There are essentially two distinct types of horror, particularly when it comes to movies and TV shows. The first kind is the “jump scare” that startles you for a minute or two. You scream, laugh, then move on. Then there’s the existential terror kind that makes you sit quietly and wonder if you’re actually safe in this universe. From belongs to the second group. Many horror fans got hooked on this American sci-fi horror when it premiered in 2022.
That feeling has not changed. And if you’re one of those fans, you’re probably eagerly looking forward to the show’s fourth season, which is expected to premiere sometime in early April 2026. But while you wait, it won’t hurt to get into the groove of things with other TV shows that play the same dirty game. Small places, big secrets, and characters that are pushed until they break. So, pick one, or maybe two, to binge on.
1. Lost (2004 – 2010)
After Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on a very strange Island, the survivors, led by characters like the stressed-out Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) and the weird philosopher John Locke (Terry O’Quinn), try to make the best of a bad situation. But this is no ordinary island. There’s a smoke monster that’s the stuff of nightmares, polar bears in the jungle for some reason, and hatches that hide secret labs in the ground. Flashback scenes show that just about everyone in that doomed flight is connected in one way or another, even before the crash.
A huge compliment you could give Lost is to say that From wouldn’t exist without it. It’s the show that made “trapped in a weird place” mysteries popular. The moment the characters open that hatch in the ground, in season 1, episode 25, “Exodus,” everything about the show goes from “survive this island” to “find out what’s so unique about this island.” But just like in From, where the town is the story, the island spews out three new questions for every answer found. All in all, if you love shows that tie your brain in knots, start here.
2. Wayward Pines (2015 – 2016)
Secret Service agent Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon) wakes up after a car crash in the picture-perfect town of Wayward Pines, Idaho. There’s just one problem: he can’t leave. Every time he tries to, the roads just loop him back into town, plus the phones don’t work. On top of that, the town’s number one rule is: don’t talk about your life before Wayward Pines. Break the rules, and let’s just say that the sheriff has a very public, very permanent way of making sure you never break them again.
If From has a twin, this would be it. The horror isn’t monsters with sharp teeth (at first), it’s the sheer terror of knowing you’re trapped in a gilded cage where everyone is smiling too hard and being too nice. You’ll probably spend the whole time yelling at the TV, “Just get out of town!”… even though you know they can’t.
3. Silo (2023 – Present)
Imagine a scenario where the last 10,000 people on Earth live in a giant 144-story underground bunker. And not just that, the powers that be have also brainwashed them into believing that the outside world is a toxic wasteland. That’s Silo in a nutshell. The rules in this dystopian community are strict, and the biggest one involves the “cleaning,” a ritual where rule breakers are sent out into the world to “die.” When Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson), a mechanic from the deep down low, starts asking questions about a loved one’s “death” tied to this forbidden curiosity, the whole carefully balanced system starts to crack.
Forget leaving a town; you can’t even leave the building. Silo shows you how easy it is to govern people with fear and secrets. Like From, the terror is less jump scare and more existential. The characters have to decide whether finding out the truth is worth destroying the only “safe place” they’ve ever known.
4. Dark (2017 – 2020)
Kids start disappearing in the German town of Winden, and teenager Jonas Kahnwald (Louis Hofmann) discovers there’s more to it than simple kidnappings. When he digs deeper, he discovers that it’s about time. His town is stuck in a crazy time loop that connects four families across different decades. Trying to fix one thing just makes a bigger mess somewhere else in time.
If you think the town in From is complicated, then maybe it’s because you’re just finding out about Winden. Dark is arguably the most mind-twisting story here. The town itself is a trap inside a bigger trap, time. You can try to leave, but destiny (and the caves under the town) will pull you right back. It’s less scary with monsters and more scary with the idea that you can never, ever escape your own choices.
5. The Outsider (2020)
A kid is found dead in a small town in Georgia, and all evidence, including solid DNA and CCTV footage, points to one man: the local little league coach, Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman). But then his lawyer proves that Terry was 70 miles away at the time of the murder. That information leaves Detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) with the near-impossible task of investigating a killer that might be something… else.
