In the weeks leading up to Halloween, the streamers have been pumping out all things scary and spooky. Still, one title has managed to stand out from the freaky bunch: Netflix's "Below."
The atmospheric, highly bingeable sea-creature thriller series stars Josh Hartnett as Calvin Penney, a fisherman living in a small, nautical Newfoundland town dealing with an unidentified sea creature that starts terrorizing the community.
Since the Jesse McKeown-created miniseries debuted on the streaming service on Oct. 8, it quickly surged to the top spot on Netflix's global and U.S. TV charts. But if you already finished all eight eerie episodes of "Below" and are looking for something similarly packed with small-town quirkiness, supernatural dread, and things that go bump in the night, we've got a trio of top-rated shows for you to watch next.
'Widow's Bay'
Let's get the obvious one out of the way, shall we? Before "Below," the main "creepy things happening on an isolated island" series of note was "Widow's Bay," the Apple TV hit that won over awards bodies — it took home a cool 14 Emmy Awards for its first season, including for Outstanding Comedy Series — and TV fans alike with its blend of offbeat humor and genuine scares
Like "Below," the horror-comedy takes place in a quaint island town: Here, it's a fictional New England hamlet 40 miles off the North Shore coast whose tourism bona fides are complicated by the fact that everyone on the island (as played by Kate O'Flynn, Stephen Root, Jeff Hiller and Dale Dickey, among others) believes it to be afflicted with a centuries-old curse.
Brushing off that supernatural brouhaha is the town mayor, Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), who is desperate to revive his struggling community and bring press attention to the isolated destination. That is, until the dark folklore of Widow's Bay starts to come true.
Stream "Widow's Bay" on Apple TV now
'The Terror'
Based on Dan Simmons's historical novel, the first season of this survival-horror anthology, like “Below,” focuses on the deep-sea frights that lurk beneath the water’s surface.
The story follows Royal Navy sailors on a doomed 1840s Arctic naval expedition to find the Northwest Passage. Trapped in the frozen Arctic ice, the crew of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus must not only endure the incredible harsh climate and rapidly approaching starvation but also a mysterious, polar bear-like supernatural predator inspired by the Inuit Tuurngait myth. (Do note, though, like any good anthology, the second season follows an entirely different story and cast.)
Stream "The Terror" on AMC+ now
'Stranger Things'
Netflix's sci-fi juggernaut "Stranger Things" and new maritime mystery "Below" share a main actor in Charlie Heaton, who plays the elder Byers bro Jonathan on the former and Calvin's oldest son Wade Penney in the latter. But the streaming shows share more DNA than just a casting overlap: Both center on a tight-knit community having to come together to face a mysterious monster threat, all wrapped up in a suspenseful sci-fi package that pays homage to throwback creature features like “The Fog,” “The Thing,” and “Jaws.”
Across five seasons, “Stranger Things” follows the residents of Hawkins as they deal with the horrific fallout after a young local boy (Noah Schnapp) seemingly vanishes into thin air in 1980s Indiana. Both his family (portrayed by the aforementioned Heaton as well as horror icon Winona Ryder) and friends—a lovable gang played by Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin—desperately search for the missing Will Byers, aided by a strange telekinetic girl (Millie Bobby Brown) who escaped from a lab.
Stream "Stranger Things" on Netflix now
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