Correct: B. The Overlook Hotel

The Overlook Hotel is the haunted Colorado mountain hotel in The Shining (1980), closed for winter with only caretaker Jack Torrance and his family in residence. The Overlook was largely filmed at the Timberline Lodge in Oregon (exterior) and in specially constructed sets at Elstree Studios in England (interior). Stanley Kubrick's hotel design - with its impossible geometry and disorienting layout - was deliberately made to be spatially incoherent.

Correct: D. Alfred Hitchcock

Psycho (1960) directed by Alfred Hitchcock stars Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. The film's shocking murder of the apparent protagonist in the first act, its exploration of split personality, and Bernard Herrmann's iconic score transformed cinema's approach to suspense and horror.

Correct: A. The Exorcist

The Exorcist (1973) directed by William Friedkin is based on William Peter Blatty's novel about a young girl possessed by a demon. It was the first horror film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and remained the highest-grossing horror film for decades.

Correct: B. John Carpenter

Halloween (1978) directed by John Carpenter stars Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut as Laurie Strode, hunted by escaped mental patient Michael Myers in Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween night. The film was made for $300,000 and grossed over $70 million.

Correct: D. One of cinema's first psychological horror films - a woman in New York suspects her neighbours and husband have offered her unborn child to a Satanic cult, creating paranoia about whether she can trust anyone

Rosemary's Baby (1968) directed by Roman Polanski stars Mia Farrow as a pregnant woman surrounded by suspicious neighbours. The film's horror is psychological - the audience is never certain whether Rosemary's fears are real or paranoid delusion until the finale.

Correct: D. Wes Craven created a burned child murderer who kills teenagers in their dreams

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) directed by Wes Craven introduced Freddy Krueger - a burned killer who murders teenagers in their dreams. Wes Craven was inspired by news stories about Southeast Asian immigrants who died in their sleep after having terrible nightmares.

Correct: D. Pioneering found footage horror and its revolutionary low-budget marketing campaign that was one of the first viral internet marketing successes

The Blair Witch Project (1999) directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Snchez was shot for approximately $60,000 and grossed $248 million worldwide - one of the most profitable films in history by return on investment. The found footage format and internet marketing campaign convinced many viewers the footage was real.

Correct: A. The Thing

The Thing (1982) directed by John Carpenter is set at a remote Antarctic research station where a shape-shifting alien organism can perfectly imitate any creature it consumes. Rob Bottin's practical creature effects are considered the greatest in horror history.

Correct: A. Ari Aster

Hereditary (2018) directed by Ari Aster in his feature film debut stars Toni Collette as a mother grieving her daughter's traumatic death while discovering disturbing truths about her family's heritage. The film was praised for Collette's extraordinary performance.

Correct: C. A Black man visits his white girlfriend's family and discovers a sinister truth about their liberal community - a social horror film about race in America that won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay

Get Out (2017) directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut stars Daniel Kaluuya as Chris Washington who visits his white girlfriend's family. The film uses horror conventions to explore racism, cultural appropriation, and the complacency of white liberalism.

Correct: A. A group of survivors cheats death using premonitions - then death tracks them down one by one through elaborate accident chains

The Final Destination franchise (2000-2011) follows groups of people who survive disasters after premonitions - then are systematically killed by death itself through elaborate Rube Goldberg-style accident chains. The concept eliminates a human villain in favour of fate as antagonist.

Correct: B. Bill Skarsgrd

Bill Skarsgrd plays Pennywise in the 2017 film It directed by Andy Muschietti. Tim Curry had memorably played Pennywise in the 1990 television miniseries. The 2017 film became the highest-grossing horror film in history at the time of its release.

Correct: B. Its raw, guerrilla filmmaking style creating unprecedented visceral horror - based loosely on serial killer Ed Gein

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) directed by Tobe Hooper is loosely inspired by serial killer Ed Gein. Shot on 16mm for approximately $83,000 it created a documentary-like authenticity that made its violence feel disturbingly real. Leatherface became one of horror's most iconic villains.

