Lovecraft Country

Right, so this one is a journey story wearing a horror coat, and I mean that as the highest compliment. A young man sets off across the segregated United States in search of his missing father, and the trail leads him to a town that H. P. Lovecraft supposedly used as the basis for his stories. Which tells you exactly what kind of dread we're dealing with here: the cosmic, unknowable sort, sitting right on top of a very real and very human sort.

That's the bit that makes it properly unsettling rather than just spooky. The horror of the era, the roads that weren't safe after dark, the towns you didn't stop in, runs alongside whatever's lurking in the woods, and neither one lets you relax because the other is watching. It's the kind where you're never quite sure which threat is about to show up.

This is a ten episode HBO series, so it's a proper commitment, not a one sitting watch. Save it for a run of evenings where you want something that lingers rather than something you can half watch while scrolling your phone. It rewards actual attention.

Good for anyone who wants their horror with a spine of history in it, not just a monster and a scream. Bring a strong coffee. You'll want to be alert for this one.