Can You Name These 20 Iconic Horror Films From Their Plot Summaries? Ultimate Trivia Quiz Challenge!

Answers Below – No Peeking!

Are you a true horror aficionado? Challenge yourself with these 20 plot summary teasers from classic and modern horror films, spanning slashers, supernatural scares, and psychological terrors. Questions range from easy warm-ups to devilishly tricky ones – how many can you nail?

20 Trivia Questions on Horror Film Plot Summaries

Question 1: After embezzling $40,000 from her employer to start a new life, a secretary checks into a remote roadside motel run by a shy, domineering proprietor with a shocking secret?

A. Psycho (1960)
B. Misery (1990)
C. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
D. Single White Female (1992)

Question 2: In 1970s Washington D.C., a 12-year-old girl is possessed by the ancient demon Pazuzu, prompting her desperate mother to enlist two Jesuit priests for a harrowing exorcism?

A. The Conjuring (2013)
B. The Exorcist (1973)
C. The Rite (2011)
D. Deliver Us from Evil (2014)

Question 3: A recovering alcoholic writer takes his family to an isolated Overlook Hotel as winter caretaker, where malevolent supernatural forces drive him to murderous insanity against his psychic son and wife?

A. Misery (1990)
B. 1408 (2007)
C. Doctor Sleep (2019)
D. The Shining (1980)

Question 4: On Halloween night in 1978 Haddonfield, Illinois, masked killer Michael Myers escapes a sanitarium after 15 years and relentlessly stalks his childhood survivor Laurie Strode?

A. Friday the 13th (1980)
B. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
C. Halloween (1978)
D. Scream (1996)

Question 5: A massive great white shark begins terrorising the beaches of Amity Island during peak tourist season, forcing the local sheriff, a marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter to take it down at sea?

A. Deep Blue Sea (1999)
B. The Shallows (2016)
C. Open Water (2003)
D. Jaws (1975)

Question 6: The Nostromo spaceship crew investigates a distress beacon on LV-426, unwittingly bringing aboard a deadly parasitic xenomorph that systematically hunts them?

A. Prometheus (2012)
B. Alien (1979)
C. Life (2017)
D. Event Horizon (1997)

Question 7: In rural Pennsylvania, survivors hole up in a farmhouse as radiation-raised ghouls swarm the countryside, devouring the living in the first zombie apocalypse?

A. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
B. 28 Days Later (2002)
C. World War Z (2013)
D. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Question 8: A young couple moves into the Bramford apartment building, where nosy neighbours and strange occurrences lead the pregnant wife to fear her unborn child is targeted by a satanic coven?

A. The Omen (1976)
B. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
C. Suspiria (1977)
D. The Tenant (1976)

Question 9: A group of youthful travellers searching for an old family graveyard stumble upon a depraved cannibal family led by the chainsaw-swinging Leatherface in Texas?

A. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
B. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
C. Wrong Turn (2003)
D. Cabin Fever (2002)

Question 10: Ghosts invade a seemingly idyllic suburban home, communicating through static-filled TV and kidnapping the family’s youngest daughter into another dimension?

A. Insidious (2010)
B. The Amityville Horror (1979)
C. Sinister (2012)
D. Poltergeist (1982)

Question 11: In 1971 Rhode Island, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren confront a powerful witch’s spirit possessing a mother in a haunted Perron family farmhouse?

A. The Exorcist (1973)
B. The Nun (2018)
C. Annabelle (2014)
D. The Conjuring (2013)

Question 12: A black photographer visits his white girlfriend’s affluent parents for a weekend getaway, only to discover their horrifying plan involving hypnosis and body-swapping?

A. The Purge (2013)
B. The Visit (2015)
C. You’re Next (2011)
D. Get Out (2017)

Question 13: Following their secretive grandmother’s death, a family experiences grief-fuelled demonic incursions, decapitations, and cult revelations led by the daughter?

A. The Babadook (2014)
B. The Witch (2015)
C. Hereditary (2018)
D. It Follows (2014)

Question 14: A TV reporter and her ex investigate a videotape that curses viewers to die exactly seven days later unless the chain is passed on?

A. The Grudge (2004)
B. Pulse (2001)
C. The Ring (2002)
D. Noroi: The Curse (2005)

Question 15: Two strangers wake up shackled opposite each other in a grimy bathroom, given 60 minutes by the Jigsaw killer to cut through flesh for escape?

A. Cube (1997)
B. Saw (2004)
C. Hostel (2005)
D. The Collector (2009)

Question 16: Teens in Woodsboro are terrorised by Ghostface, a knife-wielding killer making taunting phone calls and referencing horror movie rules during a murder spree?

A. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
B. Urban Legend (1998)
C. Prom Night (1980)
D. Scream (1996)

Question 17: In 1989 Derry, Maine, seven outcast kids calling themselves the Losers’ Club confront Pennywise, a shape-shifting entity preying on children’s fears every 27 years?

A. It (2017)
B. Lights Out (2016)
C. It Follows (2014)
D. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Question 18: Five college friends head to a cabin in the woods for a party, manipulated by shadowy organisation technicians into fulfilling ancient monsters’ sacrificial rituals?

A. The Evil Dead (1981)
B. Cabin Fever (2002)
C. Friday the 13th (1980)
D. The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Question 19: A woman reeling from family tragedy accompanies her boyfriend to a remote Swedish commune’s 90-day sunlit midsummer festival, which harbours pagan atrocities?

A. The Wicker Man (1973)
B. Midsommar (2019)
C. Apostle (2018)
D. Kill List (2011)

Question 20: In 1630 New England, a devout Puritan family exiled to the woods faces crop failure, missing infant, and witchcraft accusations amid a sinister goat-named Black Phillip?

A. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
B. The Village (2004)
C. The Witch (2015)
D. Salem’s Lot (1979)

Answers

  1. A. Psycho (1960) – Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal thriller features Marion Crane’s theft and fatal stay at the Bates Motel; the others involve captivity or obsession but lack the motel embezzlement plot.
  2. B. The Exorcist (1973) – William Friedkin’s film centres on Regan MacNeil’s Pazuzu possession and the priests’ ritual; others depict exorcisms but not this specific demon or setting.
  3. D. The Shining (1980) – Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation has Jack Torrance’s Overlook breakdown; Doctor Sleep is its sequel, while others are hotel or writer horrors without the family dynamic.
  4. C. Halloween (1978) – John Carpenter’s slasher introduces Michael’s sister-murder return for Laurie; others feature camp killers but not this Halloween escape timeline.
  5. D. Jaws (1975) – Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster pits Brody, Hooper, and Quint against the Amity shark; the wrongs are shark attacks but lack the trio’s boat hunt.
  6. B. Alien (1979) – Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror has the Nostromo crew facing the xenomorph from LV-426; prequels/imitations like Prometheus differ in origin stories.
  7. D. Night of the Living Dead (1968) – George A. Romero’s zombie blueprint unfolds in a Pennsylvania farmhouse; sequels/remakes expand but don’t originate the siege.
  8. B. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) – Roman Polanski’s tale exposes the Bramford’s coven plotting for her baby; others involve cults/apartments but not this pregnancy conspiracy.
  9. B. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) – Tobe Hooper’s raw film depicts the Sawyer cannibals and Leatherface; similar hillbilly horrors lack the chainsaw family graveyard trek.
  10. D. Poltergeist (1982) – Tobe Hooper’s suburban haunt uses TV abduction; Amityville/Insidious feature possessions but not the Freelings’ poltergeist specifics.
  11. D. The Conjuring (2013) – The Warrens battle Bathsheba in the Perron home; Conjuring universe spin-offs focus on different demons/objects.
  12. D. Get Out (2017) – Jordan Peele’s satire reveals the Armitage sinkhole procedure; home invasions like The Visit lack the racial auction twist.
  13. C. Hereditary (2018) – Ari Aster’s grief horror unveils Paimon cult via Annie Graham; others are slow-burn family haunts without the miniaturist grandmother.
  14. C. The Ring (2002) – Gore Verbinski’s remake tracks Samara’s tape curse; Asian imports like The Grudge involve ghosts but not the seven-day video chain.
  15. B. Saw (2004) – James Wan’s trap origin has Adam and Lawrence vs. Jigsaw; confinement films like Cube lack the bathroom saw moral games.
  16. D. Scream (1996) – Wes Craven’s meta-slasher defines Ghostface calls and rules; copycats like I Know What You Did miss the Woodsboro savvy.
  17. A. It (2017) – Andy Muschietti adapts Stephen King’s Losers vs. Pennywise cycle; clown horrors differ without Derry’s 27-year kid-prey pattern.
  18. D. The Cabin in the Woods (2012) – Drew Goddard’s deconstruction reveals facility control; Evil Dead tropes are subverted here via global ritual.
  19. B. Midsommar (2019) – Ari Aster’s daylight folk horror unfolds at the Härga festival; Wicker Man shares paganism but not the post-tragedy couple dynamic.
  20. C. The Witch (2015) – Robert Eggers’ period piece centres the Williams family’s 1630 woodland devilry with Black Phillip; Blair Witch is found-footage, not Puritan.

How did you score? Drop your results in the comments and challenge friends to beat your tally – perfect 20/20 horror masters wanted!