The year 1989 ushered in an end to one of the most iconic decades in horror. It was the same year Jason Voorhees took a trip to Manhattan in Friday the 13th Part VIII, and other heavy-hitting franchises like Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street received their fifth installments. But whether you grew up afraid of Freddy Krueger or Chucky the killer doll, scares in the ’80s didn’t stop at the big screen – they could be viewed in your own living room. 1989 in particular would see some of the most memorable examples of horror on the small screen, many of which continue to have a devoted following.
Playing late into the midnight hours, these 3 cult horror TV shows served as many people’s first foray into the genre, and today have been cemented as some of the most well-recognized titles in horror. More than that, these shows proved television wasn’t afraid to get edgy, and maybe even a little bloody, too. For the ’90s kids who watched them a little too young, these shows left an impression — and a lifelong fear of the dark.
The short-lived Nightmare Classics ran on Showtime for only four episodes in 1989, but it deserves to be remembered for its sheer ambition. Created by Shelley Duvall of The Shining fame, this anthology adapted several well-known literary horror classics, such as The Turn of the Screw, Carmilla, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. With a runtime of roughly sixty minutes per episode, the series told condensed versions of each story, in some cases deviating from the source material, such as in the inclusion of characters not present in the original novels.
Designed to appeal to teens and young adults, the production quality was high, with some noteworthy stars to boot, like Roddy McDowell, Laura Dern, and C. Thomas Howell. While the show was intended to have six episodes, it’s lifespan was ultimately cut show. For those who watched it, however, Nightmare Classics proved that even the oldest of horror stories could have bite on the small screen.
Few horror villains have had a hold on pop culture quite like Freddy Krueger. It’s perhaps no surprise then, that right at the height of “Freddy Mania”, Robert Englund’s razor-gloved dream demon would get his own TV show. Freddy’s Nightmares would air in syndication for a total of 44 episodes from 1988 to 1990. But despite its premise of bringing A Nightmare on Elm Street to the small screen, Freddy himself would appear only in small doses, acting primarily as the host for each episode.
This made the episodes in which Freddy is the star all the more special, such as the series’ pilot, “No More Nice Guy”, directed by the famed Tobe Hooper, which offered an origin story for the killer. Other episodes proved much stranger (and sleazier) than the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise tended to be, depicting tales of murder and revenge in the town of Springwood, Ohio. While the series was short-lived, Freddy’s Nightmares helped further cement Freddy Krueger as a horror icon, and for the children who watched it, it made them afraid to fall asleep
You can’t talk horror TV without mentioning Tales from the Crypt — and for good reason. Running on HBO for seven seasons and 93 episodes from 1989 to 1996, Tales from the Crypt was dark in a way few shows before it were allowed to be. Each episode of the anthology was hosted by the Cryptkeeper (voiced by John Kassir), a wisecracking ghoul who gave the series its signature tongue-in-cheek dark humor.
But with violence comes controversy — fitting, given the comics the show adapted: titles like The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, and of course, Tales from the Crypt, all published by EC Comics. These comics were the subject of intense scandal in the 1950s for their violence, leading to boycotts, censorship, and the gradual decline of horror comics in the decades that followed. But like any good ghoul, Tales from the Crypt came back from the dead, and since the show’s debut in 1989, has received two feature films, a cartoon spin-off, and more. But for those who watched the show late at night, it served as a gruesome introduction to the genre, and the source of many bad dreams for ’90s kids.
