60 Fun Facts About Classic Horror Movie

Which 1922 silent film starred Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok?

It was an unauthorised Dracula adaptation; Bram Stoker's widow sued and a court ordered every copy destroyed.

Who directed the 1922 unauthorised Dracula adaptation with Max Schreck as Count Orlok?

He worked from a screenplay by Henrik Galeen that changed the names but not the story.

In The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), the hypnotist commits murders through a sleepwalker named what?

Conrad Veidt played him; the sets had shadows and light painted directly onto them.

Which 1925 film's ghastly, self-devised make-up was kept a studio secret until the premiere?

Lon Chaney's transformations earned him the nickname 'The Man of a Thousand Faces'.

Who played the Monster in Universal's 1931 Frankenstein?

He was born William Henry Pratt in London and was billed only as '?' in the opening credits.

Who created the flat-headed, bolt-necked make-up for the 1931 Frankenstein monster?

Colin Clive played Henry Frankenstein, the scientist who digs up the body parts.

Which actress played both Mary Shelley and the Bride in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)?

Like Karloff four years earlier, the Bride was credited only as '?'.

The Universal Dracula (1931) shared its sets at night with a second version shot in which language?

Tod Browning also voiced the harbourmaster off-screen in the English version.

Bela Lugosi, the screen's first great Dracula, was born in which country?

He acted in more than 170 Hungarian stage productions before fleeing to Vienna and Berlin.

Which 1932 film, directed by cinematographer Karl Freund, starred the Frankenstein actor as Imhotep?

Karloff later voiced and narrated the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Which actor's face is hidden in bandages for almost all of The Invisible Man (1933)?

Director James Whale sent him to the studio labs for head casts before fully explaining the role.

Who wrote The Wolf Man (1941), the film that gave us the 'Even a man who is pure in heart' poem?

The verse is repeated in every later Talbot film except House of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Who played Larry Talbot, the title character of The Wolf Man?

He reprised the role in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948.

The Gill-man's underwater scenes in Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) were shot in which state?

Ricou Browning swam the part at Wakulla Springs while Ben Chapman wore the suit on land.

Which studio released King Kong in 1933?

Willis O'Brien's stop-motion ape was combined with live action using rear projection.

Which actress screamed her way through King Kong as Ann Darrow?

Kong climbs the Empire State Building with her before the planes shoot him down.

Tod Browning's Freaks (1932), set in a circus sideshow, was banned in which country for over 30 years?

Canada labelled it 'brutal and grotesque'; its 'One of us' chant is still quoted on The Simpsons and South Park.

The jump-scare technique known as the 'Lewton Bus' comes from which 1942 film?

Producer Val Lewton reused the trick, a sudden bus arriving just as tension peaks, in later films.

James Arness, later Marshal Dillon in Gunsmoke, played the monster in which 1951 film?

It was based on John W. Campbell's novella Who Goes There?, later remade by John Carpenter.

Them! (1954) unleashed giant irradiated versions of which creature on New Mexico?

Two young queens escape to found new colonies and become a national threat.

Vincent Price's House of Wax (1953) was the first major-studio colour film to use which gimmick?

It was also the first 3-D film with stereophonic sound shown in a regular cinema.

The Fly (1958) ends with a tiny fly-headed man in a web crying what?

David Hedison, in his first leading role, played the scientist; Vincent Price was his brother.

Fallout from which March 1954 US test hit a Japanese fishing boat, partly inspiring Godzilla?

The Lucky Dragon No. 5 was showered with fallout from the 15-megaton hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll.

Who directed the original Godzilla?

Tsuburaya handled the special effects; Haruo Nakajima wore the suit.

Hammer's first colour horror film, released in 1957, was what?

It launched Hammer's Frankenstein series and its Peter Cushing-Christopher Lee partnership.

How many Hammer films did Christopher Lee play Count Dracula in?

He also played Scaramanga, Count Dooku and Saruman.

Hammer's Van Helsing, Peter Cushing, is also known to Star Wars fans as which character?

Terence Fisher directed him and Lee in the 1958 Dracula.

Which director beat Hitchcock to the rights of the novel behind Les Diaboliques (1955)?

He optioned it right after The Wages of Fear, leaving Hitchcock to make Psycho a few years later.

Psycho's shower scene was storyboarded by which famous title designer?

Bernard Herrmann's all-strings score and George Tomasini's editing completed Hitchcock's regular team.

Psycho was adapted from a 1959 novel by which author?

Joseph Stefano wrote the screenplay about embezzler Marion Crane and motel owner Norman Bates.

Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) is set in which California town?

