You're either the first victim or the final girl—at trivia night, of course. But if you can recount all the gory details and obscure facts of horror movie history, you might just be equipped to survive a real-life slasher situation yourself.
Whether you became a monster apologist at a young age after watching Frankenstein or are a late bloomer who realized how much you love to scream after binging the Scream franchise, horror has a way of keeping you hooked. Horror was once Hollywood's underdog. Over the past century, the genre has proven itself as a major force of the film industry, spanning silent creature features, golden-age slashers, socially charged thrillers, and supernatural spectacles.
If you've done your (screen)time—watching everything from cult classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to modern horror hits like IT—then you should have no problem making it out alive. Test your knowledge with more than 100 horror movie trivia questions across seven killer categories below.
Classic Horror
1. What is widely considered to be the first horror movie made?
Answer: The House of the Devil, made in 1898.
2. What is the name of the man Dr. Caligari controls in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari?
Answer: Cesare.
3. 1922’s Nosferatu is an unofficial adaptation of which vampire book?
Answer: Dracula by Bram Stoker.
4. Who played Count Dracula in 1931’s Dracula?
Answer: Bela Lugosi.
5. Who played Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and Son of Frankenstein?
Answer: Boris Karloff.
6. In 1942’s Cat People, Irena is concerned she’ll turn into what if she becomes physical with her husband?
Answer: A panther.
7. Who played Norman Bates in 1960’s Psycho?
Answer: Anthony Perkins.
8. In Psycho, what is the name of the motel where Marion Crane meets her sinister fate?
Answer: Bates Motel.
9. Who directed the 1963 horror classic The Birds?
Answer: Alfred Hitchcock.
10. In which state does 1968’s Night of the Living Dead take place?
Answer: Pennsylvania.
11. In Night of the Living Dead, what do the zombies primarily crave?
Answer: Human flesh.
12. Which movie isn’t based on a book: Frankenstein, Bird Box, Interview with the Vampire, or A Quiet Place?
Answer: A Quiet Place.
13. Which author holds the record for the most book-to-movie adaptations in the horror genre?
Answer: Stephen King.
14. What mother-daughter pair separately starred in Psycho and Halloween H20?
Answer: Janet Leigh and Jamie Lee Curtis.
15. What do Carrie’s classmates dump on her at prom in Carrie?
Answer: Pig’s blood
16. What year was the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre released?
Answer: 1974.
Slashers & Serial Killers
17. What 1978 horror classic features babysitters being stalked by an escaped mental patient?
Answer: Halloween.
18. In Halloween, Michael Myers, as a child, kills his teenage sister. What was her name?
Answer: Judith.
19. In Halloween, Michael Myers’s mask is actually a mask of which actor?
Answer: William Shatner.
20. What is the name of Neve Campbell’s character in Scream?
Answer: Sidney Prescott.
21. What is the name of the killer in the Scream franchise?
Answer: Ghostface.
22. How many killers were Ghostface in the first Scream movie?
Answer: Two.
23. What is the name of the summer camp where Friday the 13th takes place?
Answer: Camp Crystal Lake.
24. What kind of mask does Jason Voorhees wear?
Answer: A hockey mask.
25. Who plays Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street?
Answer: Robert Englund.
26. Which two colors make up Freddy Krueger’s striped sweater?
Answer: Red and green.
27. Which actor made his film debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street?
Answer: Johnny Depp.
28. What brand of doll is Chucky in the Child’s Play franchise?
Answer: A Good Guy doll.
29. What is the name of the killer who possesses the doll that becomes Chucky in Child’s Play?
Answer: Charles Lee Ray.
30. Who plays Chucky’s love interest, Tiffany, in Bride of Chucky?
Answer: Jennifer Tilly.
31. What was Halloween originally going to be called?
Answer: The Babysitter Murders.
32. In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Leatherface is known for wearing a mask made from what material?
Answer: Human skin.
33. Which horror movie has the most sequels?
Answer: Friday the 13th.
34. Which two slashers faced off against one another in a movie released in 2003?
Answer: Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.
35. How many killers are there in The Strangers?
Answer: Three.
36. What is the name of Jodie Foster’s character in The Silence of the Lambs?
Answer: Clarice Starling.
37. There are two serial killers at the center of The Silence of the Lambs. What are their names?
Answer: Buffalo Bill and Hannibal Lecter.
Supernatural Horror
38. Which horror movie franchise follows the vengeful spirit of a young girl named Samara who haunts those who watch a cursed videotape?
Answer: The Ring.
39. In The Ring, how long do people have to live after watching the video tape?
Answer: 7 days.
40. What is the name of the possessed young girl in The Exorcist?
Answer: Regan.
41. What is the name of the demon who possesses Regan in The Exorcist?
Answer: Pazuzu.
42. What is the name of the child at the center of The Omen?
Answer: Damien.
43. Carol Anne interacts with spirits through which household electronic in Poltergeist?
Answer: A television.
44. In Poltergeist, what classic line is said by the young girl, Carol Anne, as she communicates with spirits?
Answer: “They’re here.”
45. What is used to suppress the evil leprechaun’s powers in Leprechaun?
Answer: A four-leaf clover.
46. When was the first Paranormal Activity movie released?
Answer: 2007.
47. In Paranormal Activity, what type of supernatural entity haunts the main characters?
Answer: A demon.
48. In Insidious and Insidious: Chapter 2, it’s discovered that both Josh and his son, Dalton, have the ability to do what?
Answer: Astral project.
49. What is the real name of "The Black Bride" in Insidious: Chapter 2?
Answer: Parker Crane.
