99 Fun Facts About Halloween Horror Movie

What is Michael Myers' weapon of choice in the Halloween films?

Kitchen knife: six-year-old Michael takes his first from a drawer in the family kitchen, and as an adult he pins a victim to a wall with another.

Who directed The Exorcist (1973)?

William Friedkin was the choice of author William Peter Blatty; the studio chased bigger names until they passed and The French Connection proved Friedkin could deliver a hit.

Which summer camp is being readied to reopen when the killings start in Friday the 13th?

Camp Crystal Lake: locals call it 'Camp Blood', and a truck driver warns the new cook that the place is jinxed, but its owner presses on with the reopening.

What is the masked killer in the Scream films called?

Ghostface is a costume, not a person: a different killer or pair of killers wears it in every Scream film, which is why the mask never changes but the motive does.

Who directed the original Halloween film?

John Carpenter also wrote the score himself, building its piano theme on a 5/4 rhythm his father had taught him on the bongos when he was 13.

Which doll from The Conjuring got her own spin-off film in 2014?

Annabelle is a cracked porcelain doll on screen, but the real one the Warrens kept is a soft Raggedy Ann; the filmmakers redesigned her to look more menacing.

Which actress portrayed Laurie Strode in the original Halloween movie?

Jamie Lee Curtis made her film debut as Laurie Strode; the producer knew casting her would be great publicity because her mother, Janet Leigh, had starred in Psycho.

In what fictional Illinois town does the original Halloween take place?

Haddonfield, Illinois takes its name from Haddonfield, New Jersey, where the film's co-writer grew up; its streets were actually filmed in South Pasadena, California.

In which 1982 film does little Carol Anne announce 'They're here'?

Poltergeist: the Freelings discover their house was built over a cemetery, and that the developer moved only the headstones and left the bodies.

Who directed the 1984 horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street?

Wes Craven wrote and directed the 1984 original, then returned a decade later with New Nightmare, in which Freddy stalks the first film's star and Craven plays himself.

What is Freddy Krueger's signature weapon in A Nightmare on Elm Street?

A bladed glove: the film's creator did not want one more villain with a knife, so he dreamed up a glove with steak knives; the sharp 'hero' glove cut whoever wore it.

The last jump scare of the original Friday the 13th was inspired by the shock ending of which earlier film?

Carrie: by effects artist Tom Savini's account, he had just seen its hand-from-the-grave finale and suggested a matching last jolt, so a decayed Jason lunges at the lone survivor.

Who plays Sidney Prescott, the Scream franchise's enduring final girl?

Neve Campbell has played Sidney since 1996; she skipped Scream VI, saying the offer did not match the value she had brought to the series, then returned for Scream 7.

The original Halloween was shot on a budget of roughly how much?

$300,000: money was so tight that many of the cast wore their own clothes, and the lead actress's whole wardrobe came from J.C. Penney for about $100.

Who co-wrote the original Halloween with its director and also produced it?

Debra Hill wrote the babysitters while her co-writer handled Dr. Loomis and Michael, an even split by their own account; the pair went on to make The Fog together.

Who is six-year-old Michael Myers' first victim in the original Halloween?

His older sister: Michael stabs teenage Judith on Halloween night 1963, is locked away for 15 years, then escapes on the eve of Halloween 1978 and heads home.

Which rock musician wrote and directed the 2007 remake of Halloween and its 2009 sequel?

Rob Zombie, once the frontman of White Zombie, made both; his remake spends its first act on ten-year-old Michael's violent home life before the mask goes on.

Which future star made his screen debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)?

Johnny Depp made his film debut as Nancy's boyfriend Glen Lantz, who is sucked into his bed and spat back out as a geyser of blood.

A Nightmare on Elm Street was inspired by news reports of which people dying in their sleep after nightmares?

Refugees from Southeast Asia: the director recalled an L.A. Times story of a young refugee who fought sleep for days, terrified of his nightmares, and died the night he finally dozed off.

A Nightmare on Elm Street's success earned which studio the nickname 'The House that Freddy Built'?

New Line Cinema, until then mostly a distributor of other people's films, earned the nickname 'The House that Freddy Built' because the Elm Street series bankrolled its growth into a major studio.

In A Nightmare on Elm Street, what did the neighborhood parents do to Freddy Krueger after he walked free on a technicality?

Burned him alive: Nancy's mother confesses that the parents tracked the child killer to his boiler room, poured gasoline around it and struck a match.

