We are currently in the middle of the winter season, when temperatures drop and the night becomes darker and longer, stealing more and more precious minutes of sunlight. It’s the perfect time of year for that True Detective: Nightland, the fourth season of the crime drama anthology starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. This season has already done a lot to differentiate itself from previous storylines, with nods to the supernatural interspersed with prominent references to the series’ first season.
As we get closer to the season finale, you might be wondering: what should I watch next? True Detective: Nightland? We’ve been thinking the same thing, so we’ve put together a list of the best Arctic-themed horror movies and TV that you can watch after Tsalal’s story ends. From gruesome horror and psychological thrillers to nail-biting survival dramas and more, here are the best Arctic horror stories to watch True Detective: Nightland.
30 days of night
Image: Columbia Photos
Director: David Slade
Form: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston
Where to watch: Netflix
True Detective: Nightland takes place in Ennis, Alaska, a town that experiences an annual period of prolonged darkness known as “the Long Night” during the events of the series. 30 days of night has the same concept, as it is also set in an Alaskan town preparing for a month-long polar night, from which the film takes its name.
There’s something about David Slade’s action-horror thriller Night country But not: vampires. Many of them. Based on the comic miniseries by writer Steve Niles and artist Ben Templesmith. 30 days of night is a brutal and terrifying game of cat and mouse, as the surviving human citizens of Barrow desperately try to wait out an invading horde of vampires long enough for the polar night to end and the sun to rise. It’s a chilling, remarkable horror thriller with thrilling action and enough thrilling gory violence to make your hair stand on end and get your blood pumping. —Toussaint Egan
Devil’s pass
Image; Aldamisa Entertainment/Anchor Bay Entertainment
Director: Renny Harlin
Form: Holly Goss, Matt Stokoe, Luke Albright
Where to watch: Tubi, AMC plusShudder
The Dyatlov Pass is one of the most enduring and strange mysteries of the modern world. A group of nine hikers in the Ural Mountains died naked and covered in snow with some very mysterious injuries, and despite advances in technology, no theory seems to be able to fully explain everything that happened to them. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the case is a huge source of inspiration True Detective: Nightland and its dead scientists, which is exactly what makes this 2013 horror film about the incident worth watching.
In Devil’s passalso known as The Dyatlov Pass Incident, five students recreate the path of the original walking party, hoping to discover what happened to them. Instead, they uncover a bizarre series of conspiracies that connect everything from the Philadelphia Experiment to MothMan. The film relies largely on a creepy and effective Found Footage format, but things really come together when the group finds a seemingly abandoned Soviet military base. Although the film’s twists may not have much to do with it Night country, Devil’s pass is a fun and very cold horror film that contains a lot of Dyatlov details that will provide a little extra context Night country‘s final. —Austen Goslin
Insomnia (1997)
Image: Warner Home Video
Director: Erik Skjoldbjærg
Form: Stellan Skarsgård, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Bjørn Floberg
Where to watch: Criterion channel, Tubi
While modern audiences may be more familiar with Christopher Nolan’s 2002 remake Insomnia The original 1997 Norwegian film, starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, features one of the best performances of Stellan Skarsgård’s formidable career.
Insomnia follows the story of Jonas Engström (Skarsgård), a Swedish police officer now living in Norway who is sent to investigate the murder of a 17-year-old girl in an Arctic region colloquially known as ‘the land of the midnight sun’. While pursuing the suspect on foot, Jonas accidentally shoots his partner dead with a gun he illegally kept from his time in the Swedish police. Haunted by the murder and his worsening insomnia, Jonas must track down the original killer while staying one step ahead of his peers in discovering his own guilt. A frenzied, paranoia-inducing thriller with tense editing and an anguished, melancholic performance by Skarsgård, Insomnia is so damn good – it might just keep you awake. -AT
The last winter
Image: IFC Films
Director: Larry Fessenden
Form: Ron Perlman, Pato Hoffmann, James LeGros
Where to watch: AMC plusShudder
Practically a film about Tsalal himself, The last winter follows a group of scientists at a remote Arctic research base as they study the effects of oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness. Of course, the base itself is largely run by the oil company that wants to drill there, so their findings are closely monitored. But as drilling in the area continues, strange things are happening at the base that seem determined to sabotage the greedy company.
Steeped in supernatural strangeness and a deep fear of ecological ruin, The last winter is a fascinating horror film that does more than most to suggest that people and corporations have nothing to do with invading the coldest corners of the world. —A.G
The Terror (season 1)
Image: AMC
Creator: David Kajganich
Form: Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, Paul Ready
Where to watch: Prime VideoShudder
Neither arctic horror nor television gets much better than The terror‘s first season. The show tells a fictionalized version of the true story of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, two polar research ships that become trapped in the ice somewhere in Northern Canada. The series offers an absolutely brutal take on both 19th century exploration and being stuck on a boat with people you hate.
The ships’ crews (including stars like Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies and Ciaran Hinds) fall victim to infighting, weather, disease and supernatural forces as they try to survive the horrific cold that surrounds them. All the great cold weather horror is about being stuck somewhere with nothing but the weather to hold you back, and The terror gets that feeling better than almost anything else. The ship’s cramped quarters give way to vast expanses of icy ocean that look so cold you can practically feel them through your TV screen. —A.G
The thing
Image: Universal images
Director: Johannes Timmerman
Form: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Wilford Brimley
Where to watch: Digital rental/purchase Amazon, AppleTVand Vudu
The blueprint for every Arctic research base story told since, John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece of cold-weather terror, has only gotten better with age. The story, one of many adaptations of the short story “Who Goes There?”, follows a group of scientists who accidentally become the target of a creature from another world that can take the form of any organic life it encounters, which means that no one can trust each other, or even know if they themselves are still human. Of course, adding to the fear is the fact that they’re all stuck in their research base, with nothing but the Antarctic wilderness around them for miles in any direction.
Night country‘s parallels with The thing are undeniable, but the horror classic demands a revisit if you haven’t done so lately. Few films have ever had the quality of disgusting creature effects that Carpenter’s film employs, but it’s the similarities and references to the base itself and its scientists that tie the film most closely together. Real detective’s final season. —A.G