Shudder, the streaming service exclusively for horror entertainment, has been serving viewers scares since 2015. It’s known for its selection of old horror and B movies, but there is one Syfy show that stands out among the rest for its unique concept and exceptional execution. Channel Zero is a horror anthology series created by Nick Antosca that takes some of the Internet’s most compelling creepypasta and fleshes them out into a full, six-episode season of television. Each season of the show centers on a different plot, is made by a different director, and features a different cast. The show currently has four seasons streaming exclusively on Shudder.

The horror genre is known for trying out interesting, new storytelling angles, like Host, which worked around pandemic restrictions by telling a story entirely over Zoom. With creepypasta being readily available on sites like Reddit, it's no surprise that Channel Zero has mined the internet for its source material. What's most compelling about the show is that the stories each season centers on are already frightening in their own right. The show takes those and expands on them, adding depth, layers, and characters as needed to create truly spine-tingling entertainment that remain with viewers long after they're over.

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The first season, "Candle Cove," is perhaps the scariest of the four seasons. It stars Paul Schneider, Natalie Brown, Fiona Shaw, and Shaun Benson and was directed by Craig William Macneill. Macneill has directed plenty of dark projects, like episodes of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Castle Rock, and it shows in the quality of the season.

The creepypasta story behind the first season, the titular "Candle Cove," was written by Kris Straub and is simple, short, and absolutely terrifying. The plot focuses on an online chat thread where the users reminisce about a creepy, pirate-themed kids show that aired for a few months in 1971. The users go back and forth discussing their memories and dreams of the characters, like the Skin Taker, a disturbing marionete with a cloak made of children's skin. In the end, one user comments that their mom always thought the show was made up because she would announce she was watching "Candle Cove" and then sit in front of static for thirty minutes.

The show adds details that come together to both honor the original and further explore the possibilities of it. Mike (Schneider), a child psychologist, returns to his home town after a stay in a psychiatric ward and is determined to investigate the long-past brutal murders of some of his childhood friends. He is reunited with his remaining old friends and, one by one, over dinner, the friends recall their trauma from watching "Candle Cove," which had adult themes despite being a kid's show. Mike is convinced that show is somehow behind the murders and is still convincing kids to commit heinous acts to this day.

The second season, "The No-End House," is based on the story, "NoEnd House," written by Brian Russel. Season 2 was directed by Steven Piet. Haunted house stories are so popular that they're even found in video games, but "The No-End House" brings a fresh take on the concept. The creepypasta is about one man's journey through a neighborhood home that claims it will reward anyone with $500 if they can make it through all nine rooms of the house. Sounds simple, but the man soon finds out the hard way that each room in the house has sinister plans for him.

The show updates it by making it about a group of friends that travel through the house, including Margot (Amy Forsyth), who is still dealing with the trauma of her father's passing. Each friend realizes that the house is more than a tourist attraction as they face personalized attacks from the house that harp on their insecurities and fears. They must make it through the house and all its scares to find the exit if they want to survive. The end is the eerie result of familial wounds and unconscious anxiety.

Season 3, "Butcher's Block," is the season that most loosely follows the source material it's based on, but is the most surreal and imaginative season. It's based on "I'm A Search And Rescue Officer For The US Forest Service, I Have Some Stories To Tell," written by Kerry Hammond, who tells several tales of strange and unexplained phenomena witnessed while working as a search and rescue officer. One of the strangest stories is that of different staircases found deep within forests that look as if they have been copy and pasted from a house and left in the woods.

This third season, directed by Arkasha Stevenson, focuses on the mysterious staircases, a long-used symbol in horror films, and tells a tale about the Woods sisters, who have just moved to a new city to start anew after a traumatizing family event. The sisters, stairs, and a seemingly sinister family that once owned the city are woven together to create an ambitious story that's as visually disturbing as it is haunting.

The final season, "The Dream Door," is based on "I've Found A Hidden Door In My Cellar, And I Think I've Made A Huge Mistake," by Charlotte Bywater and is directed by E.L. Katz. Katz also directed an episode of The Haunting of Bly Manor beforehand, which must have come in handy during "The Dream Door," as it's a new twist on the haunted house concept. The original tale is about a couple who has moved into a new house and discovers a mysterious door in their cellar. When they open the door they find, and accidentally unleash into the world, a mysterious being that has been locked inside but is still very much alive.

The fourth and final season of Channel Zero takes the idea of a haunted room and infuses it with the past transgressions of a couple, Tom (Brandon Scott) and Jillian (Maria Sten). The season stands out for its use of something everyone can relate to (having secrets) and winds the unfolding terror around that. It also introduces a new kind of clown character (Troy James) at a time when clowns are so scary to society that there's actually a creepy clown hotel attraction in Nevada. On a psychological level, it also explores the Jungian ideas around doors, their symbolism, and what they represent in us.

Unfortunately for horror fans of the anthology series, Channel Zero was canceled after season 4. There were rumors about possibly moving the show to Netflix, but those remain unconfirmed. It's a loss for the horror community because Channel Zero told prime chilling stories, which are often saved for feature films, that shows like American Horror Story aim but fail to create. Until fans receive more news, they can look forward to Antosca's new horror film, Antlers, which will release in theaters on October 29, 2021.

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