Forget ‘Scream,’ This Beloved ‘90s Sitcom Has a Near-Perfect 23-Minute Slasher

Published Oct 25, 2026, 12:43 PM EDT

Adam Grinwald is a Feature Writer at Collider with a lifelong passion for cinema, literature, music, and culture. From the early days of memorizing practically every single line of dialogue off a scuzzy VHS of Jurassic Park as a wide-eyed youngster to an incurable obsession with Ingmar Bergman, Kenji Mizoguchi, and the French New Wave auteurs in his college years, Adam is a cinematic gourmand eager to consume practically anything.

An avid horror-film addict, he loves everything from decades-spanning slasher franchises, pretentious artsy elevtated horror, and endearingly cheesy B-movies (looking at you, Chopping Mall). He's also a junkie for kaiju flicks: Godzilla, Gamera, Daigoro Vs. Goliath...anything and everything from the Showa Era to the Heisei Era and into the new millennium.

Most passionate, though, is his fondness for the greatest filmmaker of all time, Yasujiro Ozu, who perfected cinematic language with the ultimate simplicity that never can–or will–be surpassed. 

Beyond his film appreciation, Adam is a dedicated Björk and classic jazz fan, with an extended love of music of essentially every genre. He also spends much of his time writing fiction, having published a satirical story titled "The New Bicycles" in Furrow literary magazine. 

Sign in to your Collider account

On paper, it sounds like it could belong in one of the Scream movies: while stuck in detention and abandoned by their teacher, a group of teenagers wander about their eerily quiet high school after hours and gets picked off one by one by a mysterious masked killer. It isn’t an underappreciated horror gem, though — it’s an episode of a sitcom. ABC’s Boy Meets World unexpectedly put out one of television’s best Halloween episodes with Season 5’s “And Then There Was Shawn,” a surprisingly effective slasher homage that deserves a spot in your Halloween rotation.

Okay, it’s important to address something. So, “And Then There Was Shawn” isn’t technically a Halloween episode — it aired in February of ’98 — but these are just minor details: the episode is very much Halloween in spirit, with enough spooky flourishes to make it a crucial inclusion in your regular October rotation. While the series did produce some “legitimate” Halloween episodes, one titled “The Witches of Pennbrook” and another called “Who’s Afraid of Cory Wolf," “And Then There Was Shawn” is the best of the bunch and arguably the best episode of the entire series. When watched in retrospect, some late October evening, it just feels right. It fits. The episode is as Halloween-y as they come, with its fair share of horror film references and a pack of legitimate scares.

'Boy Meets World' Turns Detention Into a 'Scream'-Inspired Nightmare

It begins like any other episode of the series: after a classroom disturbance, the gang finds itself in detention under the wrath of Mr. Feeny (William Daniels). This is season five, remember, so a major plotline revolves around Cory (Ben Savage) and Topanga (Danielle Fishel) having broken up, much to Shawn’s (Rider Strong) dismay. Just a few minutes into the episode, things start to shift gears and swerve into slasher territory. Feeny leaves the classroom, locking the doors behind him. A ghoulish janitor (played by an uncredited extra whose identity remains a mystery) appears in the doorway, smiling that creepy breed of smile that few can master. The lights flicker off, and when they turn back on, “NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE” has been written on the chalkboard—in blood. “I don’t think it’s because he ran out of chalk,” quips Angela (Trina McGee-Davis).

Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky

Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you're not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.

🏕️Jason

🔪Michael

💤Freddy

🎈Pennywise

🪆Chucky

TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →

01

Something feels wrong. You can't explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.

ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it. BStay quiet and observe. If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it. CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again. DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark — I'd rather know what I'm dealing with. ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.

ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people. BA quiet suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight. CIn my own head — the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there. DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things. ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours?

APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence. BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out. CPsychological resilience — I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me. DEmotional steadiness — I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught. EScepticism — I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.

AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer. BThe invisible — a threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see. CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me. DThe unknowable — something ancient, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself. EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn't.

AThe one who says "we need to leave" first — and means it, even when no one listens. BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does. CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to. DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed. EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.

AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind. BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me. CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy. DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I'm dealing with. EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

What's your best weapon against something that can't be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.

AThe environment itself — I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it. BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn't expect. CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon. DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on. EImprovisation — I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional. Creativity over brute force.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours?

AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me. BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it. CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most. DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed. EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it.

REVEAL MY VILLAIN →

Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…

Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.

Jason Voorhees

Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.

• He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn't strategise, doesn't adapt, doesn't outsmart. He simply pursues.
• Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
• The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
• You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.

Michael Myers

Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention.

• But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
• Michael's power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
• Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
• You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.

Freddy Krueger

Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.

• You are harder to destabilise than most. You've faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven't looked away.
• The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
• Freddy's greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
• Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.

Pennywise

Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.

• The Losers Club didn't survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
• You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
• That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise's worst nightmare.
• It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.

Chucky

Chucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.

• You don't have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
• Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
• Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
• Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

What’s so impressive about this episode is how effortlessly it merges its indulgence in the ‘90s horror aesthetic with its established comedic formula. It’s never a straight-up parody, and while it shares plenty of DNA with 1996’s Scream, it never riffs on any one particular film. Instead, it indulges in some of the aspects that make horror movies so damn fun by toying with slasher tropes, such as the fact that virgins never die (Shawn admits that he’ll get “as sick as you can get without actually dying”), the inclusion of a silent creepy janitor, and the unexpected discovery of freshly-slain corpses.

