Although horror fans live in a world of technological marvels to make their horror movies better, such as the tremendous visual visceral works like Mad God released on June 16th of 2022, there’s something to be said about the audio drama medium. While it’s easy to get a reaction from seeing something scary on the screen, audio dramas through a good pair of headphones can be an extremely scary sensory experience.
There will never be a camera that can compete with the human imagination, but the impressive blending and direction of foley, music, and voice acting can pull a listener right into the middle of the action. Many productions give new meaning to the term “spine-tingling.”
Wormwood
Wormwood is a horror mystery that dives into multiple motifs and scenarios that will satisfy a large audience of horror fans. Dealing with themes of small-town horror, supernatural entities, Lovecraftian monsters, and even a splash of slasher here and there. Variety is certainly one of the production’s strong suits, and fans will appreciate it.
The series follows Dr. Xander Crowe, a paranormal researcher with experience in the dark arts, who has visions regarding a murdered woman in the mysterious town of Wormwood. Fans of The X-Files and the adaptations of Stephen King will find a comfortable combination of elements that welcome them into a twisting, turning, exciting thriller with a splash of familiarity to draw new listeners in and keep them invested.
The Lift
Fans of The Twilight Zone will immediately draw comparisons between Rod Serling’s iconic anthology series into the realms beyond the imagination to that of The Lift. The Lift is a sci-fi horror series with one connecting thread, that being a mysterious little girl with a music box and her strange elevator to other planes of existence. Encountering Victoria might come with a journey beyond the stars, or a journey through time to expose sins of the past.
The stories that play out are entirely dependent on who chooses to ride the lift and how Victoria perceives them. Like The Twilight Zone before it, the podcast deals with surreal and abstract horror more than it does guts and gore.
Arkham County
This Audible original led by Stanley Tucci could best be described as the works of H.P. Lovecraft set in the modern era. Fans of the author’s work will be taken through the halls of Miskatonic Unversity, encounter familiar characters like Herbert West and Dagon, and unravel unholy mysteries behind horrors that plague the town of Arkham.
Randolph Carter narrates the events that led to his internment in Arkham’s mental asylum, skipping on very few details. The production presents an equal distribution of modern and classic horror as university students are exposed to sinister science experiments, dark arts, and monsters lurking beneath the sea. It’s everything a Lovecraft reader could want and more.
Uncanny County
Uncanny County is complicated, but that’s a good thing. It’s an anthology series cultivated by an amalgamation of various sci-fi, horror, and supernatural elements that all blend together to create both a setting and a drama that will immediately grab the listener’s attention.
Uncanny County is home to magic kittens, damaged robots, alien abductions, and a honking horde of demonic clowns, resulting in a creepy, quirky, and comical production that has the same flavor as something like Poltergeist or The Lost Boys. Scary when it needs to be, but it can also be lighthearted and charming as well.
The Black Tapes
Most listeners will immediately think of The Magnus Archives when they consider audio horror, but The Black Tapes offers something a bit more interesting than archival recordings of paranormal, supernatural, and horrific events. The series blends horror fiction with a slight tether to reality, as its journalistic format feels more grounded.
The recordings consist of the work of Dr. Richard Strand, a researcher seeking the truth behind famous paranormal phenomena, and journalist Alex Regan as they look into the titular “Black Tapes” of strange occurrences never fully explained. The X-Files influence weighs heavily on the series, but there’s also a darker mystery happening in the background of Dr. Strand’s life that unfurls inch by inch as the pair investigate each case.
Scary Stories Told In The Dark
Fans of the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark books won’t be disappointed in this short-story series hosted by writer Otis Jiry. The podcast is a series of different horror stories by a variety of different authors both past and present, and it’s sure to scratch that campfire tale itch.
Many of the stories are absolutely unsettling, and there is plenty of variety in their content. From demonic possessions and even techno-horror, there are plenty of dark realms to explore in this anthology.
Unwell
There’s something uniquely special about horror-comes-to-town scenarios, and few audio dramas understand that better than Unwell. Unwell is a paranormal horror podcast that deals in all manner of things ghostly. From haunted houses to evil spirits in the woods, the series definitely has a lot going on. The town of Mt. Absalom is sitting on a veritable hotbed of the supernatural, and there are worse things than wild animals out in the forest.
While the horror elements are all compelling and interesting, it’s the human interaction between the Harpers, their friends and allies, and the sinister residents of Mt. Absalom that truly drive the show. From the Harpers to the cultists, the characters all feel real, grounded, and fascinating.
Old Gods Of Appalachia
Although it’s billed as a horror anthology, each season of Old Gods of Appalachia follows supernatural and horrific storylines concerning different areas of the Appalachian South. Places like Barlow, Kentucky and Baker’s Gap, Tennessee serve as the backdrops for chilling tales of ghosts, witches, cults, and unseen demons lurking beneath mountains and in the forests of the region.
Rural horror has a very distinct and chilling flavor, as such places can be simple, unassuming, and very beautiful, which makes it all the more terrifying that something might be lurking just below the surface. It’s an audio drama certainly not for the faint of heart.
Alien: Out Of The Shadows
There aren’t a tremendous number of audio dramas that take directly from famous horror movies, but Audible’s Alien series is ideal for any fan of monsters, sci-fi, and graphic storytelling. Out of the Shadows takes place after the events of the first film, bringing both Ripley and Ash back into the action as they are both taken in by the crew of a mining vessel who discover Xenomorphs in their transport shuttles.
The audio medium is what truly makes this production work, as listeners will be transported to derelict spaceships and be stalked by drooling Xenomorphs as they pick off members of the crew. Every click of the ship’s console, blast of a cobbled-together weapon, and the screech of a hungry alien are all heard and felt in excruciating detail, pulling the listener deeper and deeper into the horrors of space.
Content retrieved from: https://screenrant.com/audio-dramas-perfect-for-horror-movie-fans/.