Limits episode is "Corpus Earthling" (with rocks that talk to each other and take over human minds), very dark, creepy episode.

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Yes, that's another one that is quite scary. I especially love the transformation of the entity in that episode. And then it begins to walk. Very creepy indeed.

There was an episode of Night Gallery that featured Richard Thomas as a sin eater that I found very, very disturbing.

I certainly agree about "The Unlocked Window" as one of the all-time best.

Believe it or not, "The Ghost of A. Chantz" on The Dick Van Dyke Show used to creep me out, too.

I agree, Matt, "Sins of the Father" is a great episode. I also love the Night Gallery episode called "The Caterpillar," about the nasty effects of an earwig as it eats through the human brain.

Scott Hanson said:

That said, glad to see that Amazing Stories mirror episode on there. I remember being terrified of that as a kid.

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It was, until you read up the backstory anecdote that Spielberg heard about Stephen King directing "Maximum Overdrive", invited King to guest-direct an episode, and King basically snubbed and laughed off the offer.
Spielberg's reaction was never recorded; however, he did let his rights on "The Talisman" expire, and it does add a particular dimension to the story of a nasty, greedy, selfish, despicable meanie-poopyhead horror author--and screenwriter!--who dies a horrible, gruesome death straight out of one of his icky books...
(Yes, Spielberg resorting to petty personal in-snipe jokes didn't start with Lost World:JP2.)

I'll go even further back than Punky, though (and save any Fantasy Island recollections for later--Geez, those could be some weird-@$$ fever dreams when they tried to do "scary"...)
And see if anyone remembers Fred, Barney, and the laugh of the late J. Giggles Flintstone in "A Haunted House is Not a Home".

JohnMor said:

I agree, Matt, "Sins of the Father" is a great episode. I also love the Night Gallery episode called "The Caterpillar," about the nasty effects of an earwig as it eats through the human brain.

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"The Caterpillar" possibly the most horrific episode from any show ever produced for TV

Scott Hanson said:

Personally I think the entire top 25 should consist of 'American Horror Story' episodes. Admittedly I haven't seen everything on that list (maybe about half of them), but none of the ones that I have seen are as scary as the least scariest 'American Horror Story' episode.

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The first season of "American Horror Story" ranged from supremely creepy/unnerving to outright terrifying.
I agree with the "Countrycide" episode of "Torchwood", which is scary for what it is not for more than for what it is.

The pilot for "The Walking Dead" achieved a level of horror and suspense that the show hasn't regained since. The whole sequence in the hospital is nail-bitingly intense.

"Doctor Who" goes for scary a lot, but most of it's kids scary. The only really genuinely creepy episodes of new-Who in my mind are "The Waters of Mars", "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances","Midnight" and "Blink"

The two "X Files" episodes that really haunted me were "Field Trip", which played to my fears of dreams-within-dreams where you don't know whether you've come out of it or not, and "Folie à Deux", which played to my fears of mental illness and body snatching -- the whole invisible vampire conceit. The fact that the monster effects were laughable did nothing to undermine the horror inherent in the concept.

Wasn't there a Twilight Zone about a ventriloquist that was super scary? Or was that Alfred Hitchcock?

I don't mean this as a knock against American Horror Story and The Walking Dead but I find them to be more violent, gross or over the top rather than scary. Occasionally, I'll get nervous watching AHS but mostly, I'm just semi-shocked at how far they go.

Scott Hanson said:

Wasn't there a Twilight Zone about a ventriloquist that was super scary? Or was that Alfred Hitchcock?

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There's two ventriloquist TZ episodes "The Dummy" and "Caesar And Me". In my opinion, The Dummy is the scarier because the dummy in that one is doing sinister stuff and the one in Caesar And Me is more of a petty criminal.

Scott Hanson said:

Wasn't there a Twilight Zone about a ventriloquist that was super scary? Or was that Alfred Hitchcock?

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Both had creepy ventriloquist episodes. The Twilight Zone had "The Dummy" with Cliff Robertson that was indeed scary.

Hitchcock had "The Glass Eye" which had a surprise ending more than it being a shock fest.