Correct: A. Nosferatu

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) directed by F.W. Murnau is an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula featuring Max Schreck as the grotesque Count Orlok. It is the oldest surviving vampire film and a landmark of German Expressionism.

Correct: B. A videotape that kills viewers seven days after they watch it - the Japanese original spawned an American remake and established J-Horror as a global phenomenon

Ring (Ringu, 1998) directed by Hideo Nakata is a Japanese horror film about a videotape that causes the death of its viewer seven days after watching - the ghost Sadako Yamamura crawls from the television screen. The American remake The Ring (2002) was among the highest-grossing horror remakes.

Correct: A. Dario Argento

Suspiria (1977) directed by Dario Argento is an Italian horror film about an American ballet student at a German dance academy that is secretly run by a coven of witches. The film is celebrated for its extraordinary use of colour and the Goblin band's distinctive score.

Correct: D. 1984 - Robert Englund

A Nightmare on Elm Street was released in 1984 and Robert Englund played Freddy Krueger. Englund has said he modelled the character partly on Richard Nixon - bringing a sense of political menace and oily charm to the burned killer.

Correct: A. Films using footage that appears to have been recorded by the characters themselves - The Blair Witch Project (1999) is the most influential

Found footage horror presents events as if discovered recordings - shot by characters as if using amateur cameras. The Blair Witch Project (1999) made it commercially viable. Cloverfield (2008) and Paranormal Activity (2007) continued the tradition.

Correct: C. A found footage horror film made by Oren Peli in his own house for approximately $15,000 that became one of the most profitable films in history on a percentage basis

Paranormal Activity (2007) directed by Oren Peli was filmed in his San Diego home over seven days for approximately $15,000. It was purchased by DreamWorks and grossed $193 million worldwide - one of the highest return-on-investment films ever made.

Correct: B. A novelist is rescued from a car accident by his biggest fan who holds him captive and forces him to write a new novel - starring Kathy Bates who won the Academy Award for Best Actress

Misery (1990) directed by Rob Reiner stars James Caan as writer Paul Sheldon and Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes - his self-described number one fan who rescues him from a crash then imprisons him. Kathy Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress - the only acting Oscar ever won in a Stephen King adaptation.

Correct: D. A found footage monster film depicting a giant creature attacking New York City from the perspective of civilians capturing events on a handheld camera

Cloverfield (2008) directed by Matt Reeves and produced by J.J. Abrams presents a giant monster attack on New York City entirely through handheld footage shot by survivors trying to escape the city.

Correct: D. The 1930s-1950s Universal Studios cycle featuring Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, and Creature from the Black Lagoon - establishing the iconic monsters of cinema

Universal Studios' monster cycle ran from Dracula (1931) through Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) and created cinema's most enduring monster icons - Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and others. Actors Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi defined these roles.

Correct: A. Scream

The Scream franchise (1996-present) directed by Wes Craven features the Ghostface killer who calls victims and asks horror movie trivia questions. The franchise is a meta-commentary on horror conventions - characters explicitly discuss horror movie rules while living through them.

Correct: C. John Carpenter himself

John Carpenter composed the Halloween theme himself - a deceptively simple piano ostinato in 5/4 time. He wrote it in three days when the studio felt the film wasn't frightening enough, and the music transformed the film's impact.

Correct: C. A Ridley Scott film that combined science fiction and horror - isolating characters in a spaceship with an unknown creature - creating the terrifying concept that In space no one can hear you scream

Alien (1979) directed by Ridley Scott features a spaceship crew hunted by a relentless alien organism. H.R. Giger designed the creature using distinctly sexual imagery. Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley became one of cinema's greatest heroines.

Correct: A. A James Wan thriller about a serial killer who forces victims through elaborate death traps - launching the torture porn subgenre and one of horror's most profitable franchises

Saw (2004) directed by James Wan was made for $1.2 million and grossed $103 million - launching a franchise that has produced ten sequels. The Jigsaw Killer's moral tests through elaborate traps defined the torture porn subgenre of the 2000s.

