Stephen King Meets Robert Eggers In Netflix's 100% RT Horror Masterpiece

Published Sep 26, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT

Shealyn Scott is a Senior Writer at Screen Rant. She has been writing for the site since 2024, focused on network, reality, streaming, and classic television.
A creative writer, journalist, and lover of the written word in all its forms, Shealyn enjoys deconstructing scenes from her favorite shows, using context clues and historical precedent to predict major plot points (which, due to her successful track record, has sparked rumors of clairvoyance).
As an award-winning student journalist, Shealyn spent her college years advocating for the humanities while studying English Literature. Her love of storytelling propelled her to expand her degree with minors in Writing and History, believing life to be a mere collection of stories that can be framed in as many ways as a movie scene.
As a Senior member of the TV Team, Shealyn treats the series she covers like books, analyzing every line, camera angle, and lighting choice. Thankfully, her personal mission statement lines up perfectly with Screen Rant: every creative work deserves just as much thought from the viewer as it received from its creator.

Netflix has one of the best horror shows of the century hiding in plain sight, and it harkens back to the genre's greatest minds. From chilling novels to epoch-making film franchises, Stephen King has successfully carved out his legacy as the "King of Horror," a title he's unlikely to lose anytime soon. Meanwhile, the visionaries who bring horror to life on screen— be it in theaters or straight-to-streaming drops— have garnered just as much acclaim in recent years for their directorial prowess.

Throughout the past decade, Mike Flanagan's filmography of terrifying miniseries has permanently raised the bar for horror television, from Gothic masterpiece The Haunting of Hill House to supernatural religious horror staple Midnight Mass to Edgar Allen Poe-inspired The Fall of the House of Usher. Regardless, horror movies are by far the most popular medium the genre takes, and film legends like Robert Eggers (The Witch, Nosferatu, The Lighthouse) only grow exponentially more renowned with each passing year.

Yet, one hidden gem horror series called Marianne seamlessly combines the supernatural, atmospheric, and borderline claustrophobic storytelling of Stephen King's best work with Robert Eggers' delightfully grotesque signature style. Without question, the 2019 French miniseries is criminally overlooked, despite being a title directly recommended by Stephen King and countless other bastions of horror. Truthfully, international titles rarely get the attention they deserve, but anyone who invests in Marianne will be rewarded in dividends— especially if you already enjoy a heavy dose of horror.

Marianne Is Every Supernatural Horror Fan's Dream Show

Though it may be eclipsed by the likes of Stranger Things and the Flanaverse, Marianne is arguably Netflix's best horror series. The supernatural drama begins with a fairly familiar set-up: protagonist Emma (Victoire Du Bois) is a prolific writer who must return to her hometown following a string of mysterious events. Nevertheless, Marianne easily makes up for its seemingly simple premise with slow-burning tension and some of the most effective scares on any streaming service.

As the title suggests, the main antagonist is a witch called Marianne— who Emma initially believed to be nothing more than a fictional character in her books. As the walking nightmare slowly sets in motion a devious plot to force Emma to renege on her retirement, the author can only rely on her estranged high school friend group, an austere inspector investigating suspicious deaths, and a strange priest named Father Xavier (Patrick d'Assumçao). At once, Marianne employs the genre's best tropes while presenting them in refreshing, wholly original packaging.

Marianne and the core friend group— known as the Shipwreck punks— have clear parallels to Pennywise and The Losers Club, but the harrowing miniseries is much more than a mere French version of It. Similarly, despite the prevailing aesthetics often echoing modern classics like The Witch, Marianne truly stands in a league of its own narratively speaking. The way the first four episodes set up the simmering plot with standout scenes that leave even hardcore horror fans petrified is nothing short of extraordinary— but seasoned Netflix subscribers shouldn't be surprised.

Netflix Has Some Of The Best International Horror Series On Streaming

From coming-of-age drama Wednesday to period romance Bridgerton to crime thriller Adolescence, many of the most popular Netflix original series of all time hail from primarily English-speaking countries, but the platform also has an impressive array of international content. Undoubtedly, viewers who are adventurous enough to venture outside their native language are spoiled with options in every genre, but Netflix has a particularly formidable grasp on international horror.

There are clear niches the streaming service prefers to pour into, like the illustrious world of Netflix K-dramas, but there's no border the platform won't cross in search of captivating stories. German sci-fi thriller Dark is one of the best puzzle box shows of the century, South Korean spectacle Squid Game is the most-watched series in Netflix history, and multilingual drama 1899 maintains a cult following years after its cancellation. As such, non-English Netflix originals may have to fight harder to be seen, but as Marianne proves, hidden gems often shine the brightest.