Which future star was among the cast of the original Friday the 13th?

Kevin Bacon played counselor Jack, killed by an arrow pushed up through his throat from under the bunk; for the shot his head poked through the mattress above a fake neck and chest.

In the original Friday the 13th, how is the boy Jason said to have died years earlier?

Drowned in the lake: Mrs. Voorhees blames the counselors who should have been watching him, and reveals that the night of the killings is his birthday.

Which actor played the flat-headed Monster in Universal's Frankenstein (1931)?

Boris Karloff replaced Bela Lugosi, who had been lined up for the film under its first director; the opening credits billed the Monster only as '?', saving his name for the end.

The Exorcist was the first horror film ever nominated for which Academy Award?

Best Picture: no horror film had been nominated for it before; The Exorcist earned ten nominations in all and won two, but the top prize went to The Sting.

The Exorcist is set in which Washington, D.C. neighbourhood?

Georgetown: the MacNeil house sits on Prospect Street beside the steep 'Exorcist steps' down toward M Street, where Father Karras dies at the end.

Which young actress played Regan MacNeil, the possessed girl in The Exorcist?

Linda Blair was 14 when the film opened and earned an Oscar nomination; the demon's rasp was dubbed by Mercedes McCambridge, who had to complain to get a screen credit.

Scream (1996) is set in which fictional California town?

Woodsboro was filmed around Santa Rosa, whose school board refused to let its high school appear; the end credits offer the board 'no thanks whatsoever'.

Under what working title was the Scream screenplay developed before Miramax bought it?

Scary Movie was Kevin Williamson's title for the script he wrote in three days; the studio renamed it Scream, and a 2000 parody of the film picked up the discarded name.

Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was inspired by the crimes of which real murderer?

Ed Gein robbed Wisconsin graves and made masks and keepsakes from skin and bone, the detail behind Leatherface's mask; he also inspired Norman Bates in Psycho.

Who directed and co-wrote The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)?

Tobe Hooper directed it and wrote it with Kim Henkel; the chain saw came to him in a crowded hardware store, as he daydreamed about a fast way through the line.

Which actress plays the Sanderson sister who lures children with her singing in Hocus Pocus?

Sarah Jessica Parker plays Sarah Sanderson and sang the lullaby herself; five years later Sex and the City made her a global star.

In the 1993 Disney film Hocus Pocus, the Sanderson sisters punish Thackery Binx for interfering by turning him into what?

Binx becomes an immortal black cat so he must live forever with the guilt of failing to save his sister Emily, a punishment crueller than simply killing him.

Which future Oscar winner turned down the lead role of Max in Hocus Pocus?

Leonardo DiCaprio said he was offered 'more money than I ever dreamed of' but held out for What's Eating Gilbert Grape, which brought his first Oscar nomination at 19.

Fearing The Nightmare Before Christmas was too dark for kids, Disney released it under which label?

Touchstone Pictures released the film in 1993; once it had become a favourite, Disney reissued it in 3-D from 2006 under the Walt Disney Pictures name.

Who provided Jack Skellington's singing voice in The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Danny Elfman wrote the film's songs and score and sang Jack's part himself, while Chris Sarandon spoke the lines, so the Pumpkin King has two voices.

Why did Night of the Living Dead enter the public domain on release?

It was made without a copyright notice: the distributor retitled it from Night of the Flesh Eaters and the new prints left the notice off, so it slipped into the public domain.

What does Night of the Living Dead call its flesh-eating creatures?

Ghouls is the film's own word; 'zombie' then meant the entranced slave of Haitian folklore, and this film is credited with turning it into the flesh-eater we know.

In Get Out, what everyday sound does Missy use as a hypnotic trigger to send Chris to the 'sunken place'?

A spoon stirring in a teacup: its clink drops Chris into the sunken place, a dark void where he can still see out through his own eyes but cannot move.

The Blair Witch Project's marketing famously listed its three actors as what?

Missing or deceased: the website and even the actors' IMDb pages played along so well that Heather Donahue's mother kept receiving sympathy cards.

The Blair Witch Project's students hike into the woods near which Maryland town?

Burkittsville, Maryland, where the students interview locals before hiking in; the woods scenes were actually shot in Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County.

In Trick 'r Treat, the little demon in a burlap-sack mask who punishes broken Halloween traditions has what name?