Correct: C. A post-apocalyptic world where blind creatures with hypersensitive hearing hunt any sound - a family must live in near-total silence to survive

A Quiet Place (2018) directed by John Krasinski and starring Krasinski and Emily Blunt as a couple navigating survival in a world terrorised by blind creatures that hunt by sound. The film uses extended silence and near-silent filmmaking to extraordinary effect.

Correct: C. An American diplomat discovers his young son Damien may be the Antichrist

The Omen (1976) directed by Richard Donner stars Gregory Peck as an American ambassador who discovers his adopted son Damien may literally be the son of Satan. The film popularised the 666 as the number of the Beast in popular culture.

Correct: D. A British horror film shot entirely on Zoom during the 2020 lockdown about a group of friends who hold an online sance and unleash a malevolent entity

Host (2020) directed by Rob Savage was shot entirely over Zoom during the COVID-19 lockdown and runs 56 minutes. A group of friends conducting an online sance summons a demonic presence. Made for approximately 35,000 it became the highest-rated horror film in IMDb history briefly.

Correct: B. The British actor who played Frankenstein's Monster in 1931 and became the defining face of Universal Monsters era horror

Boris Karloff played Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), the Mummy (1932), and numerous other horror roles. His sympathetic portrayal of Frankenstein's Monster - using physical performance rather than dialogue - made the Monster iconic.

Correct: C. A contemporary horror thriller where a woman escapes an abusive partner who subsequently fakes his death and uses a specially designed suit to terrorise her while invisible

The Invisible Man (2020) directed by Leigh Whannell stars Elisabeth Moss as a woman whose abusive ex-boyfriend seemingly fakes his death and then uses a technology suit to terrorise her while invisible. The film reimagines the classic monster concept as a domestic abuse allegory.

Correct: A. A shared cinematic universe of supernatural horror films based on the real case files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren - the highest-grossing horror franchise in history

The Conjuring Universe began with The Conjuring (2013) and has expanded to 9 films by 2023 - including The Conjuring series, Annabelle films, The Nun, and others. It is the highest-grossing horror franchise in cinema history with combined box office exceeding $2 billion.

Correct: B. Poltergeist - directed by Tobe Hooper (and Steven Spielberg as co-writer/producer)

Poltergeist (1982) directed by Tobe Hooper (with significan't involvement from producer and co-writer Steven Spielberg) features the iconic line They're here spoken by young Carol Anne as the family television activates with supernatural energy.

Correct: D. Clive Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart - Barker also directed the film, creating the Cenobites led by Pinhead

Hellraiser (1987) was written and directed by Clive Barker based on his own novella The Hellbound Heart. The Cenobites - interdimensional beings of extreme sensation led by Pinhead (Doug Bradley) - arrived through a puzzle box called the Lament Configuration.

Correct: A. Bruce Willis's character Malcolm Crowe is revealed to have been dead throughout the film - he was shot in the first scene, not realising he died

The Sixth Sense (1999) directed by M. Night Shyamalan reveals that child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) has been dead since the film's opening scene - he is himself a ghost unaware of his death, seen only by the boy who can see dead people.

Correct: D. A near-future America where all crime is legal for 12 hours annually - the franchise uses the concept to examine class warfare, systemic racism, and American violence

The Purge (2013) directed by James DeMonaco began as a home invasion thriller and expanded across five films into a political horror franchise examining how wealth and class determine survival when all crime is legal for one night.

Correct: A. Colin Clive and Boris Karloff

Colin Clive played Dr. Henry Frankenstein and Boris Karloff played the Monster in Frankenstein (1931) directed by James Whale. Both performances became definitive - Clive's hysterical obsession and Karloff's sympathetic pathos.

Correct: A. Australian-born director whose films launched multiple major horror franchises - Saw (2004), The Conjuring (2013), Insidious (2010) - and who became one of the most commercially successful horror directors in history

James Wan launched or established three major horror franchises - Saw (2004), Insidious (2010, with Leigh Whannell), and The Conjuring (2013). He subsequently directed Aquaman (2018) demonstrating that commercial horror success could launch major studio careers.