Based on Stephen King’s 2018 novel of the same name, this miniseries nails that feeling in the first season of From in the sense that it takes a normal, small-town tragedy and infects it with the supernatural. The horror slowly creeps in because the monster here wears a human face and breaks all the laws of physics. Suddenly, you and the characters are doubting everything you see, just like the characters in From find themselves doubting every shadow at night.
6. The Walking Dead (2010 – 2022)
Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) wakes up from a coma to a world that has been overrun by zombies. He fights to find his family and ends up leading a group of survivors constantly searching for a safe place that never stays safe for too long because new threats, from zombies and other people, keep messing everything up.
If you’re into From for its “people are the real monsters” vibe, then you’ll absolutely love The Walking Dead. Perhaps, the clearest indicator of that vibe is the famous scene in Season 2, Episode 7, “Pretty Much Dead Already.” Here, the group finds a barn full of zombies that Hershel (Scott Wilson) had been feeding with the hope that they could still be cured. That moment proves that sometimes the biggest threats don’t come from outside threats but from the paranoia, moral decay, and internal power struggles within a society.
7. Under the Dome (2013 – 2015)
It was just another day in the town of Chester Mill. But it was a day when everything changed because the people suddenly found themselves trapped under an invisible dome that cut them off from the rest of the world. As supplies run out, a drifter named Dale “Barbie” Barbara (Mike Vogel) and Julia Shumway (Rachelle Lefevre), a local investigative reporter, try to deal with the chaos. To make matters worse, they must contend with the town’s crooked politician, James “Big Jim” Rennie (Dean Norris), who uses the crisis to grab more power.
Like From, this adaptation of Stephen King‘s 2009 novel of the same name asks one question: what happens to normal people when you lock them in and turn off the rules? Also, like From, it reveals the uncomfortable truth that friends become enemies overnight and that people will do everything to feel in control again, even if it means that everyone else suffers.
8. The Leftovers (2014 – 2017)
Two percent of the world’s population, about 140 million people, vanish into thin air in an event called the “Sudden Departure.” No explanation. The show follows the people left behind, like police chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux), as they struggle with a grief that has no outlet. Some join strange new cults, while others desperately pretend that life’s normal. But pretending wouldn’t somehow change the reality.
From is about a physical mystery, and The Leftovers is about a global, emotional one. Nevertheless, the characters here still have to deal with that same “unanswerable question” vibe. They have to live with not knowing why things are the way they are, just like the characters in From have to live with not knowing how to escape. The horror is not as intense, but it’s all about how people break and bend when reality stops making sense.
9. Yellowjackets (2021 – Present)
In 1996, a high school girls’ soccer team’s plane crashed in a remote Canadian wilderness. The series splits between their brutal 19-month fight for survival (where things get… ritualistic) and the present day, where the surviving women, like Shauna Shipman (Melanie Lynskey), seem haunted by what they did out there.
If From and Lord of the Flies met and had a baby, Yellowjackets would be it. It shows how time slowly shatters the emotional psyche of a trapped group. The wilderness is as much a character as the forest in From. Also, the dual timeline lets you see the immediate trauma and the lifelong damage, answering the question: What happens when you eventually escape from the impossible place?
10. Midnight Mass (2021)
A young priest’s arrival in the dying, isolated town of Crockett Island leads to extraordinary miracles, including healing the sick and making old people young again. The town’s faith grows leaps and bounds, but so does a dark, judgmental mood. Not everyone is buying the holy act.
Swap the forest monster in From for the monster of fanatical belief in this one. The horror here is watching how far good people will go for a little bit of hope and how easily faith can be twisted into something really dangerous. There’s a jaw-dropping, 10-minute monologue in Season 1, Episode 4, “Book IV: Lamentations,” where a character explains how they justify horror that will stick with you. It proves that the scariest traps aren’t made of trees or domes, but of ideas you willingly believe.
If you enjoyed the “trapped town” mystery in From, go with Lost. If you want something even more complicated, watch Dark, and if you’re still hooked on the corrupt leadership angle, you’ll be even more so with Under the Dome. Just keep us posted with your findings in the comments section.
