177 Fun Facts About Horror Movies

Which iconic horror movie character first appeared in John Carpenter's 1978 film 'Halloween'?

Michael Myers, credited as 'The Shape', first appears as a six-year-old who murders his sister Judith, then returns to Haddonfield fifteen years later.

Which legendary director helmed the groundbreaking 1960 psychological horror film 'Psycho'?

Alfred Hitchcock paid for Psycho himself when Paramount balked, shooting it cheaply in black and white with the crew of his TV series. Instead of a fee he took 60% of the film.

What name does the shapeshifting clown in Stephen King's 'It' go by?

Pennywise began with a walk over a wooden bridge in Colorado: King pictured the troll from 'Three Billy Goats Gruff', moved it into a city's sewers and gave it a clown's face to lure children.

The 1992 horror film 'Candyman' is primarily set in which infamous Chicago housing project?

Cabrini-Green was a real Chicago housing project. Clive Barker's original story was set in his native Liverpool; director Bernard Rose moved it to Chicago to make it about race instead of British class.

Whose widow had the 1922 film Nosferatu ordered destroyed?

Bram Stoker's widow Florence sued because Nosferatu was Dracula filmed without permission, with the Count renamed Orlok. A court ordered every copy destroyed, but a few prints survived.

Who wrote and directed the 1968 film 'Rosemary's Baby'?

Roman Polanski got the job because Paramount's Robert Evans insisted on him. William Castle, who had bought the novel's rights hoping to direct it himself, had to settle for producing.

Which actor plays Ash Williams, the hero of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead films?

Bruce Campbell met Sam Raimi at high school in Michigan, where the two shot Super 8 films together. He played Ash in the first three films and again in the series Ash vs Evil Dead.

At which haunted Colorado hotel is Jack Torrance the caretaker in 'The Shining'?

Jack Torrance becomes winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies; King was inspired by a stay at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.

Which Australian filmmaker wrote and directed the 2014 psychological horror film 'The Babadook'?

Jennifer Kent was an actor who wrote to Lars von Trier asking to learn directing from him instead of going to film school. He let her assist on Dogville, and The Babadook was her first feature.

Which masked killer wields the saw in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)?

Leatherface wears masks made from his victims' skin and barely speaks. Gunnar Hansen prepared for the part by visiting a special-needs school in Austin to study how the pupils moved.

Who played Freddy Krueger in the original 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' series?

Robert Englund was known as Willie, the alien who joins the human resistance in the TV miniseries V, when he was cast as the dream killer. He went on to play Freddy in eight films in a row.

What is the original Japanese title of the horror film series known internationally as 'The Grudge'?

Ju-On means 'curse grudge': a curse born when someone dies in a rage. Takashi Shimizu began it with two TV shorts in 1998 and two direct-to-video films, whose success earned the cinema versions.

What is Pinhead's signature weapon in the 'Hellraiser' franchise?

Pinhead's hooks and chains tear victims apart; the chains answer his will and erupt from any surface, first seen shredding Frank in the 1987 original.

Which 1999 sleeper hit revived 'found footage' and paved the way for Paranormal Activity?

The Blair Witch Project had no script, only a 35-page outline. Its three actors improvised the dialogue and shot the footage themselves during eight days in the Maryland woods.

In 'The Exorcist', what is the name of the demon that possesses young Regan MacNeil?

Pazuzu comes from ancient Near Eastern belief, where he was as much guardian as menace: mothers wore amulets of his head to protect themselves and their babies from the demoness Lamashtu.

Who directed the seminal 1968 zombie horror film 'Night of the Living Dead'?

George A. Romero's film fell into the public domain on release: when the distributor changed its title from Night of the Flesh Eaters, the copyright notice was left off the prints.

What is the name of the fictional town where most of the 'Scream' film series takes place?

The 'Scream' franchise is primarily set in the fictional Californian town of Woodsboro, where high school student Sidney Prescott and her friends are repeatedly targeted by the Ghostface killer.

Which horror character says 'We all go a little mad sometimes'?

Norman Bates says it to Marion Crane over supper in his parlour, insisting his mother is no 'raving thing'. The talk persuades Marion to drive home and give back the money she stole.

What is the name of the infamous killer doll in the 'Child's Play' franchise?

Chucky is short for Charles Lee Ray, the 'Lakeshore Strangler'. Shot by a detective in a toy store, the dying killer uses a voodoo spell to move his soul into a Good Guy doll.

The killer's mask in Halloween (1978) was a cheap store mask of which TV character, sprayed white?

Production designer Tommy Lee Wallace bought a cheap William Shatner Captain Kirk mask, widened the eye holes and spray-painted it a bluish white.

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

Christopher Lee later told Carpenter that refusing Loomis was his worst career mistake; Peter Cushing's agent had already rejected the low offer, and Donald Pleasence took the part.

How was John Larroquette paid for narrating the opening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?

