2020 and 2021 have shown us a lot about the Horror genre as a whole. It’s still possible to scare people even through two of the scariest years that I can imagine. Remember, Horror isn’t always there to just simply scare you. It can be frightening, entertaining, and more. That’s a Fright-A-Thon for another day though. This time around, we’re talking about the prospects of Horror and Television/Streaming. If you want a full look at the prospects of Horror movies and skipping theaters entirely, our friends at Bloody Disgusting wrote a great piece about that.

This time around, we’re talking about the potential of certain Horror franchises and their prospects in switching over to a series/television format. We’re already getting Chucky from USA/SyFy later this October 12th, 2021. Shudder has given us three seasons of Creepshow on their service in a series format. Finally, Slasher: Flesh and Blood goes to show that a slasher movie can translate over to an episodic style.

We haven’t had entries in the Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street series in over a decade. That’s a long time to go without two of the most iconic slasher franchises in the business. If not for the excellent Halloween reboot series, we might be putting that series in this basket. Shows like The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix have also shown that Horror fits in with the medium. After all, one of the most popular television series of all-time, The Twilight Zone, is still Horror at the end of the day.

Ranking The Halloween Movies: Sequels To Rob Zombie [Fright-A-Thon]

Horror Has It’s Place In The Theater, But Also In Your Living Room

Streaming

Could Freddy Krueger work on the silver screen? Well he has in the past. Freddy’s Nightmares ran for a couple seasons and showed that the Horror juggernaut could work as a host in addition to a villain. Friday the 13th The Series had nothing to do with Jason Voorhees and the rest of those characters, but it showed that at least by name, we could get a series out with that “universe”. The big question is how would those characters work over the course of 8-10 episodes? The possibilities are endless, especially for a character and series like A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Part of the reason why Nightmare is a fan favorite Horror series is because all the movies have a distinct feel and they aren’t similar to other Horror flicks. Freddy is an iconic character that has a creative and specific world that he inhabits. The world of your dreams is endless and vast. Each episode could revolve around a specific person trying to get away from Freddy or the story of a group of people trying to battle him. Imagine if A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors was set over 8 episodes. That cast of characters in the movie was already pretty well developed, but over the course of a series, we could get some truly fantastic characters. If you gave it an actual budget and people behind the project that cared for the series as a whole, it would be a smash.

Friday The 13th Could Be A Bit More Difficult

Friday the 13th might be a bit harder to show off as a series, but there’s plenty of lore and material to work with over the course of so many films in that franchise. Give us a prequel about Pamela Voorhees and young Jason before they both became murderers. What about the time jumps between films? You can fill out those gaps with a series. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning might not be the favorite of fans, but that story drawn out over the course of multiple episodes might be better than the movie showed us.

Horror Is Already Headed This Direction

Horror doesn’t need to be constrained to a single medium whether that’s streaming or film. Films for a long while were the best way to do it; but now with plenty of creative people working on series like Hellraiser and others, the gap between TV/Streaming and film is thinning. Ash Vs. Evil Dead gave us a satisfying follow-up to one of the most beloved trilogy of Horror films ever. So the blueprint for creatives out there is in front of us. If Chucky is a rousing success, I’m sure the floodgates will open up. The medium of television series is ripe for Horror to step in and make the most of it.

It just takes people with good ideas and a love of the genre.

What Horror franchises would you want to see make the jump to streaming?

For more on Horror, check out THS Fright-A-Thon, or stay tuned to That Hashtag Show.