Sam turns up in every one of the film's stories; he spares cranky Mr. Kreeg only after his blade lands in a candy bar on the old man's lap, which he takes as his treat.

The 2018 Halloween sequel was directed by David Gordon Green and co-written with which comedy actor?

Danny McBride co-wrote the 2018 Halloween with David Gordon Green and Jeff Fradley; Blumhouse produced it with the original director's blessing and ignored every sequel after the 1978 original.

Michael Myers' mask in the original Halloween was made from a cheap mask of which actor?

William Shatner: production designer Tommy Lee Wallace bought a Captain Kirk mask for $1.98, widened the eye holes and spray-painted it bluish white.

How is the masked Michael Myers billed in the end credits of the 1978 Halloween?

'The Shape' is how the end credits bill the masked Michael Myers; the screenplay uses the same name, treating him less as a man than as a faceless presence.

What did Hitchcock use as blood in Psycho's black-and-white shower scene?

Chocolate syrup: on black-and-white film it read as blood, and Hitchcock admitted the trick to a newspaper a year later; the brief scene took about a week to shoot.

In Psycho, why is Marion Crane on the run when she reaches the Bates Motel?

She stole from her boss: Marion drives off with $40,000 of a client's cash from her Phoenix office, hoping to clear her boyfriend's debts so they can marry.

In Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, cook Dick Hallorann warns young Danny to keep out of which numbered room at the Overlook Hotel?

Room 237 replaced the novel's 217 because the Oregon lodge used for the hotel's exterior asked for a number it didn't have, fearing guests would shun the real room.

In Beetlejuice, which book do the Maitlands find at home after their fatal car crash?

Handbook for the Recently Deceased: Adam combs it for advice but can barely decipher it, so the couple end up asking their afterlife caseworker, Juno, for help.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch swaps its slasher for a sinister mask firm called what?

Silver Shamrock Novelties, run by Conal Cochran, plans to kill children with a televised jingle; it is the only film in the series without Michael Myers, who returned in Halloween 4.

In Halloween III, each deadly mask hides a microchip containing a fragment of what?

A chip in each mask holds a sliver of a Stonehenge megalith Cochran stole to revive the Celtic festival of Samhain; a television jingle triggers the chips, unleashing insects and snakes on the wearer.

Halloween II (1981) added a twist revealing Laurie Strode to be the killer's what?

Sibling: a sealed file reveals Laurie is Michael's younger sister, adopted by the Strodes after their parents died; the 2018 film wiped the twist from the story.

In Halloween H20 (1998), Laurie Strode has faked her death and now works as what?

Boarding school headmistress: she runs Hillcrest Academy in California as 'Keri Tate', and her secretary is played by Janet Leigh, the leading lady's real-life mother.

Which singer-actress plays Winifred, leader of the Sanderson trio, in Hocus Pocus?

Bette Midler led the witches again 29 years later, when the film's long afterlife on television finally earned it a sequel, Hocus Pocus 2.

In Hocus Pocus, who must light the Black Flame Candle to bring the Sanderson witches back?

A virgin: Winifred's dying curse promises that one will light the candle on a Halloween night with a full moon; three centuries on, teenager Max does exactly that.

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) skipped cinemas and premiered on which streaming service?

Disney+ premiered Hocus Pocus 2 on September 30, 2022, nearly three decades after the original, which had flopped in cinemas in July 1993.

After years on the shelf, cult anthology Trick 'r Treat finally reached fans in 2009 how?

Straight to home video: the studio pulled it from an October 2007 cinema date, and on disc it built a following big enough for a 24-hour TV marathon on Halloween 2013.

Which Hollywood legend played grandmother witch Aggie Cromwell in Halloweentown (1998)?

Debbie Reynolds, the Singin' in the Rain star, played Aggie; St. Helens, Oregon, where it was filmed, went on to stage a Spirit of Halloweentown festival each October.

Hubie Halloween (2020) is dedicated to which young actor who died before filming began?

Cameron Boyce, the Jessie and Descendants star, died in July 2019 at 20 after an epileptic seizure; his friend and Jessie co-star Karan Brar took over the part.

Where did the Peanuts Halloween special about the Great Pumpkin stream exclusively after leaving broadcast TV in 2020?

Apple TV+ took over the Peanuts specials in 2020, and that October the 1966 special missed broadcast TV for the first time; Apple has since offered it free for one weekend each year.

In Donnie Darko, the figure who warns Donnie that the world will end wears a costume of which animal?

