Blood-Curdling Facts About Horror Movies

December 27, 2023 | Miles Brucker

Blood-Curdling Facts About Horror Movies


Horror movies are films that use brutality, scary imagery, and supernatural elements to scare or horrify the viewer. The horror film has evolved over the years, spawning many sub-genres and tough followings.

Here are 42 terrifying horror movie facts.


42. Slasher

The director of Scream Wes Craven would hide the voice actor who voiced Ghostface, Roger L. Jackson, on set during shoots. When the actors would get taunting calls from the killer, they were actually hearing Roger, hidden somewhere on set. Are we hearing voices?

horror movies

41. Nightmarish

In Evil D. II you can see Freddy Kreuger’s glove above the door in the tool shed. Gotta hand it to the director, we missed this the first time.

Horror Movie Details FactsNew Line Cinema

40. Bloody Inferno

It took about a year of technical work to get the blood pouring out of the elevator just right for the iconic scene in The Shining; but it only took 3 days to film once they were able to consistently achieve the desired effect.

Horror Movies factsThe Shining, Warner Bros.

39. Bloody Inferno Part II

To avoid breaking continuity, Sissy Spacek decided to sleep in bloody clothes for 3 days while filming the prom scene in Carrie. Looks like she’s willing to bleed for her art.

Stephen King factsCarrie (1976), Red Bank Films

38. Homage

John Carpenter hid many homages to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho in Halloween. He even cast the daughter of Psycho star Janet Leigh’s daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis as the lead in Halloween. Like mother like daughter.

Halloween Franchise factsHalloween (1978), Compass International Pictures

37. Mouthful

Tony Todd, the actor who played the titular character in Candy Man, had to put real bees into his mouth to film the movie’s climax. It’s a good thing he wasn’t allergic, because the show must go on.

Horror Monsters FactsCandyman, TriStar Pictures

36. Pants On Fire

Danny Lloyd, the actor who played Danny in The Shining, wasn’t told the film he was filming was a horror. Danny believed he was going to film a drama.

Doctor Sleep factsThe Shining (1980), Warner Bros.

Sources: 1, 2, 3

35. Nightmarish Part II

The high school janitor in Scream is named Fred, and wears a green and red sweater as a nod to Freddy Krueger from The Nightmare On Elm Street, which Wes Craven also directed. The janitor was played by Craven himself.

Wolverine factsFlickr, mmoroca

34. Too Real

Heather Donahue, an actor in The Blair Witch Project was worried that the director was making a snuff film. Luckily for her, and all of us, s he was wrong. The film only took 8 days to shoot.

Darkest Roles Ever Played factsThe Blair Witch Project (1999), Haxan Films

33. Final Destination(s)

To film the premonition scene in Final Destination 3, the actors had to ride the roller coaster 26 times. It must have been emotional roller coaster having to ride that roller coaster 26 times.

Horror Movie Facts

32. Not So Final Destination

Final destination was originally an idea for an X-Files episode that never got written.

X-Files FactsGetty Images

31. Bullocks

Virginia Madsen, the lead actor in Candy Man wasn’t sure if she would take the role. If she passed, the producers were considering giving the role to Sandra Bullock, who was relatively unknown at the time.

Horror Movies factsGetty Images

30. Potty Break

Psycho was the first time a flushing toilet was shown on screen. Countless poop jokes have followed, thanks Alfred.

Acclaimed Movies factsPsycho,Paramount Pictures

29. Turn Back Time

In order to make Samara’s walk even creepier, The Ring filmmakers shot the actor walking backwards, and then reversed the shot.

Horror Movies factsThe Ring, DreamWorks

Sources: 1, 2, 3

28. Count It

In Nosferatu, Max Schrek the actor who plays Count Orlock only blinked once. That’s once in a 1 hour and 34 minute long film. His eyes must have been dry when the filming was a wrap.

Horror Movies factsFlickr, FICG

27. Exercise Your Right

The Exorcist was the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. The movie would go on to rack up a total of 10 nominations and would win 3.

Portrait Photo of the American Actress Linda Blair from the movie The Exorcist, facing the cameraWarner, The Exorcist (1973)

26. Shy Guy

The shark in Jaws doesn’t appear in the film until an hour and twenty one minutes into the film. While part of the reason behind this is to build suspense, the biggest reason behind it was the mechanical shark built for the film rarely worked as intended. The end result is a truly terrifying entrance.

Special Effects factsJaws (1975), Universal Pictures

25. Alienated

It took over 7 years for Aliens to get made. Talk of a sequel began shortly after the success of the first film, but disputes over money from the producers delayed the project.]

Improvised Scenes FactsAliens (1986), 20th Century Fox

24. Beam Me Up

The mask Michael Meyers wears in Halloween is a stretched out, white washed Captain Kirk mask from Star Trek. Set your phasers to creepy.

Horror Movie Facts

23. Double Whammy

The scene in The Thing where Dr. Copper has his arms chomped off by Norris’ chest-cavity-jaw, a double amputee was used. The special effects designer found a double amputee, made prosthetics with wax bones and jelly veins. Once the mechanical jaws closed down, the actor pulled his arms back, causing them to sever and produce horrific visuals.

Horror Movies factsThe Thing (1982), Universal Pictures

22. GPS

The production team of The Blair Witch Project use pre programmed GPS trackers to lead the actors to plastic canisters hidden in the woods. The canisters contained the direction their character was going in on that day, but they were told not share their directions with each other. Everything else was improvised by the actors.

