Let 'Black Mirror' creep you out this October

It's late October, and you're ready to feel a little freaked out.

Eschew the witches (although the lovely Puritan-flavored The Witch is streaming on Amazon Prime) or creatures under the bed (although the excellent monster-in-the-basement Australian horror The Babadook is worth your time on Netflix) for something that will give you the major creeps without any blood, guts, or gore.

The British Black Mirror is an anthology, a speculative-fiction series. Each episode has a new cast and a new setting, and deals with new circumstances about what our lives could become. Each one is different, but the general tone is not of a bright and shiny future where no one's cellphone battery ever dies at the wrong time.

Black Mirror is the kind of scary that creeps up on you and permeates your brain. It's a paranoid kind of scared that gets to you in a way that other, more traditional horror can't.

Because Black Mirror is an anthology series, you can pick and choose which episode to start with. Some are better than others, but if you're looking to dip your toe into the series, my favorite is "The Entire History of You," about a future where an implanted device records all of your memories and can be played back like a movie, wreaking havoc on a formerly loving couple.

Two seasons are already on Netflix, and Friday, the streaming service drops the first six of a planned 12-episode third season that attracted some big-name directors, including Temple grad (and 10 Cloverfield Lane helmer) Dan Trachtenberg.

- Molly Eichel

Where to stream: Netflix.

Like this? Binge these: The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (both Netflix).