A rabbit: Frank, a figure in a nightmarish bunny suit, appears to the sleepwalking Donnie and gives him a countdown of 28 days to the end of the world.

Before Terrifier, Art the Clown first appeared in features in which 2013 anthology film?

All Hallows' Eve (2013) stitched together Damien Leone's 2008 short The 9th Circle, which introduced Art, and his 2011 short Terrifier with a new wraparound story.

Which actor plays the title 'bio-exorcist' in Beetlejuice (1988)?

Michael Keaton won the part although Tim Burton had first wanted Sammy Davis Jr.; the ending was later reshot to give his ghoul more screen time.

In Ernest Scared Stupid, the kids discover the trolls can be destroyed with what?

Milk: the kids work out that the trolls can't stand it and go on the attack, but troll king Trantor shrugs it off until Ernest hugs and kisses him, and he explodes.

Halloween Kills (2021) hit theaters and which streaming service on the same day?

Peacock streamed Halloween Kills on its paid tiers from opening day, October 15, 2021, a year after the pandemic pushed the sequel back from its October 2020 date.

Halloween Ends opens with babysitter Corey Cunningham accidentally killing a child how?

Knocking him over a stair railing: the boy had locked Corey in the attic as a Halloween 2019 prank, and when Corey kicks the door open the child falls to his death, setting Corey on the path to killing.

Which actor called turning down Dr. Loomis in Halloween the biggest mistake of his career?

Christopher Lee said refusing Loomis was the biggest mistake of his career; Cushing's agent had rejected the part over the low salary, and Donald Pleasence said yes because his guitarist daughter loved the Assault on Precinct 13 score.

Halloween (1978) was shot in spring, which forced the crew to do what?

Reuse artificial fall leaves: the crew scattered them for each shot, then raked them up again; pumpkins were scarce too. The shoot took about four weeks around South Pasadena, California.

Who played the masked killer for most of the original Halloween (1978)?

Nick Castle, a film-school friend of the director, wore the mask for $25 a day; Tony Moran stepped in only for the brief unmasking at the end.

Who played Dr. Loomis in the 2007 remake of Halloween?

Malcolm McDowell said he wanted his Loomis to have 'a tremendous ego', a doctor out to get a new book from the ordeal; the remake took about $80 million on a $15 million budget.

In Halloween (2018), who shows Michael his old mask at the sanitarium, to no reaction?

Two true-crime podcasters, Aaron and Dana, try the mask on Michael and then turn up at Laurie Strode's door, offering to pay her for an interview.

Who played a grown-up Tommy Doyle in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)?

Paul Rudd, in the same year as Clueless, played the grown Tommy Doyle, the boy Laurie babysat in the original; in The Curse of Michael Myers he rescues Jamie Lloyd's baby.

In the heavy-metal horror film Trick or Treat (1986), Ozzy Osbourne cameos as what?

Ozzy Osbourne plays a televangelist, Reverend Aaron Gilstrom, preaching against the evils of metal; Gene Simmons of Kiss plays DJ Nuke, and the plot hinges on a record played backwards.

Which actress played Wednesday in The Addams Family (1991) and Kat in Casper (1995)?

Christina Ricci was the Addams Family cast's pick to tell the director that Uncle Fester shouldn't turn out to be an impostor; by his account she won, and the ending was rewritten.

Which actor played motel keeper Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho?

Anthony Perkins left to work in Europe for several years after the film changed his image; he later returned to Norman in three sequels and directed one himself.

Which star is killed off in the first scene of Scream (1996)?

Drew Barrymore plays Casey Becker, quizzed on horror trivia over the phone before she is killed; casting a marquee name as the first victim was a deliberate fake-out.

The killer's mask in Scream was an off-the-shelf Halloween costume made by which company?

Fun World's mask turned up in a house the filmmakers were scouting; the effects team's own redesigns were all turned down, so the film struck a deal to use the shop-bought original.

Which Friday the 13th sequel first put Jason in his hockey mask?

Part III (1982): Jason takes the mask from the prankster Shelly, having hidden his face under a sack in Part 2; it was also the only film in the series released in 3-D.

Which actress played Pamela Voorhees, the true killer of the original Friday the 13th?

Betsy Palmer, a 1950s television favourite, took the part only because she needed $10,000 for a new car, and expected that nobody would ever see the film.

Why is Freddy's sweater red and green in A Nightmare on Elm Street?