In marijuana: Larroquette recorded the narration as a favour to director Tobe Hooper. It was his first Hollywood job, a decade before Night Court made him a sitcom star.

Gunnar Hansen admitted secretly doing what during Grandpa's finger-sucking scene in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?

In his memoir Chain Saw Confidential, Hansen admitted the fake-blood tube failed, so he really cut Marilyn Burns's finger for Grandpa to suck.

What object, almost never shown in American films then, appears in Psycho when Marion tears up a note?

A toilet flushing was all but unseen in American films of 1960. Marion flushes her torn-up sums, and the one scrap that stays behind later shows her sister she was there.

Why did Kubrick's The Shining change the novel's Room 217 to Room 237?

The real hotel asked: the mountain inn used for exterior shots feared guests would shun its own Room 217, so Kubrick chose a number it didn't have. Room 217 became its most requested room.

Which real Oregon building supplied the hotel exteriors in Kubrick's The Shining?

Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood is seen only from outside. The cast worked on sets at Elstree Studios in England, with a lounge modelled on Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel.

The Exorcist's opening prologue was filmed at an archaeological site in which country?

Iraq hosted the prologue at the ruins of Hatra, where Father Merrin faces a statue of the demon. The same statue flashes up again in Regan's bedroom during the exorcism.

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

Best Picture was one of its ten nominations, level with The Sting for the most that year. The Sting took the top prize; The Exorcist won two Oscars, for its screenplay and its sound.

How does Ben die in Night of the Living Dead?

Shot by a posse that takes him for a ghoul, Ben dies after outlasting the night. Duane Jones won the part on merit: the director said he was simply the best actor they met.

Where is the American research station in John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)?

Antarctica is the setting, as in the 1938 novella the film adapts. The crew never went there: they shot on refrigerated sets in Los Angeles and on location in Alaska and British Columbia.

What is the subtitle of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (1987)?

Dream Warriors are the hospitalised teenagers who band together against Freddy inside their dreams. Wes Craven, back as co-writer, reasoned that no one could fight him alone any more.

What inspired Craven's choice of red and green for Freddy Krueger's sweater?

Craven had read a Scientific American article saying red and green were the two colours most clashing to the human retina, so he dressed Freddy in both.

Which 2004 British comedy has Simon Pegg's slacker fight a zombie outbreak from his local pub?

Shaun of the Dead grew out of an episode of Pegg and Edgar Wright's sitcom Spaced, in which his character, after a night playing Resident Evil, hallucinates a zombie attack.

Tom Savini says he pitched Friday the 13th's final lake shock after seeing the ending of which film?

Carrie ends with a hand bursting from a grave, and Savini says he wanted the same jolt, so Jason leaps from the lake. Writer Ron Kurz also claims the idea; the script had ended quietly.

Kevin Williamson's script for Scream (1996) was developed under what title?

Scary Movie was the title until late in production, when the studio renamed it Scream for fear audiences would expect a comedy. The Wayans brothers' 2000 spoof then took the old name.

The Omen (1976) won its only Oscar for what?

Best Original Score went to Jerry Goldsmith, who built it on 'Ave Satani', a chant that twists phrases of the Latin Mass into praise of Satan. It was his only win in 18 Oscar nominations.

Who won an Oscar as the nosy neighbour Minnie Castevet in Rosemary's Baby (1968)?

Ruth Gordon was 72 when she won Best Supporting Actress and told the Academy, 'I can't tell you how encouraging a thing like this is.' She already had three Oscar nominations as a screenwriter.

Suspiria (1977) was among the last films processed in which colour system, on its final machine in Rome?

Technicolor's old dye-transfer process, by then down to one machine in Rome, printed Suspiria. Argento said he was trying to reproduce the colour of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

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

Missing or deceased was the story: IMDb listed the three as 'missing, presumed dead' for the film's first year, and Heather Donahue's mother received sympathy cards from people who believed it.

Cannibal Holocaust director Ruggero Deodato said magistrates suspected him of what?

Murder is what magistrates suspected, Deodato said, because the on-screen deaths looked real; by his account he avoided a charge by bringing cast members to court. He was convicted of obscenity.

In Get Out, what sound does Missy use as a hypnotic trigger?

A spoon stirring a teacup sends Chris into the 'sunken place', awake but unable to move. He later beats the trigger by plugging his ears with cotton pulled from the armchair he is strapped to.

Which Oscar did Get Out win at the 90th Academy Awards?

Best Original Screenplay was its only win from four nominations, and made its writer-director the first Black winner of that award. He had first written an ending in which Chris is arrested.

In Hereditary, what causes Charlie's death?

Charlie is decapitated by a telephone pole when Peter swerves to avoid a dead deer while racing her to hospital; her walnut allergy only puts her in the car.

Which director made Alien (1979), only his second feature, before James Cameron took over the sequel?

Ridley Scott had directed only The Duellists when its look persuaded the producers to offer him Alien. Fincher and Jeunet made the third and fourth films in the series.

