One Of The Best Horror TV Series You’ve Never Seen Has Stephen King’s Approval

Stephen King certainly knows a thing or two about horror. A master of the genre himself — as an author whose books are constantly adapted for both the big and small screen — King knows what makes a movie or TV show perfectly scary, suspenseful, or spooky. Last spring, he posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) about one of his favorite recent projects, the horror series “From.”

In May of 2023, King wrote about a show he apparently enjoyed quite a bit and got right to the point. “FROM: I’m three episodes in,” the author began before getting into some specifics about the beginning of season 1. “Wonderful concept, beautifully handled. Is it possible these people are dead and don’t know it? That spike through the head … holy cow.” (That last part, obviously, refers to a particularly brutal kill within those first three episodes.)

If you’ve never heard of “From,” you’re missing out — especially now that you know it’s endorsed by King. The sci-fi horror hybrid, created by John Griffin, is led by Harold Perrineau (“Lost”), Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey (“Fight Club,” “Center Stage”), and Elizabeth Saunders, and it just kicked off its third season this month … so it’s not too late to catch up.

If you’re not familiar with “From” — which is likely, because it’s flown a little bit under the radar since it first premiered in February of 2022 — it was a pretty twisted premise that honestly wouldn’t be out of place in a typical Stephen King novel. As the Matthews family, led by patriarch Jim (Eion Bailey), are driving across the United States, they’re forced to go around a fallen tree only to discover that they’re trapped in a small town (the road literally keeps repeating as they try to leave). When they get in a car accident, they’re rescued by the townspeople, including the makeshift sheriff Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau), who explains that “the Township” is a mysterious place smack in the middle of America that nobody can leave. 

Not only can the townsfolk not physically exit the Township, but they’re surrounded on all sides by apparent monsters lurking in the woods, which attack pretty early in the series (King’s post likely referenced one of the more gruesome death sequences that involve those monsters.) As it happens, King isn’t the only fan of “From” — the series has earned astoundingly positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with each and every season certified fresh with ratings over 90%.

Ever since 2022, “From” has been racking up rave reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The first season has a healthy fresh critical rating of 96% (and a 90% from audiences to boot), so it’s safe to say critics really liked it. As Brad Newsome wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald, the big draw of “From” is how well John Griffin crafted the series: “The horror is real — and it gets real gory — but this is no simple splatterfest. Series creator John Griffin has built his world meticulously, and all his characters have their own fraught back stories and their own personal demons.”

Season 2 of “From,” which sees a bus full of unsuspecting passengers arrive within the limits of the Township, fared just pretty well with critics too (with a 92% rating), and even though some reviewers — like David Whelan at Slate — had some misgivings, they had to admit that “From” really works. “I’m not going to pretend that ‘From’ is a perfect work of television,” Whelan mused. “But for whatever criticism one can lob at it — that it’s a miasma of phobias, black holes, and loopholes — From undeniably works as an exemplar of its genre.”

“From” just returned for its third season pretty recently, but critics are already going wild for the new episodes; its rating is currently sitting pretty at 100%. As Meagan Navarro at Bloody Disgusting put it, “Even with the mysteries as thorny as ever, Griffin and [executive producer and writer Jeff] Pinkner know how to keep us hooked.” The showrunners find creative new ways to induce frights. Also thanks to the talented cast, it’s easy to follow “From” down whatever dark path it wants to lead us.

“From” is available to stream on MGM+.