Test Your Knowledge: Identify Horror Films from Their Psychological Elements Trivia Quiz

Answers at the bottom — no peeking!

Step into the darkest corners of the human mind with this chilling horror trivia quiz. Each of the 20 questions highlights a signature psychological element from a classic or modern horror film. Match the madness to the movie and prove you’re a true master of psychological terror.

Questions

Question 1: Which horror film features a motel owner who murders while embodying his domineering deceased mother due to dissociative identity disorder?

A. The Shining (1980)
B. Repulsion (1965)
C. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
D. Psycho (1960)

Question 2: In which film does isolation in a haunted hotel drive a recovering alcoholic writer to axe-wielding insanity, haunted by ghostly visions?

A. Hereditary (2018)
B. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
C. Shutter Island (2010)
D. The Shining (1980)

Question 3: Which movie centres on a pregnant woman’s growing paranoia that her sophisticated neighbours belong to a satanic cult plotting to take her baby?

A. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
B. The Babadook (2014)
C. Midsommar (2019)
D. Black Swan (2010)

Question 4: In which film does a woman’s sexual repression lead to horrifying hallucinations of rapists invading her apartment, culminating in murder?

A. Saint Maud (2019)
B. The Tenant (1976)
C. Repulsion (1965)
D. Session 9 (2001)

Question 5: Which horror film depicts a ballerina’s obsessive quest for perfection causing hallucinations of her doppelgänger and violent self-mutilation?

A. Get Out (2017)
B. The Witch (2015)
C. Black Swan (2010)
D. The Sixth Sense (1999)

Question 6: In which movie does a family’s grief over a son’s decapitation death unleash escalating mental breakdowns and demonic influences?

A. Don’t Look Now (1973)
B. Hereditary (2018)
C. The Others (2001)
D. Relic (2020)

Question 7: Which film follows a woman processing family trauma through hallucinatory rituals at a bright Swedish midsummer cult festival?

A. The Invisible Man (2020)
B. Midsommar (2019)
C. The Babadook (2014)
D. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

Question 8: In which horror story does a widow’s suppressed grief manifest as a monstrous pop-up book character tormenting her and her son?

A. The Babadook (2014)
B. Session 9 (2001)
C. Saint Maud (2019)
D. Get Out (2017)

Question 9: Which film involves a black man being hypnotised with a teacup trigger by a white family who auction bodies for consciousness transplants?

A. Shutter Island (2010)
B. The Sixth Sense (1999)
C. Get Out (2017)
D. The Tenant (1976)

Question 10: In which period horror does a Puritan family’s religious paranoia erupt amid crop failure, a missing baby, and witchcraft accusations?

A. Don’t Look Now (1973)
B. Session 9 (2001)
C. The Witch (2015)
D. Relic (2020)

Question 11: Which movie blurs reality for a Vietnam veteran through demonic hallucinations tied to his guilt over a dead son and battlefield trauma?

A. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
B. The Invisible Man (2020)
C. Black Swan (2010)
D. Hereditary (2018)

Question 12: In which film do workers at an abandoned asylum uncover audio tapes revealing a patient’s multiple personalities and murderous impulses?

A. Psycho (1960)
B. Repulsion (1965)
C. Session 9 (2001)
D. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Question 13: Which horror features a child psychologist helping a boy who sees and converses with dead people unaware of their own deaths?

A. The Others (2001)
B. Shutter Island (2010)
C. Saint Maud (2019)
D. The Sixth Sense (1999)

Question 14: In which thriller does a US Marshal investigating an asylum discover he is a patient role-playing to cope with drowning his own children?

A. Midsommar (2019)
B. Shutter Island (2010)
C. The Tenant (1976)
D. The Babadook (2014)

Question 15: Which film portrays a mother enforcing darkness for her photosensitive children, only for ghostly encounters to reveal a shocking twist?

A. Relic (2020)
B. The Others (2001)
C. Don’t Look Now (1973)
D. The Witch (2015)

Question 16: In which movie do grieving parents experience premonitions and visions of a red-coated child after their daughter’s drowning death?

A. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
B. Get Out (2017)
C. Don’t Look Now (1973)
D. Hereditary (2018)

Question 17: Which modern horror depicts an abused woman gaslit into questioning her sanity by her invisible, technologically advanced ex-boyfriend?

A. The Invisible Man (2020)
B. Session 9 (2001)
C. Black Swan (2010)
D. Saint Maud (2019)

Question 18: In which film does a pious nurse’s messianic delusions lead to self-mortification and hallucinatory visions of saving her terminally ill patient?

A. Repulsion (1965)
B. The Tenant (1976)
C. Saint Maud (2019)
D. Psycho (1960)

Question 19: Which Roman Polanski film shows a timid tenant descending into paranoia, believing his apartment neighbours are conspiring for him to suicide like his predecessor?

A. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
B. Midsommar (2019)
C. Relic (2020)
D. The Tenant (1976)

Question 20: In which Australian horror does a daughter’s concern for her dementia-afflicted mother uncover a parasitic evil manifesting as inherited mental decay?

A. The Babadook (2014)
B. The Sixth Sense (1999)
C. Shutter Island (2010)
D. Relic (2020)

Answers

  1. D. Psycho (1960) — Norman Bates’ dissociative identity disorder drives him to murder while dressed as his mother.
  2. D. The Shining (1980) — Jack Torrance descends into madness under the Overlook Hotel’s supernatural influence.
  3. A. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) — Rosemary Woodhouse suspects her neighbours of satanic conspiracy against her unborn child.
  4. C. Repulsion (1965) — Carol’s sexual repression triggers violent hallucinations and murder in her apartment.
  5. C. Black Swan (2010) — Nina Sayers’ perfectionism sparks hallucinations of a rival doppelgänger and self-harm.
  6. B. Hereditary (2018) — The Graham family’s grief activates a demonic cult possession.
  7. B. Midsommar (2019) — Dani processes trauma through a Swedish midsummer cult’s hallucinatory rituals.
  8. A. The Babadook (2014) — Amelia’s unprocessed grief manifests as the monstrous Babadook entity.
  9. C. Get Out (2017) — The Armitages use hypnosis to prepare Black victims for consciousness transplants.
  10. C. The Witch (2015) — A Puritan family’s religious paranoia erupts amid witchcraft fears in 1630s New England.
  11. A. Jacob’s Ladder (1990) — Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer experiences demonic hallucinations rooted in guilt and trauma.
  12. C. Session 9 (2001) — Asylum renovation workers discover tapes revealing a patient’s multiple personalities.
  13. D. The Sixth Sense (1999) — Cole Sear sees ghosts who do not realise they are dead.
  14. B. Shutter Island (2010) — Teddy Daniels is revealed to be patient Andrew Laeddis coping with filicide.
  15. B. The Others (2001) — Grace and her children are the ghosts haunting their own home.
  16. C. Don’t Look Now (1973) — Grieving parents experience psychic visions after their daughter’s drowning.
  17. A. The Invisible Man (2020) — Cecilia is psychologically tormented by her invisible ex using advanced technology.
  18. C. Saint Maud (2019) — Nurse Maud’s religious delusions drive self-mortification and hallucinatory visions.
  19. D. The Tenant (1976) — Trelkovsky becomes convinced neighbours are driving him to suicide like his predecessor.
  20. D. Relic (2020) — A daughter discovers her mother’s dementia is caused by a parasitic fungal inheritance.

How many did you get right? Share your score in the comments and challenge your friends to beat it — true horror fans conquer the psyche!