Jaws' two-note shark theme made Spielberg do what when John Williams first played it?

Laugh, thinking it a joke, is how Spielberg is said to have met the two notes Williams picked out on a piano; he had expected a melody. He later credited the score with half the film's success.

In which horror franchise does Death itself hunt down people who escaped a disaster through a premonition?

Final Destination began as Jeffrey Reddick's unused script for an episode of The X-Files. In the 2000 film, Alex's vision clears seats on Flight 180, and Death collects the survivors anyway.

In Evil Dead II (1987), what does Ash mount on his severed wrist?

A chainsaw replaces the right hand Ash has to cut off himself once it turns on him. He fixes the saw to the stump and saws down a shotgun to match.

In Gremlins (1984), feeding a mogwai after what time turns it into a gremlin?

Midnight is the deadline in the last of Gizmo's three rules. The gremlins that follow were rough enough for a PG film that, with Temple of Doom, they prompted the PG-13 rating weeks later.

What are the giant burrowing worms called in Tremors (1990)?

Graboids get their name from Walter Chang, the store owner in Perfection, Nevada, who is killed in their next attack. They hunt by vibration, so the survivors take to rocks and rooftops.

What breed of dog is the rabid killer in Cujo (1983)?

Cujo is a friendly St. Bernard bitten by a rabid bat; the infected dog traps Donna and her son Tad inside a broken-down Ford Pinto.

Which 1987 film has a family move to a California beach town that turns out to be full of teenage vampires?

The Lost Boys takes its title from Peter Pan's gang, who, like vampires, never grow up. Its fictional Santa Carla was filmed mostly in Santa Cruz, California.

Which actress made her big-screen debut as Laurie Strode in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978)?

Jamie Lee Curtis was cast with one eye on the posters: producer Debra Hill said the daughter of Janet Leigh, the screen's most famous shower victim, would be great publicity.

Which 2005 Eli Roth film is set around a torture ring in Slovakia?

Hostel sends its backpackers to Slovakia, but none of it was shot there: Eli Roth filmed in the Czech Republic, largely in Cesky Krumlov, with a disused Prague hospital as the torture rooms.

Who directed the 1981 werewolf film The Howling?

Joe Dante directed The Howling (1981), with Rob Bottin's on-camera transformation effects; Landis made the rival werewolf film that same year.

In Sinister (2012), what is the profession of Ethan Hawke's character Ellison Oswalt?

Ethan Hawke plays true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt, who moves his family into a murder house for his next book and finds a box of home movies in the attic.

Which 2015 horror film follows a Puritan family facing malevolent forces in 17th-century New England?

The Witch was Robert Eggers's first feature and Anya Taylor-Joy's breakthrough. For accuracy, Eggers had the family's farm built by a thatcher and a carpenter who knew the period's methods.

What does five-year-old Carol Anne say to the static-filled TV in Poltergeist (1982)?

'They're here!' was spoken by Heather O'Rourke, whom Steven Spielberg spotted eating lunch with her mother in the MGM commissary. He walked over and offered her the part.

Who is the investigative journalist protagonist of the American 'The Ring' film series?

Rachel Keller, played by Naomi Watts, survives only because she copied the tape and passed it on. The film ends with her helping her son make a copy of his own for someone else to watch.

What is the name of the commercial space tug on which Alien (1979) is set?

Nostromo, named after Joseph Conrad's novel, is a commercial tug whose sleeping crew is woken to answer a signal. Only Ripley and Jones the cat make it off the ship.

Most of The Descent (2005) takes place in what kind of confined environment?

An uncharted cave system in the Appalachians traps the film's six women. Neil Marshall had the caves built at Pinewood Studios because real ones were judged too dangerous to film in.

Which horror-comedy reveals college friends being manipulated by underground technicians?

The Cabin in the Woods was shot in 2009, then shelved while its studio, MGM, went through bankruptcy; Lionsgate released it in April 2012. Drew Goddard directed and co-wrote it with Joss Whedon.

In Ringu and The Ring, where is the ghost girl's body found?

A well, in both versions: Sadako is thrown in by the researcher Ikuma, Samara by her adoptive mother. Samara survived a week down there, the same seven days her victims get.

Which 2006 horror-comedy sees a small South Carolina town overrun by slug-like alien parasites?

Slither was James Gunn's first film as director, and it flopped, earning less than its $15 million budget. Eight years later he made Guardians of the Galaxy.

In The Orphanage (2007), the ghostly boy Tomás hides his face behind what?

A sackcloth mask hid Tomás's deformed face; when the other orphans stole it as a prank, he refused to leave his hiding place on the shore and drowned as the tide came in.

Which director made the socially charged horror films 'Get Out' and 'Us'?

Jordan Peele was best known as half of the sketch-comedy duo Key & Peele before he turned to horror with Get Out, his first film as a director.

Who is revealed to be the killer at the end of the original Friday the 13th (1980)?

