10 TV Shows Like Cape Fear That You Should Watch in the Future.
It seems every generation gets its own Max Cady: an ex-con with an obsessive grudge against the lawyer who helped send him there. Javier Bardem, who played this deranged character in Robert Mitchum’s 1962 and Robert De Niro’s 1991, picks up the baton in Apple TV’s new adaptation —his first as a miniseries. We keep coming back to Cape Fear (which, in turn, is based on John D. MacDonald’s bestselling novel) not so much for the tormented family (they’re probably fine) but for the vengeful predator with an uncanny knack for appearing where you least expect him. In that regard, you might also enjoy other series featuring TV’s nastiest, yet most compelling villains.
You (2018–2025)
Sometimes we love to hate serial killers, and sometimes we just love them—a charming, sexy killer seems too appealing and interesting a contrast to pass up. Late-stage capitalism, the climate crisis, and the insurance industry are far more likely to kill us, so we’d probably prefer to face the statistically less likely threat of a charismatic killer like Penn Badgley’s Joe Goldberg in You , which concluded after five seasons in 2025. In the first season, he develops a powerful romantic obsession with Guinevere Beck, a graduate student played by Elizabeth Lyle. He’ll do anything to pave the way for true love—literally anything.Watch You on Netflix .
Observer (2022 – )
The series is based on the true story of “The Observer” from Westfield, New Jersey, who sent a series of obsessive, highly specific, and increasingly disturbing letters to a family who had recently purchased a home in the town. Creator and writer Ryan Murphy brings his uniquely wacky style to the story, creating a neighborhood full of oddballs, each a suspect. It’s like Cape Fear if you didn’t know who the stalker was. Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale play the wacky couple, joined by a supporting cast of neighbors including Jennifer Coolidge, Richard Kind, Mia Farrow, and Christopher McDonald. A second season is apparently on the way.Watch “The Observer” on Netflix.
Fall (2013–2016)
Jamie Dornan’s sexy young serial killer Paul Spector isn’t strictly the main character in The Fall , but he co-stars alongside Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, played by Gillian Anderson, throughout all three seasons of the crime drama. Like Joe, Paul is seemingly an ordinary guy and family man, the last person you’d suspect of stalking and serially murdering professional women in Belfast. Superintendent Gibson is dispatched from London to assist with a stalled investigation, which leads her on a hunt for the cunning Spector, fraught with physical danger, psychological manipulation, and bureaucratic complexities. Watch The Fall on Peacock and Prime Video .
Hannibal (2013–2015)
By 2013, it seemed we’d seen enough of Hannibal Lecter, the series of Silence of the Lambs spinoffs and sequels growing increasingly tiresome. However, producer Bryan Fuller returned to the source material, re-adapting Thomas Harris’s first Lecter novel in a grand, operatic style and with a visual scope unmatched on television— Cape Fear’s operatic scale and themes of obsession still resonate. The deeper, more sensual relationship between the Doctor (Mads Mikkelsen) and profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) adds a brilliant subtext as they hunt serial killers together. The series ended a little early, but three seasons still provide a compelling viewing experience. Watch Hannibal on Prime Video .
Creepy Recordings (2024 – )
Creep Tapes follows the story of two found footage films directed by Patrick Brice , with writer/star Mark Duplass returning as Josef, or Peach Bubbles, or whatever he’s calling himself at one point or another. This almost anthology series is designed for viewers who might get bored with a single season of criminal hunts and would prefer several standalone pursuits. In the series, the charming, funny, and sad-looking protagonist gives generally well-meaning people reasons to come and interview him on camera, so they usually end up documenting their own deaths. The series retains the films’ sense of humor, as well as the persistent notion that we’d likely fall for this convincingly manipulative loser’s tricks. Watch Creep Tapes on Shudder.
“Followers” (2013–2015)
A spectacularly violent crime thriller from Scream creator Kevin Williamson, The Following takes the idea of a charismatic villain to a new level, as reflected in the double meaning of its title. Kevin Bacon plays Ryan Hardy, a former FBI agent who is recalled to duty when serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), with whom he has a long-standing relationship, is released from prison. However, things are a bit more complicated: Carroll has amassed a cult following (a sort of following ) around him: people who are happy to kill for him and help him turn the tables on Hardy.Watch The Following on Netflix .
Glory (2022)
Glory , a deservedly well-received South Korean project, has at least two distinct layers, and remarkably, it holds together remarkably well despite its abrupt shifts in tone. Most importantly, it’s a revenge drama with a relatively simple premise: Song Hye-kyo plays Moon Dong-eun, an elementary school homeroom teacher who’s playing a very, very long game: her bullies have grown up, and their children (at least some of them) are now under Dong-eun’s care. Precisely where she wants them. It cleverly depicts how deeply Dong-eun has been abused in the past (many scenes are difficult to watch), and how her post-traumatic stress disorder has been shattered as a result. Her tormentors’ parents were too wealthy to allow the girls to face any punishment for their actions, so Dong-eun feels she has no choice. It could have been a revenge fantasy or a straight-up horror film about a woman exacting questionable revenge, but while it’s hard to root for Dong-eun, it’s also hard to condemn her entirely.Watch “Glory” on Netflix .
Happy Valley (2014–2023)
Don’t let the title fool you: this British crime drama is one of the darkest. Sarah Lancashire plays Sergeant Catherine Cawood, a police officer whose daughter committed suicide eight years ago (at the start of the series) after being raped by Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton); she is also raising her grandson, who is also Tommy’s son. Royce is the undisputed villain, but the plot is complicated by Catherine’s long-term quest for revenge, exacerbated by her victim’s criminal connections and his relationship with her grandson. The series, and especially its lead actress, Sarah Lancashire, have received numerous BAFTA awards and nominations over its three seasons. Watch Happy Valley on Prime Video and Britbox .
The Outsider (2020)
The premise is brutal and, for all the characters, impossible: a child is brutally murdered, and the evidence points decisively to Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman), the coach of a children’s baseball team. The case seems straightforward—except that he was away at a conference when the murder occurred, and even appeared on the news in another city. Tragedies pile up, and the threat is not entirely natural. Without giving away too much, I will say that this is one of the most disturbing King adaptations (and incredibly gripping). It features superb performances from Bateman, as well as Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo as Holly Gibney, one of King’s recurring characters. HBO declined to renew the series, but it adapts the entire book and ends quite unequivocally. Watch The Outsider on HBO Max .
Murder (2011–2014)
While the series shares a common tone, The Killing most closely resembles Cape Fear in its final two (of four) seasons. Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman play homicide detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder, who initially investigate the murder of a teenager, complicated by family grief and an ongoing political campaign. However, the series later devolves into a cat-and-mouse game involving Linden and a killer with more personal motives and ties to her past, who ultimately proves much closer to her than she—or we, the viewers—could have imagined. Watch The Killing on Hulu.