One of the best lesser-known pieces of horror media of the last few years is the anthology horror series Channel Zero. The show, which debuted with SyFy in 2016, has now had four scary seasons, each based on a different creepypasta from the old days of the internet.
The show is now available on Shudder, with fans hoping it will continue to get new seasons on the horror streaming platform. Season one of the show is still held in high regard as an excellent launch to such a bold idea. The season was based on the story of “Candle Cove,” a fictional television show that only children can see, which eventually leads to their disappearances. Here are the ten scariest scenes from season one, ranked.
Community Theater
In episode four, there is one of the many kid-centric creepy scenes the show seems to love. Towards the end of the episode, the character of Jessica is looking for answers and ends up going into the school gym. The whole building is dark, except for some minor light illuminating the stage.
On it is a group of children performing some kind of play together, each fully dressed as one of the characters of Candle Cove, the sinister children’s show that season one of Channel Zero revolves around. The moment becomes truly unsettling when all the children stop what they’re doing and stare right at Jessica. Of course, what follows between the kids and Jessica is less creepy, but much worse for her.
Kids These Days
Leave it to a season centered around a murderous kids show to have, well, murderous kids. There are two different scenes of a mob of kids descending onto someone and stabbing them repeatedly until dead, with one coming not long after the last scene on this list.
However, the other one is notably creepier. In episode three, there’s a deeply unsettling scene where, in broad daylight on the main street, a cop rushes up to a group of kids sitting over a corpse and just stabbing it over and over again. Its horrific, gruesome, and just feels plain wrong.
Welcome To Candle Cove
As things escalate in episode five, Mike suddenly can’t find Lily, the little girl who just so happens to be the one that left teeth for the creature in the scene mentioned earlier. He then sees her, but she couldn’t be in a worse place. She is on his television, inside Candle Cove.
The image is visually scary, with a little girl standing against the paper-made backdrops of the fake children’s show, but the true terror comes from knowing that the show has both supernatural powers and sinister intentions for the children who it manages to encapture.
The Studio Tour
Early in the season, Jessica heads to the public access television studio she believes to be responsible for broadcasting Candle Cove. The studio is dark, creepy, and devoid of life. Even the camera-men are just creepy mannequins.
The whole scene is extremely tense, with it feeling like she has stumbled right into a trap, or worse, something far more supernatural. The search doesn’t have a huge payoff or jump-scare, but it is still a lengthy, terrifying scene.
Going Inside
Throughout the season, Mike is told repeatedly and ominously that “you have to go inside.” The line is vague and seems to be potentially referencing going inside Candle Cove, but in episode six we finally learn what going inside means, and it is gross.
Mike finally goes inside, and it is a wet, messy, physical trip that is basically the equivalent of being eaten. Within seconds he finds himself inside this new organic space, and it makes no sense in the best and creepiest way possible.
Class Is In Session
Things really hit the fan in episode six, as it seems like the main character of the season, Mike, experiences one nightmare after another. One of the quick horrors is when he rushes into a classroom at the school. The class of children is already inside, sitting at their desks, covered in blood.
It is a horrific sight that becomes instantly worse when the children do their signature move of slowly turning their heads to look at Mike with sinister smiles. It is the definitive moment that Mike’s likelihood of survival in this whole nightmare comes into question.
First Appearance Of The Tooth Creature
Even though he is old news now, and even though by the end of the season you get accustomed to seeing him, the first appearance of the tooth child at the end of episode one is one of the creepiest and most memorable moments of the whole show.
The practical design and effects are insane, and the creature is deeply unsettling for a multitude of reasons. Plus, there’s the extremely disturbing fact that he only comes out of the woods to eat a child’s teeth that she left out there for him.
The Skin Taker
At the end of the season, after going inside, Mike meets a new creature. This monstrous child is similar in build to the tooth child, only much fleshier and less hungry. The new monster actually has a somber place in the world, and, after being given some particularly bad news from Mike, it proceeds to stab itself in the eyes.
The whole thing just sucks out any hope you were clinging to and delivers a finale of fear that nicely ties into the story as well. Plus, the show saved one last scary “thing” which is nice as the season reaches its end.
Tooth Child Is Hungry
Although it is just a dream, (or is it?) the quick flash of the tooth creature in episode three is a creepy moment, bordering on full-on jumpscare. A character slowly turns, due to a particularly upsetting noise, only to see the course of said sound is the tooth child just munching on the fingers of the character Mike while he sleeps. The immediate cut signifying it was a dream garners the biggest sigh of relief in the whole season.
Tooth Child In The Hospital Room
In episode two, we get another look at the tooth creature. This time somehow inexplicably appearing in the hospital room where the Lily. The shot is perfectly constructed to be terrifying, as she is simply playing with stuffed animals, then suddenly, out of nowhere, the tooth child is creepily approaching her. The shot is quick but long enough that the creature’s walk will be burned into your brain for quite some time.