Horror Movie Facts

Sources: 1, 2, 3

21. Paranormal Bank Activity

Paranormal Activity is the most profitable movie of all time. With an initial budget of $15,000, the movie went on to gross $193 million with worldwide. That’s over 1 million percent return on investment!

The Purge FactsParanormal Activity The Ghost Dimension(2015),Blumhouse Productions

20. Scary Movie

Scream was originally titled Scary Movie, but the Weinstein brothers changed the name after hearing Mihael Jackson’s “Scream” in their car. Good thing they weren’t listening to “Beat It".

Horror Movie Facts

19. Edits

Before Joel and his brother Ethan Coen were a famous writer director duo, Joel was an assistant editor on Sam Raimi’s Evil D.. He was inspired by Sam’s pitch trailer, eventually making one for his own movie Blood Simple.

Horror Movies factsGetty Images

18. Hack It

Gene Hackman was slated to star in Silence Of The Lambs, but decided to pull out of the project after he saw a clip of himself at the 1989 Oscars as FBI agent Alan Parker from Mississippi Burning. He didn’t want to follow up such a dark character with a darker one.

Horror Movie Facts

17. Modeling Career

The creature from The Creature From The Black Lagoon was modeled after the Oscars statue given to winners of the award.

Horror's Scariest Monsters factsFlickr

16. Crafty

The Craft wanted to ensure all the witchcraft they were portraying was authentic, so they hired Pat Devlin as a consultant. Pat is a member of the largest Wiccan religious organization known as the Covenant of the Goddess, and was the organization’s first officer for their Southern California Local Council.

High School Movies FactsThe Craft,Columbia Pictures

15. All Work

Stanley Kubrick is thought to have typed out all 500 pages of “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” that was used in The Shining, but it’s not known for sure. Stanley never addressed the rumors before his passing.

Horror Movie Facts

Sources: 1, 2, 3

14. Spoiler Alert

Both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety published thorough spoilers of the film Psycho months before it was released, despite Hitchcock’s best efforts to the keep the ending a secret. Mum’s the word, Alfie.

Horror Movie Facts

13. Dance For Me

Buffalo Bill’s famous dance scene in Silence Of The Lambs wasn’t in the script of the film, though it was in the book. Ted Levine, the actor who played Bill was insistent the scene be included to help the audience understand the demented character better. Thanks Ted, we’ll never see Buffalo Bill the same again.

Horror Movies factsThe Silence of the Lambs (1991), Orion Pictures

12. Too Scary

A man sued Warner Brothers for injuries he obtained from fainting after attending a screening of The Exorcist. Warner Brothers settled the deal out of court, which usually means big bucks. What’s the next big horror film that’s coming out?

Linda Blair On The Set Of The ExorcistAvalon, Getty Images

11. Too Sane

Stanley Kubrick thought Robert DeNiro wasn’t psychotic enough for the role of Jack in The Shining. This decision was made after Kubrick watched Taxi Driver. Sure, Kubrick, not psychotic enough.

Horror Movies factsTaxi Driver (1976), Columbia Pictures Corporation

10. Too On The Nose

The original title for Halloween was The Babysitter Murders. Way to not beat around the bush with that title, guys.

Horror Movie Facts

9. Tastes Like Barf

The vomit used in The Exorcist was Andersen’s Pea Soup. The special effects team tried using Campbell’s Pea Soup, but they weren’t happy with the way it looked.

Linda Blair in The Exorcist 1973 bouncing on bed sceneWarner Bros., The Exorcist (1973)

8. Jacked Up

Jack Nicholson was once considered for the role of Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of The Lambs. The role would go to Anthony Hopkins, who was perfect for the part.

Horror Movie Facts

Sources: 1, 2, 3

7. Stunt Doubles

Church, the cat in Pet Sematary was actually played by seven different cats. Must have been just as confusing for the cats as it was for the cast.

Stephen King factsPet Sematary (1989), Paramount Pictures

6. Whites Only

The robe Ghostface wears in Scream was originally supposed to be white, to better show the blood and gore once he got busy. Wes Craven had it changed because he feared it would look too much like the robes of the KKK. Good choice Wes.

Horror Movies factsFlickr, Miguel Castaneda

5. Saw That Coming

The original Saw film only took 18 days to film due to its limited use of sets. That’s smart, no matter how you cut it.

Horror Movie Facts

4. Bugs Me

The cocoons used in SIlence Of The Lambs were made of gummy bears and tootsie rolls. Still looks gross, if you ask us.

Horror Movie Facts

3. Nice Do

Pennywise’s hair was actor Tim Curry’s actual hair in the film It. The only thing production did to it was dye it red and style it to give it that crazy look.

Darkest Roles Ever Played factsIt (1990), Warner Bros. Television

2. Sweety

Bosco chocolate syrup was used as blood in the original Night Of The Living D.. The film was shot in black and white, and chocolate syrup had a similar appearance to blood on black and white screens.

Horror Movie Facts

1. Gein Momentum

 Ed Gein has inspired 3 major films, Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw M, and Silence Of The Lambs. When authorities raided his farm, they discovered masks, bowls and lampshades made of skin, decapitated heads, and even a belt made from nipples.

Marilyn Manson Facts

Sources: 1, 2, 3


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