Correct: C. Jigsaw (John Kramer) is a dying cancer patient who believes those who do not appreciate life should be tested - his torture devices are designed to force victims to choose whether they want to live

The Jigsaw Killer (John Kramer) in Saw is a dying man who believes people take their lives for granted - his elaborate traps force victims to endure extreme suffering to escape, testing whether they truly want to live. His stated philosophy is that he never kills anyone directly.

Correct: A. An influential low-budget franchise created by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell - beginning with The Evil Dead (1982) shot in rural Tennessee with a $375,000 budget

The Evil Dead (1982) directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell was made by Michigan State University friends for $375,000. The franchise spawned Evil Dead II (1987), Army of Darkness (1992), a 2013 remake, and the TV series Ash vs Evil Dead - all centred on cabin-in-the-woods demonic possession.

Correct: B. A horror film about a lifelike AI doll that becomes protective to a dangerous degree - a contemporary tech horror reflecting anxieties about artificial intelligence and child development

M3GAN (2022) directed by Gerard Johnstone follows a roboticist who creates a lifelike AI doll companion for her recently orphaned niece - M3GAN develops beyond her programming to violently protect her child companion. The film became a cultural phenomenon partly through social media memes of M3GAN dancing.

Correct: C. A family moves to rural Maine where a pet cemetery - and beyond it an ancient burial ground - can resurrect the dead, but the resurrected return changed

Pet Sematary (1989) directed by Mary Lambert is based on Stephen King's 1983 novel. A family near a pet cemetery discovers a Mi'kmaq burial ground beyond it that resurrects the dead - but the resurrected return malevolent. Stephen King has said it is the only one of his novels that genuinely frightened him.

Correct: D. Multiple short horror stories linked by a framing device - 'Creepshow' (1982) written by Stephen King and directed by George Romero is a celebrated example

Horror anthologies tell multiple short stories in one film - a tradition from British Ealing Studios portmanteau films through Creepshow (1982) to V/H/S (2012) and Trick 'r Treat (2007). Creepshow was a collaboration between Stephen King and George Romero celebrating EC Comics' Tales from the Crypt tradition.

Correct: A. The real case files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren - specifically their investigation of a haunted farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971

The Conjuring (2013) is based on the documented case of Ed and Lorraine Warren's investigation of the Perron family's 1971 haunting in their Rhode Island farmhouse. The film starred Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the Warrens.

Correct: B. Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel of the same name - but adapted as a loose reimagining that adds a new contemporary family framework while maintaining Jackson's themes

The Haunting of Hill House (2018) created by Mike Flanagan is loosely based on Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel. Flanagan reimagined the story as a multigenerational family trauma narrative where the house represents the family's unprocessed grief and mental illness.

Correct: D. Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) explains slasher movie rules that the characters are simultaneously living through - creating a self-aware horror film that comments on its own genre conventions

In Scream (1996) Randy Meeks articulates the rules of surviving a horror movie - never have sex, never drink or do drugs, never say I'll be right back - while the characters around him live out those rules with fatal consequences. The meta-commentary on horror conventions defines the franchise.

Correct: A. A therapist who witnesses a patient's disturbing suicide begins experiencing increasingly traumatic visions - the curse spreads through witnessing someone die smiling

Smile (2022) directed by Parker Finn follows a therapist who witnesses a patient's disturbing death and begins experiencing horrifying visions - discovering a curse that spreads through witnessing a disturbing death. The marketing campaign involved actors attending major sporting events and staring unblinkingly at cameras.

Correct: B. It revived found footage horror and demonstrated to Hollywood studios that intimate domestic horror could be commercially viable on a massive scale - spawning numerous imitators and sequels

Paranormal Activity's $193 million worldwide gross on a $15,000 budget demonstrated that found footage horror had lasting commercial viability beyond Blair Witch Project. It spawned 5 sequels, a Japanese spin-off series, and numerous imitators.