The killer is Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees, played by Betsy Palmer, avenging his drowning at Camp Crystal Lake; Jason himself does not kill until the 1981 sequel.

In the original 'Scream' (1996), which two students are revealed as the Ghostface killers?

Billy Loomis and Stu Macher had also murdered Sidney's mother a year earlier; Billy blamed her affair with his father for driving his own mother away.

Which fictional island resort is terrorized by a great white shark in Jaws (1975)?

Amity Island is the fictional New England resort whose mayor keeps the beaches open; Martha's Vineyard stood in for it during the 1974 shoot.

In which California town is The Birds (1963) set?

The Birds unfolds in Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco, where Tippi Hedren's Melanie Daniels arrives with a pair of lovebirds just before the attacks begin.

Candyman (1992) is summoned by saying his name five times in front of what?

A mirror, five times over; the film used real bees, and its star negotiated a $1,000 bonus for every sting he took on set.

Which actor played Count Dracula in Universal's classic 1931 film?

Bela Lugosi first played the Count on Broadway in 1927, and the role never let him go: he was buried in a Dracula cape.

In which film is widow Alice Zander's daughter Doris possessed in 1967 Los Angeles?

Ouija: Origin of Evil turns on a prop: Alice adds a Ouija board to spice up her fake-seance act, and it lets a real spirit into her nine-year-old daughter.

Which 1999 thriller has a twist ending involving a child psychologist and a boy who sees spirits?

The Sixth Sense saves its twist for the last minutes: the psychologist realises he never survived the shooting in the opening scene and has been one of the boy's ghosts all along.

In The Babadook (2014), the monster first enters the family's life through what object?

A pop-up book called Mister Babadook appears on Sam's shelf; after Amelia rips it up, it turns up at the front door pieced back together, with new pages that show her killing her son.

In Saw (2004), two strangers wake up chained inside what kind of room?

Saw opens with Adam and Dr. Gordon chained at opposite ends of a derelict bathroom with a corpse between them; Gordon saws off his own foot to escape.

In which 2001 Nicole Kidman film do two photosensitive children live behind drawn curtains in a Jersey manor?

The Others turns the haunted-house story inside out: Grace and her children are themselves the ghosts, and the 'intruders' they fear are the living family.

Which Canadian director is renowned for 'body horror' films like 'The Fly' and 'Videodrome'?

David Cronenberg appears in The Fly himself, as the gynecologist in a nightmare birth scene; Geena Davis asked him to play the part rather than have a stranger do it.

In which 2019 Robert Eggers film do Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson go mad at a remote New England outpost?

The Lighthouse could not find a real tower that suited, so the crew built a 70-foot one on Cape Forchu, Nova Scotia; the script began as a take on an unfinished Edgar Allan Poe story.

Which 2017 film gives Joey King's teen a Chinese music box with a deadly price?

Wish Upon's first absent-minded wish is for a school bully to 'rot', and the bully promptly develops necrotizing fasciitis.

Which 2018 horror film follows a grieving family whose dead grandmother belonged to a demon-worshipping cult?

Hereditary (2018) was Ari Aster's feature debut; grandmother Ellen's cult serves the demon king Paimon, who wants a male host and finally takes Peter.

Who played Henry Frankenstein, the obsessed scientist, in the 1931 film Frankenstein?

Colin Clive's cry of 'It's alive!' ran on into a boast that he now knew what it felt like to be God, a line censors judged blasphemous and had cut.

On which animals in a London park did Elsa Lanchester model the Bride of Frankenstein's hiss?

Swans hissing in Regent's Park gave Elsa Lanchester the sound; she also opens the film in a very different role, as the demure author of the original novel.

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) is set on which river?

The Amazon was really Florida underwater: swimmer Ricou Browning played the Gill-man below the surface at Wakulla Springs, while Ben Chapman wore the suit on land.

Which actor's voice carried James Whale's 1933 film The Invisible Man?

Claude Rains, making his American film debut, is heard throughout but his face is not seen until the last moments, when the dying Griffin becomes visible again.

For which British studio did Peter Cushing play Baron Frankenstein six times?

Hammer cast Peter Cushing as the Baron from The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) onwards; to steer clear of Universal's 1931 film, its monster was given an entirely new look.

The Italian thriller genre giallo takes its name from which colour of crime-paperback covers?

Yellow was the cover colour of Mondadori's crime paperbacks, launched in 1929, so 'giallo' came to mean any mystery; Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) is usually called the first giallo film.

In which 1975 Argento giallo does pianist David Hemmings see a psychic killed?

Deep Red got its pounding score late: unhappy with the jazz music first written for the film, Dario Argento brought in the Italian prog-rock band Goblin to redo most of it.

Which real family did Ed and Lorraine Warren help in The Conjuring (2013)?

The Perrons, a couple with five daughters, had just moved into a Rhode Island farmhouse; in the film the Warrens need Vatican approval for an exorcism because the family are not church members.

