Horror relies on being able to deeply unsettled its desired audience, whether it be in the form of video games, anime, or in any other medium. The Silent Hill series is renowned the world over for being able to do just that and much more. Each entry in the series is cryptic and terrifying in its own unique, and sometimes bizarre, manner.
This franchise's unrelenting nature can be found mirrored in a few anime series. Particularly those that focus on the supernatural, psychological, or both. Be warned that some of these shows are meant for adult audiences and contain brutal, vicious subject matter.
10 Blood+
This sanguine anime looks at the life of an anemic and amnesiac teen named Saya. She led an ordinary life until she gets attacked one night by a bloodthirsty beast. Before it can drain the girl's veins, she is rescued by a hunter of foul things in the night.
Haji, a man from the monster-hunting organization called Red Shield, makes Saya drink his blood, which unlocks great powers within her; the kind that let her slay fearsome fiends with ease. There's a ton of monster-battling in Blood+ that unfolds in a dynamic urban setting sure to satisfy any viewer's bloodlust.
9 Tokyo Ghoul
In this version of Japan, foul apparitions abound. The kinds that chill one to the bone when witnessed. Ghouls, hungry for flesh and thirsty for blood, roam the city. Seeking prey. However, not all are mindless zombie-like cretins. Some can blend into human society and exploit the ignorance of mankind.
The protagonist, a young man named Kaneki, one day runs afoul of such a beast. He is saved, though still suffers an infliction. He becomes a half-ghoul who must integrate into the deathly underworld of the city as well as masquerade as a human. Tokyo Ghoul's interesting characters and unflinching consequences make it a great watch.
8 Terra Formars
Terra Formars is a combination of a fighting anime and a sci-fi expedition to a fictional Mars. Follow some of Earth's best and brightest as they try to colonize the red planet. However, things are not so simple, as this world is covered by huge, humanoid cockroaches that vastly surpass much of the crew in strength and speed.
The fleet sent to Mars gets decimated, though many come together and fight back. In the process, they discover a plot that hints at betrayal long before these humans left their home planet. With lots of action as well as storytelling twists at every turn, this is a show worth checking out if one likes space adventures full of aggressive aliens and exciting experiments.
7 Parasyte: The Maxim
The truth of this show is that horror lies within even the benign. Mundane mist covers the disgusting monsters that walk among those in this anime. Parasyte: The Maxim is grotesquely imaginative when it comes to the forms that the parasitic alien invaders take when they fully manifest within their human hosts.
Hideous sci-fi horrors await in a show that should not be watched after eating. It doesn't hold back the visceral imagery, much to the delight of fans seeking such succulence. Alongside the brutality, there is a fascinating story about a teen named Shinichi who's hand gets possessed by one of the drill-like worms from beyond.
6 Demon Slayer
Although more firmly in the fantasy genre than the Silent Hill games, there are similar elements found in Demon Slayer that may pique the interests of the horror game's fans. The well-being of the protagonist and his loved ones are not guaranteed, as they get assailed by supernatural threats right from the start.
Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko are the only survivors of the massacre, though the latter becomes affected by some fell demonic taint and begins to turn into one of the fiends. Together, they must journey through an unforgiving land in order to avenge their family and find a cure for Nezuko before she fully transforms into a demon. The stakes are always high in this show, which will keep watchers on the edge of their seats.
5 Gantz
Death is not the end, in this extremely violent adventure. Gantz follows the demise of Kei and Masaru after they fail to rescue a drunk homeless man who fell upon some train tracks. They wake up and are tasked with a bizarre mission of slaying supernatural foes.
This anime feels almost like a hellscape for those trapped between worlds, as the brutality is so frequent, and the situations so strange, that this could easily be a limbo for certain souls. There are tons of unique and odd weapons as well; many looking like something from a Halo game.
4 Monster
This complex tale contains a true monster, though not one of supernatural or extraterrestrial origin. This fiend was created by mankind's desire to harm and destroy one another. A series of awful acts are committed around an honest doctor, which sets him on a path of madness-laden discoveries involving a former patient.
Monster follows doctor Tenma after he decides to save a young child's life instead of the mayor's, which results in a political upheaval whose brunt cruelly falls upon the kind doctor. Assassinations, kidnapping, and horrid experiments are some of the horrors Tenma uncovers as he searches for answers while evading those who seek to stop him.
3 Genocyber
Some of the greatest animated content gets stuck in a weird place. The animation industry is like a constantly evolving beast and produces strange circumstances that themselves produce Original Video Animations that don't end up being a series.
Genocyber is such an OVA. The short series follows the experiences of a young girl named Elaine who gets twisted by psychedelic and invasive scientific experiments. She gains another side, one birthed from both advanced technology and psychic powers in a uniquely dark science-fantasy adventure. Those that enjoy crazy, bloody experiments battling each other will enjoy this visual kaleidoscope of techno-horror.
2 Hellsing Ultimate
Big guns and bloody beasts are the most alluring draws of Hellsing Ultimate, the OVA version that followed the legendary anime series. The carnage that unfolds when the ancient vampire Alucard is loosed upon foes of his master, Sir Integra Hellsing, is like a crimson tidal wave crashing forth through a pitch-black starless night.
Despite having a wealth of supernatural powers, Alucard enjoys decimating adversaries with his monstrous handgun. He even turns a young, dying police officer into his ward and teaches her the ways of the vampire as she assists him in disposing of the aberrant filth that encroaches upon humanity from the shadows of the world.
1 Elfen Lied
Arguably one of the most unsettling anime of the last two decades, Elfen Lied depicts a tale of cruel experiments that give rise to young mutated women with invisible, telekinetic arms. Lucy, one of these experiments, escapes her confinement and goes on a rampage as she makes her exit from the facility holding her.
The experiments done to her have fractured her mind and Lucy ends up in the care of cousins Kouta and Yuka, who come to treat her like family. Though, peace is not maintained for long as those who created Lucy come looking for her along with their fiendish devices and nasty schemes.