Can You Identify These 20 Horror Movies From Their Opening Scene Descriptions? Ultimate Trivia Quiz!

Answers Below – No Peeking!

Think you’re a horror movie expert? Challenge yourself to identify these 20 iconic horror films based solely on descriptions of their unforgettable opening scenes. Ranging from classic slashers of the 1970s to chilling modern indies, this quiz will separate the fans from the fanatics!

20 Trivia Questions: Identify the Horror Movie

Question 1: A young boy wearing a clown costume and a mask murders his older sister with a butcher knife right after she dismisses him on Halloween night. Which horror movie is this?

A. Friday the 13th
B. Child’s Play
C. Halloween
D. Trick ‘r Treat

Question 2: A blonde teenage girl alone at home answers a flirtatious phone call from a stranger that quickly escalates into a terrifying trivia game and stabbing. Which horror movie is this?

A. Scream
B. I Know What You Did Last Summer
C. Urban Legend
D. The Faculty

Question 3: At a beach bonfire party, a naked young woman goes skinny-dipping in the ocean at night and is viciously pulled under by an unseen predator. Which horror movie is this?

A. Deep Blue Sea
B. Jaws
C. The Shallows
D. Open Water

Question 4: An establishing shot pans over the Phoenix, Arizona skyline on a Friday afternoon, cutting to a dimly lit hotel room where a secretary lies on the bed with her out-of-town lover. Which horror movie is this?

A. The Birds
B. Rear Window
C. Vertigo
D. Psycho

Question 5: In the ruins of ancient Hatra, Iraq, an elderly priest named Father Merrin arrives by donkey to a dig site where workers unearth a menacing statue of the demon Pazuzu. Which horror movie is this?

A. The Exorcist
B. The Omen
C. The Rite
D. Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist

Question 6: Sweeping aerial helicopter shots track a lone yellow Volkswagen Beetle navigating twisty, snow-lined roads through the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Which horror movie is this?

A. The Thing
B. Misery
C. The Shining
D. Doctor Sleep

Question 7: A television screen shows a test pattern and plays the national anthem before signing off for the night, leaving only static snow as the camera pans to a nearby family sleeping soundly. Which horror movie is this?

A. The Ring
B. Poltergeist
C. Ringu
D. Videodrome

Question 8: In a dream sequence, two teenagers flee through a foggy house and dark boiler room pursued by a disfigured man wearing a tattered sweater and bladed glove, while ghostly children chant a nursery rhyme outside. Which horror movie is this?

A. A Nightmare on Elm Street
B. Friday the 13th Part 2
C. Halloween II
D. Fright Night

Question 9: During a stormy night at Camp Crystal Lake, two young counsellors climb into a barn loft for a romantic encounter, only for one to be suddenly decapitated by an axe. Which horror movie is this?

A. Sleepaway Camp
B. The Burning
C. Madman
D. Friday the 13th

Question 10: The film begins with slow close-ups of festering, maggot-ridden corpses laid out on a table, accompanied by a radio news report about local grave robbings and desecrations. Which horror movie is this?

A. The Hills Have Eyes
B. The Last House on the Left
C. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
D. Motel Hell

Question 11: A group of college students drives a yellow Oldsmobile through the Tennessee forest to an abandoned cabin, where they discover and play a tape recording an archaeologist’s Sumerian incantation. Which horror movie is this?

A. Cabin Fever
B. The Evil Dead
C. Wrong Turn
D. The Cabin in the Woods

Question 12: A chaotic television studio struggles to broadcast emergency reports amid mounting civil disorder, followed by a SWAT team violently raiding a darkened apartment. Which horror movie is this?

A. Dawn of the Dead
B. Night of the Living Dead
C. 28 Days Later
D. Zombieland

Question 13: A female filmmaker interviews an elderly woman in Burkittsville, Maryland, about the horrifying local legend of the Blair Witch and the disappearances of three student filmmakers. Which horror movie is this?

A. Paranormal Activity
B. REC
C. Cloverfield
D. The Blair Witch Project

Question 14: A grainy Super 8 home movie titled “Hanging Lawn Fun” depicts a family of five standing on lawn chairs beneath a tree with nooses; the chairs topple, and the film cuts to a lawnmower. Which horror movie is this?

A. The Poughkeepsie Tapes
B. Megan Is Missing
C. Sinister
D. As Above, So Below

Question 15: In 1968, two nurses working the night shift in a children’s toy warehouse discover a vintage Raggedy Ann doll levitating and chanting “Wanna play?” in a deep voice. Which horror movie is this?

A. The Conjuring
B. Annabelle
C. The Conjuring 2
D. The Nun

Question 16: A young man is executed by multiple point-blank gunshots to the head on a rooftop, plummeting to his death; later, a scared girl speeds away in a car to meet someone at the lake. Which horror movie is this?

