Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This one has a teenage girl carrying a secret nobody else her age has to deal with: someone has to fight the things that come out after dark, and it turns out to be her. Joss Whedon created it, and the whole appeal is watching that sit right next to ordinary school life, friendships and everything else being a teenager throws at you.

It's not the sort of horror that goes for shock value. There's plenty of dread built slowly, a fair few genuinely creepy nights, and just as many episodes that are more sad or strange than frightening. It keeps you a little off balance about what kind of story you're actually in.

Best for an evening when you want something to keep you company rather than something purely to unsettle you, ideally watched in order rather than dipped into, since it clearly rewards the long haul across seven seasons.

It grew out of a film Whedon had written a few years earlier, though it stands as its own thing entirely, made under his own production company rather than someone else's vision layered on top.