The Best Horror TV Series to Watch While You're Home for Christmas Break This Holiday!

Hello Kiddies - Guess Who's Coming Back!
Photo by: 9 Media, via YouTube.

If you're planning on heading home for the holidays, and still looking for fun ways to make the most of your downtime, why not consider a good old fashioned binge watch of some of your favorite horror series? Over the past few years, there have been a ton of great Horror Series released both on cable and through streaming services, so that you can get your fill of horror without having to head to the movie theater.

Let's face it - if you're a college student and you'll be home for Christmas, chances are you're going to have a lot of downtime during the Christmas break, so why not prepare ahead of time by putting together a binge-worthy list of horror faves before you head home in a few weeks.

Here are a few of our favorites to get you started:

• American Horror Story (2011 - Present) - What's cool about "American Horror Story" is that each season, the theme is totally different, so things never get stale. The theme reveal has become a bit of a big deal each year, and the exciting new twists, turns, and characters each season is what keeps us hooked.
  
  No matter what fascinates and terrifies you, there's a season of "American Horror Story" for you - Murder House, Asylum, Freak Show, Cult, Coven, Hotel, Roanoke - there's simply always something new, and there's often tie-ins in between seasons, meaning there's always something to keep an eye out for each episode.
  
  Bonus: "American Horror Story" is still airing, with Season 8, and Season 9 already confirmed (although the themes haven't yet been unveiled), so if you get addicted to this one, you can keep on watching even after you make it through the 7 current seasons (note: Season 7 is actually still airing right now).
  
  
• Tales from the Crypt (1989 - 1996) - This is an old school favorite of mine for sure. If you grew up in the 90s, then you probably had nightmares about The Crypt Keeper, the undead, terrifying host of this iconic anthology. "Tales From The Crypt" originally aired on HBO, and it pushed the envelope as far as it could be pushed, showing things like graphic violence, profanity, and all sorts of spooky stuff that was once saved for the silver screen - after all, HBO isn't bound by the rules of cable television.
  
  Over the years, "Tales From The Crypt" aired a whopping 93 episodes, and featured a wide range of mega-celebrity guest stars, including Steve Buscemi, Brad Pitt, Katey Sagal, Iggy Pop, Christopher Reeve, Adam West, Tom Hanks, Alfred Hitchcock himself, and many more. Starring in your own episode of "Tales From The Crypt" was the "it" thing of the time, making this anthology popular with both audiences and celebs alike.
  
  Bonus: A new "Tales From the Crypt" Series directed by M. Night Shyamalan was announced, and is slated to debut on TNT in 2018! 
  
  
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955 - 1965) - Imagine "The Twilight Zone", but imagine it was put on by Alfred Hitchcock. That's what "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" is, in a nut shell. The show is an anthology, covering a broad range of topics from murderous plots gone awry, to haunted houses, to sci-fi alien invasions, and so much more - there are 93 half hour and hour long episodes (well, more like 22 or 50 minutes when you factor in commercials), and similar to "Tales From the Crypt" (well really, it's the other way around), there were numerous celebrity guest stars on this show.
  
  One of the most amusing parts of the show are Hitchcock's strange, sick, and morbidly funny introductions, interludes, and end-of-episode "wrap ups" - they generally have a vague tie-in to the theme of the episode, and are usually quite funny. I'm personally a fan of the passive aggressive comments he makes about the show's sponsors/commercial breaks.
  
  If you have a subscription to Hulu, you can actually watch the series in its entirety on there, or, there are plenty of ways to purchase physical box sets of this classic.
  
  
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 - 2003) - Buffy is the absolute pinnacle of "campy 90s horror" television - you've got your strong, independent female lead who kicks butt, but also falls in love with a bad guy, you've got your dying-but-coming-back-to-life-when-convenient tropes, your outrageous plots, insane make up and costumes, and hysterical costumed extras wreaking havoc on our heroes in the most comical of ways (intentional or not).
  
  Buffy even got her own feature film, as well as "tie in" shows like "Angel", which focused on the aptly named demon, Angel, who was Buffy's love interest on and off throughout the show. The show was so popular, that there were countless tie-in books, comics, video games, and of course fiction written by the fans themselves. You can't call yourself a 90s horror fan without having at least a bit of a soft spot for Buffy.
  
  
• The X-Files (1993 - 2002, Revived in 2016) - The X-Files may be most well known for its sci-fi elements, but there are many episodes that are down right terrifying (does anyone remember the sewer people that lived underneath "the perfect neighborhood" and demanded human sacrifices regularly? Literal nightmare fuel).
  
  As Scully and Mulder found out on many an episode, not only was the truth out there, but the sick, twisted underbelly of humanity was more terrifying than anything that Mulder's beloved aliens might bring to earth, and that's what makes the show one of the most beloved Sci-Fi/Horror Mashups of all time.
  
  Luckily for us X-File junkies, the show has made a return on Netflix, with a new season airing in 2016 (after a decade hiatus of episodes and movies), and a new season is set to be released this year as well.

What's Your Favorite Horror TV Series? Let Us Know in the Comments Below!