"Only one TV show has ever truly terrified me, and it’s From on Stan."

When it comes to picking a favourite entertainment genre, my mind works much the same way as a parent's would when asked to select a favourite child. 

Internally I love them all equally, of course, but when really pressed on the matter I know there's only one top option that will immediately spring to mind.

For me, that entertainment genre is horror.

From nightmarish serial killer offerings to hauntings, iconic slashers, physiological thrillers, apocalyptic masterpieces, gothic tales and anything that melds fantasy and fear together has always been my culture version of a death row meal.

The allure of the horror genre is of course the adrenalin rush that comes with knowing that every time a new scene appears on screen, there's a chance it will make your blood run cold, but it's also the ultimate form of escapism. 

Since I'm very rarely worried that one of my colleagues will read aloud from an ancient forbidden book and doom us all or that a Satanic cult will offer me up as a human sacrifice (but never say never), the horror genre never dredges up feelings of stress from my actual life. 

So when I happily sat down to watch the Stan series From when it first appeared on the platform I did so late at night as a way to wind down from a busy day, with my windows and balcony doors flung open for fresh air and all the lights off in order to really focus on the screen.

But by the end of the first episode my windows were locked, the lights were back on and for the first time in my adult life a TV series had me checking the corners of my bedroom before I went to sleep.

Watch: Take a look at the trailer for From season two on Stan. Post continues below.

If you have yet to come across this Stan series, season one opens on a small, isolated middle-American town with a feeling of decay and desperation clinging to its edges. 

As the sun begins to set, the town's self-appointed sheriff Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau) strides through the streets ringing a large bell, sternly telling a few slow stragglers and children unwilling to leave the playground to hurry home and lock themselves inside.

Darkness falls over the town and inside one of the houses, a little girl called Megan hears a gentle tap on her bedroom window and pulls back the curtain to reveal an old woman's face with a sinister smile pressed against the glass. The old woman whispers that she's lonely and tricks Megan into opening the window, Megan's mother enters the room at that moment and screams for her to stop, but it's too late.

The "old woman" instantly transforms into a demonic-looking creature, leaps through the window and brutally murders them both.

This is just a recap of the first few minutes of From, and a little taste of what is to come.

The truth about this town is that the people within it have happened upon it by chance over the years, some in family groups and some alone, and once they enter the town they can never leave.

There are no phones to call for help, no computers or technology to link them to the outside world and if they try to leave on foot or by car they find themselves circling back to their homes in an endless, maddening loop. Or becoming lost in the woods that encircle the town, which is a much more dangerous place to be.

They lock themselves, armed, in their homes every night while terrifying, humanoid creatures slowly emerge from the woods and attempt to trick or force them out of their homes so they can torture and kill them in the most bloodthirsty ways possible.

Only a set of mysterious talismans hung inside their houses can stop the monsters from entering.

Now, by this point, I am sure many of you are shaking your heads over your phones and sighing so loudly in exasperation that the person next to you on the train has quietly yet quickly moved to another seat.

I'm also fully anticipating receiving a slew of comments from some Instagram user, let's call him gregg1980_, who cannot believe I found this series terrifying, because he watched it in the middle of the night while hanging over an open pit of crocodiles and HE didn't find it scary, so how can I be writing this?

Women, I tell you, so quick to be hysterical.

So to all the naysayers out there (and particularly gregg1980_) what I have to say to you is that just like every other emotion in the world, fear is personal and subjective, and what terrifies one person may barely warrant an eyebrow lift for another.

The beauty of From is that it taps into an underlying fear many of us still carry from childhood, of monsters lurking in the shadows, outside windows, and just beyond the front door where the porch light doesn't quite reach – and then blows it up into something much more sinister.

Mixed in with the supernatural scares and bloodthirsty creatures is also a suffocating feeling of isolation and entrapment, which leaves the audience with a sense of gnawing helplessness more terrifying than your average horror show.

This series is also fast-paced and intriguing enough to keep me watching into season two, despite the fact that I often see the grinning faces of those monsters lurking in my mind as I try to go to sleep.

Harold Perrineau as Boyd Stevens in From. Image: Stan

Season one of From kicks off with Jim (Eion Bailey) and Tabitha Matthews (Catalina Sandino Moreno) arriving in the town with their teenage daughter, Julie (Hannah Cheramy) and young son Ethan (Simon Webster), and we learn the full extent of the terror awaiting them through their eyes.

Newcomers to town are given the option of living in a rundown mansion on the outskirts of town known as Colony House, run by the no-nonsense Donna (Elizabeth Saunders), who operates under the motto of living only for today, because tomorrow is not guaranteed. Or Sherrif Boyd's more traditional township, where the townspeople have pulled together a makeshift diner, hospital, and even a bar to give their nightmarish existence some semblance of normalcy during the day.

Watching the eclectic assortment of characters on From attempt to build a new society under the watch of a supernatural threat is reminiscent of TV phenomenons such as The Walking Dead and Lost, with a cast that is just as mesmerising to watch. 

Also, if you don't want to take my word for it that From is a terrifying TV series you should be watching, then just know that Stephen King himself, the master of horror, called the series "true edge-of-your-seat stuff, believable and scary as hell".

From is truly a series you should add to your must-watch list – just ensure your windows are locked and the lights are on.

From is available to watch now on Stan, new episodes drop weekly only on Stan.

Laura Brodnik is Mamamia's Head of Entertainment and host of The Spill podcast. You can follow her on Instagram here.

Feature image: Stan.

Love watching TV and movies? Take our survey now to go in the running to win a $100 gift voucher.