Which director shot Saw (2004) in just 18 days?

James Wan shot Saw in 18 days, after he and writer Leigh Whannell had filmed one scene from the script as a low-budget short to win over producers.

For roughly how much was Paranormal Activity (2007) originally shot?

Oren Peli shot Paranormal Activity for about $15,000; picked up by Paramount, it went on to gross more than $190 million worldwide.

In which city was the 2014 horror film 'It Follows' shot?

It Follows was shot in and around Detroit in late 2013; David Robert Mitchell built its premise on a recurring anxiety dream from his youth about being followed.

Which real-life married couple play the parents in A Quiet Place (2018)?

John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, married since 2010, play the Abbotts; the film cast deaf actress Millicent Simmonds as their daughter and hired a deaf mentor to teach the cast sign language.

In which country was most of Midsommar (2019) actually filmed?

Hungary stood in for the film's Scandinavian commune: the shoot ran around Budapest from July to October 2018, chosen mainly to keep costs down.

Which brothers directed the Australian hit Talk to Me (2022)?

The Philippous, Adelaide twins Danny and Michael, built an audience with their YouTube channel RackaRacka before making Talk to Me, their first feature film.

Which Halloween sequel leaves out the masked killer of every other Halloween film?

Halloween III: Season of the Witch tells a separate tale of deadly Silver Shamrock masks, because John Carpenter and Debra Hill wanted the series to become an anthology with a new story each time.

Which future star appeared in the original Friday the 13th (1980)?

Kevin Bacon plays Jack, killed by an arrow through the throat from beneath his bunk; Sean Cunningham had advertised the film in Variety before the script was finished.

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

Johnny Depp's character is swallowed by his bed in a geyser of blood; New Line Cinema became known as 'The House that Freddy Built'.

Which two actresses earned Oscar nominations for Carrie (1976)?

Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie were both nominated; for Laurie, cast as Carrie's fanatical mother, it was a first feature film since The Hustler fifteen years earlier.

Which 1991 film became only the third to sweep the Oscars' 'Big Five' categories?

The Silence of the Lambs opened in February 1991, more than a year before the ceremony, and was already out on home video when it matched It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

In which 1990 film does obsessive fan Annie Wilkes hold an injured novelist captive?

Misery softened the novel it adapts: on the page Annie cuts off Paul Sheldon's foot with an axe, while the film has her break his ankles with a sledgehammer.

Which makeup artist won the first-ever Best Makeup Oscar for An American Werewolf in London?

Rick Baker won the first competitive Academy Award for Best Makeup in 1982 for the film's transformation; Landis had written the first draft in 1969 and shelved it for a decade.

In The Fly (1986), what is the name of Jeff Goldblum's doomed scientist?

Jeff Goldblum plays Seth Brundle, whose teleportation pods fuse him with a housefly; Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis won the Best Makeup Oscar for his decay.

Which author's 1952 short story inspired The Birds (1963)?

Daphne du Maurier's story follows a farmhand in Cornwall; the film kept only her title and the idea of unexplained bird attacks, and moved everything else to California.

Sergeant Howie flies to which remote Scottish community in The Wicker Man (1973)?

Summerisle is a Hebridean island whose pagan villagers use a missing-girl story to draw the devout Sergeant Howie in, so they can burn him as a sacrifice for their harvest.

Which Pennsylvania shopping center inspired and hosted Dawn of the Dead (1978)?

Monroeville Mall, near Pittsburgh, stayed open to Christmas shoppers during the shoot, so filming ran through the night, from closing time at 11 p.m. until 7 a.m.

Most of 28 Days Later was shot on what?

Canon XL1 digital video cameras were small enough to grab deserted London streets in the few minutes they could be closed; only the closing sequence was shot on 35mm film.

South Korea's 2016 zombie blockbuster follows a high-speed train from Seoul to which city?

Busan is where the army has set up a quarantine zone, so the passengers of Yeon Sang-ho's Train to Busan must survive to the end of the line.

The Amityville Horror house was the scene of real 1974 family killings committed by whom?

Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot his parents and four siblings there in November 1974; the 1979 film was refused permission to shoot at the real house, so one in Toms River, New Jersey stood in.

What is the profession of the father in Eyes Without a Face (1960)?

Dr. Génessier is a plastic surgeon who has his assistant kidnap young women so he can graft their faces onto his disfigured daughter Christiane.

What was 'Percepto!', the gimmick William Castle used for The Tingler (1959)?

Buzzers under theater seats, made from war-surplus aircraft de-icer motors, went off as Vincent Price warned that the Tingler was loose and told the audience to scream for their lives.

In The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, what is Cesare?

Cesare is Dr. Caligari's somnambulist, a sleepwalker kept in a cabinet and sent out to kill at night in the 1920 German Expressionist classic.

Benjamin Christensen's silent film Häxan mixes documentary and horror to chart the history of what?

