Supernatural

"Supernatural," which began as a monster-of-the-week teen drama, has evolved into one of the purest kinds of horror on television in the last 20 years. In each episode, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester travel throughout the nation fighting ghosts, demons, monsters, and other supernatural creatures. Later seasons of the program grew more arc-driven and centered on the fight between angels, devils, and humans. But when it first started, it was simply two emotionally repressed males escaping therapy by salting and burning bodies.

That's when the show was at its most terrifying. They draw on conventional ghost stories and monster lore in a way that makes it impossible to watch with the lights turned out, with each episode functioning almost as a solo horror film. Gruesome visuals and jump scares combine to bring to life a whole supernatural world that is continuously at odds with humans, only to be brought to peace by the Winchester brothers' intervention.