Two Sentence Horror Stories is a 2019 horror anthology series on The CW inspired by the subreddit of the same name.
The project started out as an indie showcase featuring five short films released in 2017. Subsequently, The CW bought the license and copyright of the series for its 2018-19 season.
The first season consists of nine episodes, including three shorts that were part of the original project, grouped into one episode. The second season consists of ten episodes. The third season is currently airing. Each short runs for approximately 20 minutes, so two episodes are broadcast by The CW each week.
The series centers on varying horror stories told in exactly two sentences. Each episode begins with the first sentence, then the plot plays out and ends with the second sentence.
This series contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: An extreme example. The episodes are all based on two sentence short stories circulated in Reddit, expanded into half-hour stories.
- Action Girl: A few female leads in the series are capable of fighting back when the chips are down.
- Asshole Victim: Any of the serial killers in the series qualify when they meet their comeuppance.
- The serial killer in the first episode gets his comeuppance but good when he discovers the protagonist's secret.
- The boss in "Squirm" when his rape victims spike his coffee with tapeworms.
- Rosaly in "Manifest Destiny" counts.
- The bullies and principal in "Elliot" count as they tormented a transgender student and were on the receiving end of the witch’s cursed Ocarina.
- The pranksters in "Toxic". A.J. included.
- Bad Boss:
- The CEO in "Squirm" drugs and rapes his female workers, sends them taunting pictures of the incidents, and keeps their photos as mementos.
- Daniel the boss in "Quota," who drives his workers to the bone to surpass his competitors and locks them in the warehouse to meet his sales quota when the protagonist merely suggested it as a joke.
- Cora in "Essence" works her employees till they’re sick, then harvests their life force and organs for beauty products to keep her youth.
- The Bad Guy Wins: "Scion," "Only Child," "Tutorial," and "Bag Man" end this way. "Manifest Destiny" kind of has this ending in that the Sheriff has the townspeople under his thrall and they are forever trapped in Cain’s End.
- Bait-and-Switch: "Tutorial" is a home invasion plot turned on its head.
- Bittersweet Ending: Many of the episodes end on this note.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Many in the series, some hiding it better than others.
- Cora in "Essence" acts polite and courteous to her employees but she’s really a self-serving vain witch.
- Rex in "Only Child" gives Anthony Fremont a run for his money. Though his actions are that of the demon possessing him.
- Patrick in "Instinct" uses a polite mask to hide the fact that he is a depraved serial killer.
- Bottle Episode: All the episodes take place generally in one location, briefly two.
- Child Eater: The demon in "Little Monsters" feeds on children.
- Deadly Prank: What kicks off the plot for "Toxic".
- Demonic Possession: Four episodes deal with this as a plot device. Though technically not demons per se, Sheriff Stone and the townsfolk of Cain’s End also possess the reenactors.
- Doppelgänger: "Imposter" deals with one as a plot device.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: "El Muerto," "Elliot," and "Ibeji" are by far the only ones that end on a happy note.
- Eldritch Location: Cain’s End in "Manifest Destiny" seems to be this as those who wear the original clothing of the townsfolk are not only possessed by the racist townsfolk but are unable to leave.
- The End... Or Is It?: Staple for a horror anthology.
- Fatal Flaw:
- Charlie’s in "Imposter" is his need to fit in with his white coworkers, rejecting his Filipino heritage, and his ambition to climb the corporate ladder to aid his Alzheimer’s stricken mother, all of which angers his doppelgänger.
- Rosaly’s is her journalistic ambition for a great story and to “break open” Jeremy’s “full potential.”
- Fate Worse than Death:
- Cora in "Essence," who devoured the organs of her salon staff and made beauty potions out of them is subjected to a prolonged similar torture by Tran at the end.
- Rosaly and the townsfolk of Cain’s End as they’re possessed by the sheriff and his racist posse and as long as they wear the original items belonging to a member of the town can never leave its boundaries.
- For the Evulz: The killers in "Hide," "Instinct," "Tutorial," the witch in "Elliot," and the demon in "Bag Man" operate on this logic.
- The Illegal: Araceli and her family in "Hide."
- I'm a Humanitarian: Cora, the owner of the salon in "Essence," is a witch who wears down her salon staff and feeds on their organs and makes them into a special VIP treatment to retain her youth and her clients youth.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: At the end of "Hide," Araceli successfully saves Gracie from the two home intruders. Alas, by doing so she appeared, and was mentioned by name on the news story about the incident making her identity public. The episode ends with ICE paying her and her family a little visit.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: In "Squirm," Keisha ends up using the same tactic that Doug used to date rape and gaslight his female employees.
- Villain Protagonist: The protagonists of "Tutorial" and "Guilt Trip."
- Written by the Winners: Lampshaded by Jeremy in "Manifest Destiny" as he and Rosaly film a reenactment of Cain’s Ends history of a Native American falling in love with a white woman, to the chagrin of her father the sheriff. Before shit hit the fan, one of the reenactors tells Jeremy the true story: the Sheriff’s daughter was to be wed to another man but when he caught her sneaking back into her room, she claimed to have been raped by a Native American. The sheriff and his posse soon rounded up every Native they could find and massacred them along those who tried to stop him.
- Zombie Apocalypse: The plot of "Quota."