Witchcraft, from medieval superstition to modern times, is the film's subject; a 1968 American reissue, Witchcraft Through the Ages, added narration by William S. Burroughs and a jazz score.

Which special-effects technique did Godzilla (1954) pioneer?

Eiji Tsuburaya put actor Haruo Nakajima in a heavy latex suit amid miniature sets, a technique dubbed 'suitmation'; the film was inspired partly by the Lucky Dragon No. 5 fallout incident.

The Haunting (1963) adapts which author's novel about a ghost hunt at Hill House?

Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House became a film that frightens by suggestion: Robert Wise kept its ghosts off-screen, leaving pounding noises and a door that bulges inward.

The Innocents (1961) adapts which classic ghost story?

The Turn of the Screw, Henry James's tale of a governess and two children, came by way of a stage play; Truman Capote broke off from writing In Cold Blood to rework the script.

Which 1932 MGM horror film was banned in Britain for about thirty years?

Freaks cast real sideshow performers as its circus troupe; British censors banned it in 1932, and it was not passed, with an X certificate, until 1963.

Which song does M3GAN sing to comfort Cady in M3GAN (2022)?

'Titanium' becomes M3GAN's lullaby for Cady; the doll's dance, performed by child dancer Amie Donald, went viral from the trailer before the film had even opened.

Which 2024 body-horror film earned Demi Moore her first Oscar nomination?

The Substance was set for release by Universal, which stepped away after a dispute over the final cut; Mubi picked it up, and Demi Moore won a Golden Globe as fading star Elisabeth Sparkle.

In which region of the American South is Ryan Coogler's vampire film Sinners (2025) set?

The Mississippi Delta town of Clarksdale, in 1932, is where twin brothers Smoke and Stack open a juke joint whose music draws vampires to the door.

Who plays Count Orlok in Robert Eggers's 2024 Nosferatu?

Bill Skarsgård refused to have his voice digitally altered for Orlok: he trained with an opera singer to pitch it lower, and spent hours in the prosthetics chair each day.

Who plays the Satanic serial killer in Osgood Perkins's Longlegs (2024)?

Nicolas Cage is all but unrecognisable as the killer, and Neon made a point of it: the film's cryptic marketing campaign kept his look as Longlegs hidden.

At what time do the children vanish in Zach Cregger's Weapons (2025)?

All seventeen children from Justine Gandy's class ran out of their homes at exactly 2:17 a.m.; only one pupil, Alex, stayed behind.

How did Paramount market Smile (2022) during Major League Baseball games?

Actors grinning behind home plate held the film's fixed smile for the TV cameras at several games the weekend before release; Smile had first been meant to go straight to streaming.

In Barbarian (2022), what does Tess find at her Airbnb on arrival?

Another guest, Keith, is already inside because the house was double-booked; Zach Cregger drew on The Gift of Fear, a book urging women to heed the small red flags men give off.

What did Lon Chaney famously do himself for The Phantom of the Opera (1925)?

Lon Chaney created his own makeup, pulling his nostrils upward with hidden wires, and the studio kept the skull-like face secret until the film's premiere.

In Let the Right One In (2008), what does the vampire Eli need before entering Oskar's flat?

An invitation: when Oskar refuses to say the words and Eli steps inside anyway, she starts to bleed from her eyes, ears and pores until he relents.

In The Omen (1976), what is the name of the adopted boy who proves to be the Antichrist?

Damien bears a birthmark of three sixes hidden under his hair, the sign that finally convinces his adoptive father, played by Gregory Peck, that the boy is the Antichrist.

Which star plays Casey Becker, the student killed in the opening scene of Scream (1996)?

Drew Barrymore was one of the few established names in a young cast, so losing her within minutes upended what audiences expected. She had been cast as the lead, Sidney Prescott, but asked for the smaller role.

Which actor improvised the line "Here's Johnny!" while axing through a bathroom door in The Shining?

Jack Nicholson borrowed the line from Ed McMahon's nightly introduction of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. It later made the American Film Institute's list of 100 great movie quotes.

What nickname did the Jaws film crew give its mechanical sharks, after Steven Spielberg's lawyer?

Bruce broke down so often that Spielberg chose mostly to suggest the shark instead of showing it. The lawyer who lent the name was Bruce Ramer.

Which comedy star plays himself in Zombieland, disguised as a zombie inside his own mansion?

Bill Murray stays safe by dressing as the undead, until a prank on a nervous survivor goes wrong and gets him killed by accident. He is the one cast member playing himself.

The real Annabelle doll, replaced by a porcelain one in the Conjuring films, is which classic toy?

Raggedy Ann was kept off screen partly over trademark worries and partly to make the doll look more unsettling. Ed and Lorraine Warren said a student nurse gave them the original in the 1970s.

Which actress was served divorce papers from Frank Sinatra on the set of Rosemary's Baby?

Mia Farrow was handed the papers by Sinatra's lawyer in front of the cast and crew, midway through filming. He had demanded she give up her career when they married.

