Terrifying Netflix Supernatural Horror Series Will Freeze You In Fear

The Terror‘s first season is based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Dan Simmons, who wrote a fictionalized version of the very real disappearance of Captain Sir John Franklin and the crew of two British naval vessels—the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror—between 1845 and 1848 during their quest to find the Northwest Passage through the Arctic.

In the series, a combination of Sir John’s hubris and the merciless will of nature keeps both ships frozen in the ice. The captain’s assurances that they have provisions for as long as five years keeps spirits relatively high, until two threats emerge—a mysterious illness that drives its victims mad, and a massive bear-like creature picking off the men one-by-one.

Meanwhile we get flashbacks in Merry Ol’ England. First we learn that shortly before the voyage, Sir John instructed his daughter to reject the courtship of Captain Crozier—Sir John’s second in command and captain of the Terror—because he doesn’t want an Irishman in his family.

Later the flashbacks make way for the present, when Sir John’s wife and daughter press on the navy as hard as they can to send ships to search for the Erebus and Terror.

While The Terror is certainly a horror series—and one that favors psychological horror over gore though there is plenty of gore—it is also an engrossing drama manned by an impeccable cast.

The proud Sir John is played by Ciarán Hinds, who Game of Thrones fans may remember best as Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-The-Wall. Jared Harris—a brilliant actor known for his work in Chernobyl, Mad Men, Foundation, and more—is Sir John’s questioning second-in-command Captain Crozier. Between them is Tobias Menzies (The Crown), fiercely protective of Sir John and with nothing good to say about Crozier.

Standout performances from the “lower decks” of The Terror include Paul Ready (The Death of Stalin) as the astute and empathic assistant surgeon Harry Goodsir, Adam Nagaitis (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon) as the seductive Cornelius Hickey, and Ian Hart (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) as the indomitable sailing master Thomas Blanky.

While you will know the bloody attacks of the beast always seem like just a heartbeat away, not to mention the consequences of the crew’s slowly spreading madness, these spectacles aren’t what drives The Terror. It’s the relationships between these desperate men that will make you want to keep watching no matter how late it gets.

By the end of The Terror‘s first season, what proves to be the most brilliant aspect of this desperate and unforgiving tale is that it does not take you where you expect.

You will often be reminded of Lovecraft and whether or not you could call The Terror cosmic horror is up for debate, but in spite of the naked presence of the supernatural in this story—and in spite of the refrain that the Arctic is a place that is “trying to kill” the men—the greatest threat to these men has nothing to do with the supernatural or even the Arctic.

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If you love horror, period pieces, or just beautifully acted and written stories, stream The Terror on Netflix next chance you get.