There is no conventional score; the sound effects came from an electronic Mixtur-Trautonium.

Which actress made her film debut in The Birds?

The film needed 370 effects shots; the last one composited 32 separate elements.

Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963) adapts a novel by which author?

Wise thought The Haunting of Hill House was about mental breakdown until Jackson told him it was very much a ghost story.

Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960), his official directorial debut, made a star of which actress?

It is regarded as the founding film of Italian Gothic horror.

Village of the Damned (1960) is based on which John Wyndham novel?

The blonde, glowing-eyed children have been parodied ever since.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) fell into the public domain immediately. Why?

That is why so many remakes and cheap DVD editions exist; the film itself never calls its monsters zombies, only 'ghouls'.

Night of the Living Dead premiered on October 1, 1968, in which city?

It was shot in Evans City, Pennsylvania, using guerrilla techniques Romero learned making commercials.

Which cast member won an Oscar for Rosemary's Baby (1968)?

The exteriors of the Bramford were shot at the Dakota building; Charles Grodin made his film debut.

The Exorcist (1973) was the first horror film to be nominated for which Academy Award?

It received ten nominations and won for Blatty's screenplay and for sound.

The Exorcist is set in which Washington, D.C. neighbourhood, home of its famous steps?

Actress Chris MacNeil is shooting a film there when her daughter Regan changes.

Roughly how much did The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) cost to make?

Tobe Hooper cast mostly unknown actors from central Texas, and Leatherface owes a little to real killer Ed Gein.

Michael Myers' mask in Halloween (1978) was modified from a mask of which TV character?

Production designer Tommy Lee Wallace painted the William Shatner mask white and widened its eyes.

Halloween (1978) is set in the fictional town of Haddonfield in which state?

Jamie Lee Curtis made her film debut as babysitter Laurie Strode.

Why does the shark appear so little in Jaws (1975)?

Spielberg leaned on John Williams's two-note theme instead, and banned the colour red from sets and costumes so blood would shock.

Which actor played Robert Thorn, the ambassador who unknowingly adopts the Antichrist in The Omen (1976)?

The film is credited with making 666 a household number.

Carrie (1976), starring Sissy Spacek, holds what distinction among Stephen King adaptations?

More than 100 film, TV and stage productions have followed it.

Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) is set in what kind of school?

Its pounding score is by Argento and the prog band Goblin, and it opens Argento's Three Mothers trilogy.

Don't Look Now (1973) follows a grieving couple to which city?

Nicolas Roeg adapted a Daphne du Maurier short story.

Which then-new piece of camera equipment gave The Shining (1980) its gliding corridor shots?

The Ahwahnee Hotel's lounge was the model for the Overlook's Colorado Lounge, built at Elstree Studios in England.

What were the Alien (1979) cast NOT told before the chestburster scene?

They had seen the puppet, so their horror at the blood is real.

Who wrote Alien's tagline, 'In space no one can hear you scream'?

Her husband Philip Gips designed the poster.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) is set in which fictional California town?

Don Siegel's film adapted Jack Finney's novel, first serialised in Collier's; critics largely ignored it on release but it made money.

Which future superstar took his first leading role in The Blob (1958)?

The amoeboid alien lands by meteorite near Phoenixville and Downingtown, Pennsylvania, growing redder and larger with each victim.

Roughly how much did Herk Harvey's cult film Carnival of Souls (1962) cost to make?

Harvey's only feature was shot in Lawrence, Kansas, and Salt Lake City using guerrilla techniques, with the director himself playing the ghoulish stalker.

The Innocents (1961), starring Deborah Kerr, adapts which Henry James novella?

Truman Capote reworked William Archibald's script to add psychological ambiguity about whether the ghosts are real.

The 1931 Universal Dracula was based on a 1924 stage play by John L. Balderston and whom?

Lugosi had already played the Count on Broadway, which helped him beat several other candidates to the film role.

Who directed Poltergeist (1982), with Steven Spielberg writing and producing?

Spielberg was contractually barred from directing another film while making E.T., though debate about how much he really ran the set continues.

Which make-up artist won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Makeup for An American Werewolf in London?

John Landis wrote his first draft in 1969; financiers thought it too scary for a comedy and too funny for a horror film.

The Evil Dead (1981) was shot on location in a remote cabin in which state?

A rave from Stephen King helped New Line Cinema pick up distribution after the film screened at Cannes in 1982.

Which 1979 short film did Sam Raimi's team make as a proof of concept to fund The Evil Dead?

The short helped raise about $90,000, and its stop-motion and prosthetic effects were handled by artist Tom Sullivan.