Which star of House of Wax (1953) performs the spoken-word verse on Michael Jackson's "Thriller"?

Vincent Price recorded his part in two takes, reading words written in a taxi on the way to the studio. Producer Quincy Jones's wife, a friend of the actor, had suggested him.

Which future Oscar winner plays Jim, a bicycle courier who wakes from a coma, in 28 Days Later?

Cillian Murphy got his breakthrough when Danny Boyle cast him as the lone man wandering an emptied London. He went on to win the Best Actor Oscar for Oppenheimer.

In Carrie (1976), what do bullies dump on Carrie White moments after she is voted prom queen?

Pig's blood, drained at a farm by classmate Chris and her boyfriend, waits in a bucket rigged above the stage. Their friends had switched the ballots to make sure Carrie won the crown.

Which young actress earned an Oscar nomination as the possessed Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist?

Linda Blair was picked from a field of 600 applicants and won a Golden Globe for the part. It made her a lasting figure in the genre's popular culture.

Which actress played Ripley in Alien (1979), a role director Ridley Scott first pictured as a man?

Sigourney Weaver could take the part because the writers had left every role open. A note in their script said the crew was unisex and all parts were interchangeable for men or women.

Which actress won an Oscar as FBI trainee Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs?

Jodie Foster got the role only after director Jonathan Demme's first choice, Michelle Pfeiffer, turned it down because the subject matter made her nervous.

In Gremlins (1984), what name is given to the gentle mogwai found in a Chinatown antique store?

Gizmo was voiced by comedian Howie Mandel. When water is spilled on him he spawns a litter of rowdier mogwai, led by one with a mohawk of white fur.

In Misery (1990), what does Paul Sheldon's captor use to 'hobble' him by breaking both ankles?

A sledgehammer was the film's choice. In the novel the captor goes further, cutting off the writer's foot with an axe and sealing the wound with a blowtorch.

Which child actor says "I see dead people" to his psychologist in a 1999 M. Night Shyamalan film?

Haley Joel Osment earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the role. His line sits at No. 44 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 movie quotes.

Which 2004 British comedy has friends wait out a zombie outbreak in a pub called the Winchester?

Shaun of the Dead sends its London salesman to rescue his mother and his ex before holing up at his favourite pub. The group gets past one horde by imitating the undead.

Which 2013 film imagines an annual 12-hour night when all crime in America is legal?

The Purge runs from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. with emergency services switched off. The first film follows one wealthy family who find themselves in danger at home.

Which Netflix film sends Sandra Bullock and two children down a river in a rowboat, blindfolded?

Bird Box imagines entities that drive anyone who sees them to take their own life, so survivors cover every window. It was adapted from a 2014 novel by Josh Malerman.

Which star of The Office directed A Quiet Place and played the father opposite wife Emily Blunt?

John Krasinski also co-wrote the script, about a family hiding from blind creatures with an acute sense of hearing. The story came from writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.

Which director made Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) and refused to use any computer-generated effects?

Coppola wanted antiquated tricks from the early history of cinema, to suit a story set when film itself was new. Every visual effect was achieved on set or in camera.

Which 2008 found-footage film shows a monster attacking New York City through one camcorder?

Cloverfield hurls the severed head of the Statue of Liberty into a city street. The image was inspired by the poster for the 1981 film Escape from New York.

Which actress won a Golden Globe as fading star Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance (2024)?

Demi Moore plays a film star dismissed from her long-running aerobics show on her 50th birthday. The body-horror role also brought her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Which rom-com star plays Mr. Reed, who traps two Mormon missionaries in his home in Heretic?

Hugh Grant earned Best Actor nominations at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs for the part. His character lectures his guests that every religion is an iteration of an earlier one.

Which English actor, born William Henry Pratt, played the Monster in Frankenstein (1931)?

Boris Karloff was on his 82nd film when the Monster made him a horror icon. He returned to the part in two sequels, the last of them Son of Frankenstein in 1939.

At which fictional summer camp was hockey-masked killer Jason thought to have drowned as a boy?

Crystal Lake was played in the first film by a working Boy Scout camp in New Jersey, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco. In the story, negligent staff are blamed for the boy's drowning.

Which 1987 film follows two brothers who move to Santa Carla, a California haven for vampires?

The Lost Boys takes its title from Peter Pan's companions, who, like vampires, never grow up. The fictional seaside town was mostly shot in Santa Cruz.

Halloween (1978) is set in which fictional Illinois town, named for Debra Hill's New Jersey home?

Haddonfield's street names came from a second real place: John Carpenter's hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Hill co-wrote the script and was raised in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Which 6-foot-5 actor played the title role in Candyman (1992) and again in Candyman (2021)?

Tony Todd took the part although colleagues doubted he should, given the bee stings he would have to endure. In the story, the insects pour from his character's mouth.

Which actress plays Jennifer, a possessed student who devours male classmates, in Jennifer's Body?