A. Happy Death Day
B. It Follows
C. The Invisible Man
D. Relic

Question 17: In 1630s New England, a stern plantation governor banishes a pious family for blasphemy, sentencing them to live alone in the adjacent wilderness haunted by witches. Which horror movie is this?

A. The Village
B. Midsommar
C. Apostle
D. The Witch

Question 18: A young black man nervously walks through a quiet, upscale white suburb at night, taunted by a car’s headlights before being kidnapped by its driver. Which horror movie is this?

A. Get Out
B. Us
C. Nope
D. Candyman

Question 19: A grieving woman methodically assembles a detailed dollhouse diorama replicating her family’s living room, positioning tiny figures including a decapitated body. Which horror movie is this?

A. The Visit
B. Midsommar
C. Hereditary
D. The Babadook

Question 20: Stylized pop-up book animation illustrates a fatal car accident and the birth of a screaming infant, interspersed with shadowy hands and ominous silhouettes. Which horror movie is this?

A. Mama
B. The Babadook
C. Lights Out
D. Ouija

Answers

  1. C. Halloween (1978) – John Carpenter’s film opens with a 23-minute unbroken Steadicam shot inside the Myers home, where 6-year-old Michael stabs his sister Judith; others have child killers but different opening kills.
  2. A. Scream (1996) – Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker is gutted after Ghostface’s phone trivia game; the others open with car accidents or group kills, not solo phone terror.
  3. B. Jaws (1975) – Chrissie Watkins is the shark’s first victim during a nude midnight swim off Amity Island; the others feature shark attacks but in modern oceanic settings without beach parties.
  4. D. Psycho (1960) – Alfred Hitchcock’s opener establishes Marion Crane’s theft motive in a Phoenix hotel tryst; the others are Hitchcock thrillers with different urban or voyeuristic starts.
  5. A. The Exorcist (1973) – Father Merrin confronts the Pazuzu statue at the Hatra dig, foreshadowing possession; the others involve exorcisms but open with births, crashes, or Vatican scenes.
  6. C. The Shining (1980) – Kubrick’s aerial shots follow Jack Torrance’s car to the Overlook; the others open with Antarctic arrivals, car crashes, or hotel escapes.
  7. B. Poltergeist (1982) – The Freeling family sleeps as TV static summons spirits post-sign-off; the others feature cursed tapes watched actively, not passive broadcast endings.
  8. A. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) – Tina and Rod’s dream chase introduces Freddy Krueger with the “one two” rhyme; sequels and slashers open with camp or hospital kills.
  9. D. Friday the 13th (1980) – Barry is axed in the loft by Mrs Voorhees avenging her son; the others start with lake drownings, archery, or axe chases later.
  10. C. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) – Tobe Hooper’s credits linger on embalmed bodies amid grave-robbing reports before Sally’s van; others open with desert chases or home invasions.
  11. B. The Evil Dead (1981) – Ash’s group plays Professor Knowby’s Necronomicon tape at the cabin; the others feature diseases, mutants, or meta cabin setups.
  12. A. Dawn of the Dead (1978) – George Romero’s zombie apocalypse begins in a collapsing Pittsburgh TV studio and SWAT raid; the original starts in rural cemetery, others post-outbreak.
  13. D. The Blair Witch Project (1999) – Heather’s interview with Mary Graydon establishes the legend; found-footage peers open with home hauntings or apartment outbreaks.
  14. C. Sinister (2012) – The “Lawn Work” snuff reel shows the Stevenson family hanged then lawnmowered; others use interviews, teen cams, or catacomb pursuits.
  15. A. The Conjuring (2013) – The Annabelle doll case introduces the Warrens in 1968; spin-offs open with convent demons, Enfields, or doll transports.
  16. B. It Follows (2014) – Jeff is killed to pass the curse before Jay’s beach handover; others start with time loops, lab escapes, or family declines.
  17. D. The Witch (2015) – William’s family is exiled to 1630 woods after plantation blasphemy charge; others open with village isolations, commune trips, or island cults.
  18. A. Get Out (2017) – Andre’s abduction sets up racial horror; Jordan Peele sequels start with tethered families, UFOs, or housing projects.
  19. C. Hereditary (2018) – Annie’s dollhouse precisely foreshadows family deaths; others open with grandparents’ visits, festival arrivals, or storybook crashes.
  20. B. The Babadook (2014) – Pop-up pages depict Amelia’s husband’s crash on Sam’s birthday; others feature motherships, closet shadows, or board game summons.

How many did you get right? Drop your score in the comments and challenge friends to this spine-tingling quiz. A perfect 20/20 makes you horror royalty!