There’s also Kenny (Richard Lee Jackson), a guest character who only appears in this episode, and whose sole purpose is to serve as the killer’s first victim, much akin to slasher films’ tendency to kill off lesser-known actors first. The episode plays hilariously off this fact, with Shawn repeatedly referencing his extensive knowledge of horror films to state that Kenny, not being a primary character, will obviously be the first to die. When he inevitably is (death by pencil), all bets are off, and the episode goes into wonderfully uncharted territory.

Why 'Boy Meets World' Is Scarier Than Your Average Halloween Special

For being an episode of a teen sitcom aired on primetime television in the ‘90s, “And Then There Was Shawn” is a hell of a lot scarier than it ever needed to be. Even if the deaths are generally absurd — it is still a sitcom, after all, and comedy is still the goal—there was something kind of terrifying about watching our beloved characters under threat from a deranged killer. When the characters are killed off in increasingly creative ways, it’s hard not to imagine the excessive flashes of blood that the R-rated slashers use as their bread and butter. Even if this episode is comparatively tame, with the kills being TV-appropriate, it’s still considerably scarier than any sitcom Halloween special airing before or since. When, lights flickering, a voice sings in a carnivalesque melody over the loudspeakers, “Here’s a knife, here's a gun/there’ll be fun for everyone/Death is on the menu to-niiiiiiiight”, it’s both catchy and legitimately spooky.

Throughout its entire run, Boy Meets World provided sharply written scripts and a particularly talented cast, and few episodes prove this as much as “And Then There Was Shawn." Written by Jeff Menell, a horror film addict who spent time as a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter before writing for Boy Meets World, Menell used his passion for slashers by making a smart, faithful homage that pulls from a pool of knowledge of the genre. The episode not only teases such movies, but also respectfully follows the trail that they left behind. As Shawn calmly explains to his friends, there are rules to the horror world that must be abided by, and this episode knows its best not to upset these unwritten codes. There are the untouchable and amorous virgins (Cory and Topanga), the wise-cracking slacker (Eric), the charming side-man (Shawn), and the scream girl (Angela).

'Boy Meets World' Pays Homage to 'Scream' and '90s Horror Movies

Image via Dimension Films

“And Then There Was Shawn” also serves as a nostalgic time capsule of late ‘90s culture, with a slew of allusions and references that are very of their time. The mysterious masked killer, a black-robed figure hiding behind a skull mask, is clearly inspired by Scream’s Ghostface Killer. ‘90s scream queen Jennifer Love Hewitt, playing the hilariously named bit character Kennifer Love Fefferman, suddenly shows up and lends her effervescent charm to the episode. Inevitably, it being the late ‘90s, South Park references find their way into the mix (hint: don’t forget, a character named Kenny is the first to die).

Boy Meets World is no stranger to taking some bold steps in disrupting its safe but dependable formula with some off-center episodes. Season 3’s “I Was a Teenage Spy” and “As Time Goes By” from Season 7 toyed with experimenting on the show’s formula, featuring outlandish time travel scenarios and paid reference to ’50s culture and film noir, respectively. Still, the series' slasher episode, though brilliant, never feels too out of character for what viewers could expect from the show. It just makes sense. The characters—proven to be far more complicated in the overarching character arcs than the tropes that they portray—are perfect for a slasher.

Why 'Boy Meets World' Still Has One of TV's Best Halloween Episodes

Image via ABC 

It’s impossible to think about Halloween without admittedly getting at least a little sentimental. I can remember watching Night of the Living Dead, The Shining, and Halloween, all recommended by my mom and all viewed as perhaps a little too young to be witnessing such gruesome content. But along with these gems of the horror canon, I remember “And Then There Was Shawn," and I remember it fondly. I’ve watched the episode several times since, always during the Halloween season, and it holds up. It’s the type of episode that’s simultaneously referential and worth referencing. It pokes fun at beloved bits of culture while remaining respectful.

Holiday specials, especially for sitcoms, are plagued with the burden of shoehorning holiday themes and narratives into an episode while still retaining the writing and characterization that fit into the show's style and aesthetic. Boy Meets World made the greatest Halloween episode in television history by taking one of the things that makes Halloween so damn great (scary movies) and weaving it into the fabric of a legitimately hilarious script.

The jokes land, the scares work, and the result is something wildly entertaining and memorable. With this, the show's greatest episode, Boy Meets World, set a standard for episodes like That '70s Show's fabulous Hitchcock-referencing "Too Old to Trick or Treat, Too Young to Die" and Community's zombie-apocalypse riff "Epidemiology" that followed. It's only "And Then There Was Shawn," though, to make a convincing argument for being in itself a faithful companion to the horror canon rather than an outright parody. Fortunately, it is also funny, with enough quips, gags, and one-liners to reward repeat viewings.

Whether you have already or not, watch the slasher episode of Boy Meets World. Add it to your annual October rotation. It's the type of magic trick that few shows could hope to pull off, an absolutely delightful step into uncharted territory that doesn't get lost along the way.

Boy Meets World