Every 3rd show we watch these days is a violent thriller, creating an overabundance of gore that continuously tries to outdo the last one, but misses it mark way too much. However, that doesn’t mean, there aren’t good shows that push the limit and create memorable moments, one after another, season after season. We made a list of such shows for you, shows that will not only make your skin crawl but also keep you hooked despite it.
1. Banshee
Before he terrified people with his portrayal of the psychotic Superman in The Boys, Antony Starr pretended to be Sheriff Lucas Hood in small town of Banshee. The show’s action sequences are some of the best choreographed hand-to-hand combat sequences you’ll ever see and everybody on screen is fair game when it comes to blood and gore. Hood even does a Mike Tyson and bites someone’s ear off.
2. The Knick
The most terrifying part of this show is not the gore, but the fact that it’s a very accurate historical representation of medical practices in the early 1900s. This medical drama has no qualms about showing incisions, drainage, C-sections, missing noses, amputations among other things. Imagine if your surgeon was also a butcher. Now aim a little higher and you’ll find The Knick.
3. Broadwalk Empire
We all love the Peaky boys but even the lads from Small Heath have nothing on the OGs from America. The show uses guns as its primary weapon and inflicts more horror and pain with them than you can stomach. And every once in a while, the characters will change their weapon of choice and kill their victims by bludgeoning, beating, suffocating, drowning, exploding… It’s America, so this could go on for a while.
4. The Following
Shows about serial killers are always a messy affair. But what sets is show apart is the fact that the main serial killer here is an escaped convict who has created a cult of serial killers. While the show sticks to its genre of psychological thriller, it doesn’t shy away from dropping bodies with impunity. And believe it or not, you would wish they would just stop the horror at just murdering people.
5. The Strain
Even before the show was on air, it was going through severe scrutiny for using images of eye-worms for promotion. The show gets its kicks from ripping into bodies, falling entrails, a lot of head bashing among other things. And that’s just the pilot.
6. Hemlock Grove
The show came at a time when vampires and werewolves were the flavour of the town. It gives you the impression of following on similar footsteps. But that’s just to lure you in before it hits you with scenes of absolute mayhem.
7. Preacher
A Texas preacher, a vampire with a drug addiction and a woman who like breaking the law, walk into a bar. Sounds like horrible joke about to end with a lot of heads rolling, right? And that’s exactly what it is. Based on comics of the same name, the show contains multiple scenes of carnage, and keeps on raising the stake every episode.
8. Hannibal
Some of you have heard of it? A lot of you probably don’t have the patience or the stomach for it. Admittedly, it can at times be painfully slow, but as it is with slow cooked food, when all is said and then, it will stay with you. It makes all the blood and gore, and even the cannibalism look like art. From a man eating his own face to Hannibal feeding someone their own roasted leg, there’s plenty to make you question yourself.
9. Sons of Anarchy
Granted the show is a Shakespearean tragedy, almost philosophical in nature at times, but it doesn’t shy away from creating scenes that will make your skin crawl. This is a warning tough, it is a very addictive show. So if you get hooked to it, there’s little you can do to get out.
10. Deadwood
This is the Wild West, literally. The show is incredible in its ability to get you accustomed to violence, only to take it a couple of notches high every now and then. In one of the scenes, enforcer Captain Joe Turner has his left eye torn out by muscleman Dan Dority. And that’s one of the few incidents I can mention here.
I am gonna go throw up a little.