A magazine said they clash most to the eye: by the director's account, a 1982 Scientific American article named red and green the hardest pair for the retina to take in.

Freddy Krueger stalks the dreams of teenagers in which fictional Ohio town?

Springwood, Ohio pays dearly for its secret: by Freddy's Dead (1991), Krueger has killed nearly every child and teenager in town, leaving a single survivor.

William Peter Blatty won an Oscar for The Exorcist in which category?

Best Adapted Screenplay: Blatty adapted his own 1971 novel, which sold poorly until a Dick Cavett Show appearance about whether the devil exists turned it into a bestseller.

The Exorcist's chilling theme comes from Tubular Bells, the debut album of which musician?

Mike Oldfield was 19 when he recorded Tubular Bells, playing almost every instrument himself; it was the first release on Virgin Records in 1973, and the film's use of its opening boosted it worldwide.

What is the name of the demon that possesses Regan in The Exorcist?

Pazuzu, the ancient demon whose statue Father Merrin faces in Iraq in the prologue, first reaches Regan as an unseen friend, 'Captain Howdy', through a Ouija board she plays with alone.

Who narrated the opening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, reportedly paid in marijuana?

John Larroquette, later the Night Court star, read the grim 'true story' prologue that opens the film and has said his only payment was marijuana.

Who directed The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)?

Henry Selick directed the stop-motion film; Tim Burton produced and conceived the story, and Selick later made James and the Giant Peach and Coraline.

In The Nightmare Before Christmas, bogeyman Oogie Boogie has a passion for what vice?

Gambling: Oogie Boogie's lair is full of dice and roulette wheels, and he plays a game with Santa's life at stake; his singing voice belongs to Ken Page.

Casper (1995) was the first feature film to do what?

Have a fully CGI lead character: Casper reached cinemas in May 1995, six months ahead of Toy Story, after Industrial Light & Magic spent more than a year animating him and his three uncles.

In Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999), which actor plays the Hessian soldier who becomes the Headless Horseman?

Christopher Walken plays the Hessian Horseman; the film's gloomy village was built from scratch around a duck pond, and the sets won the Oscar for art direction.

Whose Razzie nomination for The Shining was formally rescinded in 2022?

Shelley Duvall's Worst Actress nod from the very first Golden Raspberry Awards was withdrawn in 2022 amid renewed attention to Stanley Kubrick's treatment of her on set.

Beetlejuice's possessed dinner-party guests lip-sync "Day-O" by which calypso singer?

Harry Belafonte's 1956 'Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)' is what the guests lip-sync; his 'Jump in the Line' closes the film as the Maitlands send Lydia floating into the air to dance.

Who won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Makeup, for An American Werewolf in London?

Rick Baker won for the on-camera werewolf transformation; the category had just been created after complaints that the makeup in The Elephant Man went unrewarded.

In Child's Play (1988), Chucky is a doll from which toy line?

Good Guy: Chucky is a Good Guy doll possessed by the 'Lakeshore Strangler' Charles Lee Ray through a voodoo chant to Damballa; Brad Dourif plays both Ray and Chucky's voice.

In It (2017), what name does the child-eating clown of Derry go by?

Pennywise is one form of an ancient creature that wakes every 27 years to feed on Derry's children, appearing to each of them as their own worst fear.

Whose rave review helped the low-budget Evil Dead (1981) win a wide theatrical release?

Stephen King saw it at Cannes in 1982 and became its loudest champion; his endorsement went onto the film's publicity and slowly brought in the offers that won it a distributor.

Which horror film swept the five major Oscars in one night?

The Silence of the Lambs was only the third film ever to manage it, in March 1992, more than a year after it had opened on Valentine's Day 1991.

In The Witch (2015), what is the name of the Puritan family's sinister billy goat?

Black Phillip: the twins claim the goat talks to them, and the film ends with him offering Thomasin 'the taste of butter' and 'a pretty dress' in exchange for signing his book.

In Jordan Peele's Us (2019), what are the murderous scissor-wielding doppelgängers called?

The Tethered are the underground doubles; the story begins in 1986 at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where young Adelaide wanders into a funhouse and meets hers.

Which 1922 silent vampire film was ordered destroyed after Bram Stoker's widow sued?

Nosferatu (1922): Prana Film renamed Dracula 'Count Orlok' yet credited Stoker in the intertitles; Florence Stoker won, a court ordered the prints destroyed, and surviving copies made it one of cinema's most influential horror films.