50. Which actor and actress play Ed and Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring universe?
Answer: Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.
51. In The Conjuring, what is the possessed doll that serves as a conduit for malevolent spirits?
Answer: Annabelle.
52. In which country does The Nun take place?
Answer: Romania.
53. What horror movie is based on the true story of the Lutz family’s experiences in a haunted house?
Answer: The Amityville Horror.
54. Who played George Lutz in the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror?
Answer: Ryan Reynolds.
55. Which horror film involves a group of friends who summon a vengeful spirit using a Ouija board?
Answer: Ouija.
Creature Features
56. What year was The Blob released?
Answer: 1958.
57. What town does Jaws take place in?
Answer: Amity Island.
58. What is the name of the spacecraft the crew is aboard in Alien?
Answer: The Nostromo.
59. Where does The Thing take place?
Answer: Antarctica.
60. Which classic 1954 Universal monster movie introduced the aquatic beast known as the Gill-man?
Answer: Creature from the Black Lagoon.
61. In 1932’s The Mummy, what is the name of the ancient high priest accidentally brought back to life?
Answer: Imhotep.
62. In Jeepers Creepers, the Creeper rises every how many years to feed?
Answer: 23 years.
63. In The Wolf Man (1941), what metal is uniquely capable of killing a werewolf?
Answer: Silver.
64. What is the nickname of the terrifying creature with eyes in the palms of its hands in Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth?
Answer: The Pale Man.
65. In David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of The Fly, what actor plays scientist Seth Brundle as he gradually mutates into a fly hybrid?
Answer: Jeff Goldblum.
Psychological Horror
66. What is the name of the hotel Jack Torrance is hired to care for in The Shining?
Answer: The Overlook Hotel.
67. What line is written over and over in Jack’s manuscript in The Shining?
Answer: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
68. In which state does The Blair Witch Project take place?
Answer: Maryland.
69. What kind of allergy does Charlie have in Hereditary?
Answer: A nut allergy.
70. What title is Dani crowned in Midsommar?
Answer: May Queen.
71. What is the name of the pop-up book Samuel asks Amelia to read to him in The Babadook?
Answer: Mister Babadook.
72. What year was It Follows released?
Answer: 2014.
73. How does the Abbott family communicate with one another in A Quiet Place?
Answer: They use American Sign Language.
74. In The Purge, how long does the annual Purge last?
Answer: 12 hours.
75. Which actor appears in all these horror movies: The Purge, Sinister, and The Black Phone?
Answer: Ethan Hawke.
76. What 2016 movie centers on an entity that can only be seen when the lights are off?
Answer: Lights Out.
77. What secret is the blind man hiding in his basement in Don't Breathe?
Answer: He is keeping a woman captive.
Modern Horror
78. What year was the first Saw movie released?
Answer: 2004.
79. What is the name of the killer in the Saw franchise?
Answer: Jigsaw.
80. Which city were Alex and his classmates flying to when he had a disturbing premonition on the plane in Final Destination?
Answer: Paris.
81. What year was Let the Right One In released?
Answer: 2008.
82. Who directed acclaimed horror movies Get Out and Us?
Answer: Jordan Peele.
83. In Get Out, what is the hypnotic method used to control the minds of victims?
Answer: A teacup and a spoon.
84. What color clothes do the doppelgängers in Us wear?
Answer: Red.
85. Who plays Pennywise in 2017’s It?
Answer: Bill Skarsgård.
86. The Losers Club reunites after how many years in It Chapter Two?
Answer: 27 years.
87. What is the highest-grossing horror movie of all time?
Answer: It.
88. Which Marvel universe actor starred in 2011’s The Cabin in the Woods?
Answer: Chris Hemsworth.
89. How many Hellraiser movies are in the franchise?
Answer: 11.
90. What is the name of the virus that infects humanity in 28 Days Later?
Answer: Rage.
Horror's New Wave
91. Which actress stars in 2020’s The Invisible Man?
Answer: Elisabeth Moss.
92. In Host, a group of friends accidentally summon a supernatural force by doing what over Zoom?
Answer: Holding a séance.
93. In which city does 1992’s Candyman take place (and serves as the setting for its 2021 sequel)?
Answer: Chicago.
94. The rental house Tess books in Barbarian is in which Detroit neighborhood?
Answer: Brightmoor.
95. Where does Noa meet Steve in Fresh?
Answer: The grocery store.
96. In M3GAN, what exactly is M3GAN?
Answer: An artificially intelligent doll.
97. In Ryan Coogler’s Southern gothic horror film Sinners, which actor plays the dual roles of twin brothers Smoke and Stack?
Answer: Michael B. Jordan.
98. What classic supernatural monsters serve as the central threat in Sinners?
Answer: Vampires.
99. In Curry Barker’s breakout supernatural horror film Obsession, what magical object grants the wish that triggers the movie's nightmare?
Answer: The One Wish Willow.
100. What classic morality story serves as the main inspiration for the wish going wrong in Obsession?
Answer: The Monkey’s Paw.
101. In The Substance, what strict rule must Elisabeth follow to maintain balance with her younger self, Sue?
Answer: Switch bodies every 7 days without exception.
102. Which actor was originally cast as Harvey in The Substance before his death led to a recasting?
Answer: Ray Liotta , who was replaced by Dennis Quaid.
103. In which state does 1630-set horror movie The Witch take place?
Answer: Massachusetts.
104. 2022’s Smile was adapted into a feature film from which short film written and directed by Parker Finn?
Answer: Laura Hasn't Slept.