Five Weird and Terror-ific Facts About Horror Films

For some of us, nothing beats wrapping up in a cozy blanket, turning the lights down, lighting a candle, and settling in for a scary movie fright-fest. Horror movies have been around for more than a century, with new and original horror gracing our screens each year, along with some of the classic oldies and remakes.

Horror has the power to draw you in, keep you watching and often leave you wanting more. It’s not dissimilar to extreme sports, which draw in adrenaline junkies who want to do it over and over again, pushing it to the next level each time, or perhaps to one of the many no deposit bonus casinos 2023, which use their incentives to encourage new players to start and keep playing and betting.

Whether you are a die-hard horror fan, or just someone who likes to dabble in it from time to time, here we look at some of the weirdest and interesting facts that the horror genre has to offer.

Jack Nicholson improvised the line “Here’s Johnny!” in The Shining

As one of America’s preeminent horror writers, Stephen King has seen at least fifty film adaptations based on his work, and his movies have given us some very memorable lines. However, one of the most famous one-liners from all of his adaptations never actually appeared in any of his books or even on a movie script. Instead, the line “Here’s Johnny!” was ad-libbed by Jack Nicholson when he was playing Jack Torrence in The Shining. Sources claim the line was inspired by the popular late-night television program “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson”, who’s host, Ed McMahon, always introduced the show with “Here’s Johnny!”

The set of The Exorcist was haunted

While many horror enthusiasts claim The Exorcist is the greatest scary film of all time, what they may not know is that lots of suspicious events took place during the making of the film, leading to the crew believing that the set was haunted. On one occasion, the set burned down and had to be constructed again. On another, it was mysteriously covered in snow, which although may have been as a result of the air conditioning, still managed to creep out many of the crew members. So many strange things happened that a priest was asked to bless the set.

Scream was inspired by a murder spree in the early ’90s

Scream is one of the most beloved horror franchises of all time, and was, in fact, inspired by a disturbing true story. While there wasn’t a real murderer stalking around in the infamous ghost mask and prank calling his victims, there was a very real series of horrifying murders that inspired screenwriter Kevin Williamson to write the Scream script. In late 1989 and 1990, Danny Rolling murdered eight people, including five college students, in Gainesville, Florida, earning himself the ominous nickname, “The Gainesville Ripper”. Similar to the killers in Scream, Rollings apparently had a fondness for horror films and seemingly no motive for his crimes.

Paranormal Activity holds a serious box-office record

Based on proportionate return on investment, Paranormal Activity is often cited as the most profitable movie ever made. It was shot on a small budget of $15,000, before being acquired by Paramount Pictures and modified, which cost an additional $200,000. After its US release in September 2009, it earned nearly $108 million at the US box office, before earning a further $85 million after its worldwide releases, giving it a total of $194 million.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is based on true events

Psycho is a classic, and for good reason. Revolutionary for its time, the 1960 horror movie amazed, and terrified, audiences around the world and featured the now iconic shower scene. Hitchcock’s film was based on Robert Bloch’s 1959 book, also called Psycho, which was written about a killer named Ed Gein. Gein, known as “the Butcher of Planfield” was arrested in November 1957 following the disappearance of store owner Bernice Worden, in Wisconsin. Details of her grisly death, and further horrific crimes that Gein had committed, rocked 1950s America as one of the most notorious murder cases.