Jamie's Handcrafted Anthology of Horror Anthologies

How do you feel about horror? Do you cover your eyes the moment the music gets tense? Do you get squeamish at a splash of red? Then this article is not for you. Put it down. You’ve got other things to do anyway!?

But if you like horror, then whether you know it or not, you’re knee deep in a dilemma that’s harder to escape than the hedge maze at the Overlook Hotel.?

There’s probably a horror anthology that caught you at a seminal moment in your life: if you’re a Boomer, maybe the Twilight Zone or Night Gallery, if you’re a Millennial, maybe Tales from the Crypt or Are You Afraid of the Dark, and if you’re Gen Z or younger, maybe Black Mirror or American Horror Stories.?

Horror anthologies are perfect for our modern life. Bite-sized full stories, nearly endless in their depth and variety. But where do you start? There are lists of the best episodes from a particular anthology, but what if you wanted to create a meta-anthology? An anthology of anthologies. A Turducken of Horror. An anthology of only the best individual episodes from the best anthologies.?

Luckily for you, over the past two years I have waded through nearly every episode of every horror anthology, even if you need to VPN to a Romanian horror streaming service. And while I don’t have much to show for that journey, at least I can present to you, for your viewing pleasure, the perfect ten-episode anthology of anthologies:

Episode 1: Twilight Zone: “It’s a Good Life” - Season 3, Episode 8 (1961)

Start with a classic. This Twilight Zone episode features a 6 year old who you don’t want to displease. At any moment, he can send anyone he wants “to the cornfield" (dead). Watching adults trip over themselves to keep little Anthony from blowing his top and killing them all is a particular form of anxiety. If you’ve ever flown a long-haul flight with a toddler, or tried to take an infant out to a restaurant, this episode will get you deep in your bones

Episode 2: Cabinet of Curiosities: “The Autopsy” - Season 1, Episode 3 (2022)

I love that Guillermo Del Toro did this anthology series for Netflix, and nearly every episode is worth a watch. This is the best of them, though, from director David Prior, a rising star in the horror world. F. Murray Abraham plays a pathologist whose autopsy goes horribly awry. Great acting, great music, great direction, and some unnerving effects.

Episode 3: Black Mirror: “Playtest” - Season 3, Episode 2 (2016)

Not all Black Mirror episodes qualify as horror, but this one certainly does. Wyatt Russell plays a traveler who tests a video game that burrows into your deepest fears. It’s among the best Black Mirror episodes, and certainly one of the scarier ones.

Episode 4: Creepshow: “Skincrawlers” - Season 1, Episode 6 (2019)

Genres often have an implicit moral code (don’t knock small towns in a rom com, don’t do drugs in a mafia movie) and horror is no exception. One consistent lesson is never take the easy route to self-improvement. Nearly every horror anthology has a few episodes involving a way to make yourself a genius, or a secret beauty treatment with a bite of its own. This episode of Creepshow involves a leech that makes you skinny overnight. Great practical effects and chaos ensue.?

Episode 5: Twilight Zone: “To Serve Man” - Season 3, Episode 24 (1962)

The Twilight Zone is famous for its twists and reveals, and this episode is perhaps the best and most iconic of all of them. Oft copied, never beaten. An alien race comes to help make all of our lives better and…just watch it.

Episode 6: Thriller: “A Coffin for the Bride” - Season 3, Episode 1 (1975)

This is a British anthology from the 70s that can be a little too moody for its own good sometimes. The Brits love their gothic candelabras and such. But this episode is a great one, in part because it features the inimitable Helen Mirren in an early role. She was not yet a dame or an icon, but all the star power was already there.

Episode 7: The Outer Limits: “Demon with a Glass Hand” - Season 2, Episode 5 (1964)

A lot of the 1960s and 1970s horror anthologies blur the lines between horror and science fiction. This was a time when anything seemed possible. Demon with a Glass Hand begins with a strange opening – a man awakens with an omniscient glass hand and no memory of how he got it. Soon, it turns out plenty of people are willing to kill him for his hand. The final reveal of what it is is pretty trippy. Like Inception or Primer but with killer aliens.

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Episode 8: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: “The Glass Eye” - Season 3, Episode 1 (1957)

This episode is justifiably famous. It terrified me when I first saw it at 8 years old, and it hasn’t lost much of its oomph since then. A woman falls in love with a traveling ventriloquist, and does whatever it takes to meet him. All she wants in the world is to meet him, and then, she finally does…

Episode 9: American Horror Stories: “Drive In” - Season 1, Episode 3 (2021)

There’s a horror trope that horror fans love: the idea of the object, or movie, or idea so powerful or demented that it drives anyone who sees it mad. It’s a meta-trope about horror itself. This entry in American Horror Stories (an anthology spinoff of American Horror Story, itself an anthology) isn’t reinventing the wheel, but is a fun watch. Teenagers psych themselves up to see a legendary drive-in movie that turns its viewers feral. The tension builds as they wait for the viewing.

Episode 10: Cabinet of Curiosities: “The Viewing” - Season 1, Episode 7 (2022)

This is not the best episode of Cabinet of Curiosities (see The Autopsy, above). In fact, I can’t even really recall what the plot is. But director Panos Cosmatos lays out a painting of an episode, with visuals so striking, and sound so eerie, it’s almost more performance art than TV show. You won’t remember what the point was, but you’ll remember what it looked and sounded like. It’s the closest modern analogue to a Dario Argento or Mario Bava movie from the 70s, where the plot and acting were so secondary as to be irrelevant. The point is a striking mise en scène, and this one has it.

Enjoy!