Megan Fox plays a succubus who can only be killed while she is hungry and weak, as her bookish best friend Needy learns in the school library. Diablo Cody wrote the script.

Which Mike Oldfield album supplied the piano motif used as the main theme of The Exorcist?

Tubular Bells sold slowly until the film turned it into a global hit. Oldfield was 19 when he began recording it, playing almost all the instruments himself.

Which Swiss artist designed the creature in Alien (1979) and shared an Oscar for its visual effects?

H. R. Giger based the monster on one of his own earlier paintings. Screenwriter Dan O'Bannon called the artist's work disturbing and said the paintings had a profound effect on him.

Which director made The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and, for producer Steven Spielberg, Poltergeist?

Tobe Hooper was born in Austin and spent the 1960s as a college professor and documentary cameraman. He co-wrote the 1974 film with Kim Henkel.

Which English novelist made his directing debut with Hellraiser (1987), adapting his own novella?

Clive Barker adapted The Hellbound Heart, in which a puzzle box summons the Cenobites, beings who cannot tell pain from pleasure. Work on the film began before the novella was even published.

Which Malaysian-born Australian director launched the Saw, Insidious and Conjuring film series?

James Wan directed the first Saw in 2004 from a story he devised with Leigh Whannell. That series alone went on to gross more than $1 billion around the world.

Which Oscar winner plays Adelaide Wilson, a mother hunted by her own double, in Us (2019)?

Lupita Nyong'o faces the Tethered, menacing doubles of her whole family, decades after her character wandered into a Santa Cruz funhouse as a girl. Her Oscar came for 12 Years a Slave.

Which actress endured days of live gulls and crows being flung at her while filming The Birds?

Tippi Hedren had been assured the crew would use mechanical birds. She broke down in tears on set after one bird gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye.

What make and model is the sentient red 1958 car bought by a bullied teenager in Christine?

Plymouth Fury is what the film calls her, yet two other models from the same maker, the Belvedere and the Savoy, also played the car on screen.

In which Italian city does a grieving father glimpse a figure in a red coat in Don't Look Now?

Venice is where John Baxter has come to restore a church after his young daughter drowned at home in England. The coat resembles the one she was wearing when she died.

Which 1956 film about alien seed pods replacing townspeople gave English the phrase 'pod people'?

Invasion of the Body Snatchers has each pod absorb the looks, memories and personality of a sleeping person placed near it. The copies are identical, but devoid of all human emotion.

Which future star chose a flat fee over a profit share for his first lead role, in The Blob (1958)?

Steve McQueen needed the fee straight away for food and rent, and thought the film would never make money. So he passed up 10% of the profits on what became a hit.

What are the monsters called in Night of the Living Dead, which popularised the modern zombie?

Ghouls is the film's own word for them. It slipped into the public domain on release, because the distributor left off the copyright notice when changing the title.

In Evil Dead II (1987), which 'Book of the Dead' does Ash hear recited on an archaeologist's tape?

Necronomicon Ex-Mortis is its full title, borrowed from the fictional grimoire in H. P. Lovecraft's stories. The first film in the series was itself nearly called Book of the Dead.

Which English actor played psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis in Halloween (1978) and four of its sequels?

Donald Pleasence worked with director John Carpenter twice more, as the US President in Escape from New York and as the Priest in Prince of Darkness.

Which 2006 Bong Joon Ho film has a creature from Seoul's Han River snatch a food vendor's daughter?

The Host grew out of a real incident in 2000, when an American working at a military base in South Korea ordered formaldehyde poured down a drain that led to the river.

Which Italian progressive rock band wrote the eerie score for Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977)?

Goblin became Argento's regular collaborators, known for eerie and ominous scores. Between two of his films they recorded an instrumental album of their own, Roller.

Which German actor played the vampire Count Orlok in F. W. Murnau's silent classic Nosferatu?

Max Schreck was the subject of rumours, for many years afterwards, that he did not exist at all and that the name was a pseudonym for the well-known actor Alfred Abel.

Which 1974 slasher has sorority sisters receive threatening calls traced to inside their own house?

Black Christmas was directed by Bob Clark, who went on to make A Christmas Story nine years later. Film historians note it as one of the earliest slasher films.

Which Japanese director made Audition, about a widower staging fake auditions to meet a girlfriend?

Takashi Miike adapted a 1997 novel by Ryu Murakami. The young woman the widower chooses, played by fashion model Eihi Shiina, turns out to have a dark past.

What two-word label did Mary Whitehouse's campaign pin on horror titles prosecuted in 1980s Britain?

Video nasty became the label for 72 films that the Director of Public Prosecutions listed as possible breaches of obscenity law. The Evil Dead was among the titles banned.

Which actress plays Dani, an American student crowned May Queen by a rural cult, in Midsommar?

Florence Pugh's character earns the crown by winning a maypole dancing competition, a contest inspired by the myth of Hårgalåten.