While American Horror Story might have Stephen King’s later series beaten when it comes to sheer longevity, this underrated cult classic from Shudder is still the best horror anthology show of the 21st century. The anthology format has been a staple of horror television for decades. From the earliest horror anthology shows like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits to ‘90s classics like Tales from the Crypt, creepy, self-contained stories of dread and fear are perennially popular on the small screen.

Before Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy’s divisive true crime anthology Monster set ratings records for Netflix, the writer/producer worked on an equally infamous FX horror anthology show that changed the game for the genre. After the moderate critical success of 2000s cable horror anthologies like Masters of Horror and Fear Itself failed to replicate the mainstream breakout popularity of Tales from the Crypt, Murphy’s FX horror anthology American Horror Story changed the genre’s DNA.

American Horror Story became a massive hit when the show debuted in 2011, but it wasn’t quite like any earlier horror anthology show. Instead of introducing a new cast of characters, setting, and story in every episode, American Horror Story changed its story once per season. This approach proved so popular that Shudder’s Slasher, AMC’s The Terror, and SyFy’s Channel Zero all followed suit. However, the 21st century’s best horror anthology show, Shudder’s Creepshow, went back to basics to outdo American Horror Story.

Why Creepshow Is The 21st Century’s Best Horror Anthology

Unlike American Horror Story and the later horror anthologies that followed in its wake, Creepshow favors the classic “One story per episode” approach to storytelling. Creepshow is based on the 1982 cult classic movie of the same name, written by Stephen King and directed by Night of the Living Dead’s George A. Romero. Like that iconic horror movie, Creepshow adapts horror short stories into standalone shorts that are as punchy, gory, and grimly funny as they are scary.

With an incredible cast of guest stars including NYPD Blue’s Giancarlo Esposito and Lovecraftian horror legend Jeffrey Combs, Creepshow wasn’t short on star power. Season 2 of the Shudder show featured guest roles for Pitch Perfect’s Anna Camp and Rick and Morty’s Keith David, while the show’s source stories came from writers like Josh Malerman, who penned the novels that Bird Box and Other Mommy are based on, and Joe R. Lansdale, creator of SundanceTV’s Hap and Leonard.

Of course, Creepshow also found room for episodes directly based on King stories, with an episode that adapted “Gray Matter” from his debut 1978 collection Night Shift and a special that adapted his infamously gruesome story “Survivor Type.” Mercifully, that gasp inducingly nasty survival story was turned into an animated outing instead of a live-action story.

How Creepshow Ranks Against Classic Horror Anthology The Twilight Zone

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

Compared to the uneven outings of American Horror Story, Creepshow is clearly the superior horror anthology show. The shooter runtime of its stories and their self-contained nature means that Creepshow can indulge in the same celebrity stunt casting and wild plot twists as American Horror Story, but these elements don’t derail the show’s larger plot as they often do with the FX series.

However, when Creepshow is compared with the best horror anthology show ever, The Twilight Zone, the contrast is a little less flattering. While Creepshow is a consistently fun series, even its most thoughtful episodes can’t come close to the cutting social satire of classic episodes of The Twilight Zone such as “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street.”

Similarly, although there are a few moving moments in the Shudder show’s 25-episode run, none of Creepshow’s episodes could be considered as profoundly poignant as The Twilight Zone’s “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge.” Thus, while Creepshow thoroughly outdid American Horror Story, the Shudder show isn’t quite the best horror anthology show of all time.

Release Date

2019 – 2023-00-00

Network

Shudder

Directors

Greg Nicotero, Joe Lynch, P.J. Pesce, Rusty Cundieff, Axelle Carolyn, David Bruckner, Roxanne Benjamin, Justin G. Dyck, Jeffrey F. January, Rob Schrab, Tom Savini, Kailey Spear, Sam Spear, Dave Newberg

Writers

John Esposito, Paul Dini, Stephen Langford, Erik Sandoval, Michael Rousselet, Daniel Kraus, Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi, Josh Malerman, Zak White, Todd Spence, Melanie Dale, Dana Gould, David J. Schow, Frank Dietz, John Harrison, John Skipp, William Butler, Charles Spano, Claire Carré, Matt Venne, Paul Seetachitt, Jordana Arkin, Mike Scannell

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  Andy Daly

  Clark “Murph” Murphy/Deputy Anton/Old Fella /Local Yokel (voice)