Can You Score 20/20? Identify Iconic Horror Films from Their Signature Tropes – Trivia Quiz

Answers at the bottom — no peeking!

Think you’re a horror aficionado? Test your knowledge by matching these classic and modern horror films to their signature tropes. We’ve blended easy warm-ups with devilishly tricky ones to challenge even the biggest fans!

Questions

Question 1: A shape-shifting clown terrorises children in a storm-drain-infested town every 27 years?

A. Poltergeist (1982)
B. It (2017)
C. The Lost Boys (1987)
D. Gremlins (1984)

Question 2: A possessed girl levitates, projectile vomits, and spins her head 360 degrees during a priest-led exorcism?

A. The Omen (1976)
B. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
C. The Exorcist (1973)
D. The Possession (2012)

Question 3: A motel shower murder, a cross-dressing killer, and a mummified mother corpse?

A. Psycho (1960)
B. Bates Motel TV series
C. Peeping Tom (1960)
D. Dressed to Kill (1980)

Question 4: An axe-wielding father chases his psychic son through a maze at a snow-isolated haunted hotel?

A. The Overlook Hotel from lore
B. Doctor Sleep (2019)
C. The Shining (1980)
D. Misery (1990)

Question 5: A great white shark terrorises a beach resort, prompting the famous line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”?

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

Question 6: A facehugger implants an embryo that bursts from a crewman’s chest aboard a derelict spaceship?

A. Prometheus (2012)
B. Event Horizon (1997)
C. Lifeforce (1985)
D. Alien (1979)

Question 7: A chainsaw-wielding cannibal in a mask butchers road-trippers at a rural Texas family slaughterhouse?

A. Leatherface remake (2013)
B. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
C. Wrong Turn (2003)
D. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Question 8: A razor-gloved dream demon with a striped sweater kills teens in their nightmares?

A. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
B. New Nightmare (1994)
C. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
D. Dreamscape (1984)

Question 9: A masked killer in a black robe makes “What’s your favourite scary movie?” phone calls?

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

Question 10: Watching a grainy videotape curses viewers to die in seven days unless the tape is copied?

A. V/H/S (2012)
B. Ringu (1998)
C. The Ring (2002)
D. Noroi: The Curse (2005)

Question 11: A bathroom-trapped victim awakens with a tape recorder and gruesome traps set by a puppet-master philosopher?

A. Cube (1997)
B. Hostel (2005)
C. Saw (2004)
D. Would You Rather (2012)

Question 12: A machete-masked camp counsellor drowns as a child and returns to slaughter counsellors at Crystal Lake?

A. Summer Camp Nightmare (1987)
B. Friday the 13th (1980)
C. Sleepaway Camp (1983)
D. The Burning (1981)

Question 13: A family in a farmhouse plays a clapping game with an invisible witch who possesses the mother?

A. Insidious (2010)
B. The Conjuring (2013)
C. Annabelle (2014)
D. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

Question 14: A black man experiences hypnosis into a “sunken place” at his white girlfriend’s family estate?

A. The Stepford Wives (1975)
B. Get Out (2017)
C. Us (2019)
D. The Invitation (2015)

Question 15: A grief-stricken family uncovers a cult legacy through headless corpses and eerie miniatures?

A. The Hereditary misspelling
B. Hereditary (2018)
C. The Lodge (2019)
D. Relic (2020)

Question 16: A facility of ancient gods manipulates “cabin in the woods” sacrifices with monsters and rituals?

A. The Ritual (2017)
B. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)
C. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
D. Evil Dead (2013)

Question 17: A Puritan family in 1630s New England faces a woodland witch and a talking goat named Black Phillip?

A. The VVitch (2015)
B. Salem’s Lot (1979)
C. The Crucible (1996)
D. In the Earth (2021)

Question 18: A Swedish midsummer festival turns into a daylight cult ritual with a bear suit sacrifice?

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

Question 19: A writer moves into a haunted house where a pop-up book summons the top-hatted, claw-handed Babadook?

A. The Babadook (2014)
B. Lights Out (2016)
C. Mama (2013)
D. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)

Question 20: Saying his name five times into a mirror summons a hook-handed urban legend killer from Cabrini-Green?

A. Bloody Mary legend film
B. Candyman (1992)
C. Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
D. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

Answers

  1. B. It (2017) — Iconic Pennywise the clown preys on Derry’s children via sewers every 27 years.
  2. C. The Exorcist (1973) — Regan MacNeil’s possession features these exact effects during Fathers Karras and Merrin’s rite.
  3. A. Psycho (1960) — Norman Bates’ shower stabbing of Marion Crane and his mother’s preserved body define the trope.
  4. C. The Shining (1980) — Jack Torrance pursues Danny through the hedge maze at the Overlook.
  5. D. Jaws (1975) — Brody utters the line during shark hunts at Amity Island.
  6. D. Alien (1979) — Kane’s chestburster scene aboard Nostromo is legendary.
  7. D. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) — Leatherface’s chainsaw debut at the Sawyer farm is unmatched.
  8. C. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) — Freddy Krueger’s boiler-room dream kills with glove and sweater.
  9. C. Scream (1996) — Ghostface’s meta phone taunts kick off the franchise.
  10. C. The Ring (2002) — Samara’s tape kills in seven days from a well.
  11. C. Saw (2004) — Adam and Dr. Gordon in the bathroom with Jigsaw’s tape.
  12. B. Friday the 13th (1980) — Jason drowns in 1957, returns for Camp Crystal Lake kills.
  13. B. The Conjuring (2013) — The Perrons face Bathsheba via hide-and-clap.
  14. B. Get Out (2017) — Chris falls into the sunken place at the Armitages’.
  15. B. Hereditary (2018) — The Grahams’ Paimon cult involves decapitations and Annie’s models.
  16. C. The Cabin in the Woods (2011) — The Facility controls global tropes like zombies/mermaids.
  17. A. The VVitch (2015) — The 1630s family’s goat Black Phillip offers deals in woods.
  18. B. Midsommar (2019) — The Hårga cult’s bright festival ends in bear-burning.
  19. A. The Babadook (2014) — “If it’s in a word or in a look, you can’t get rid of the Babadook” from the book haunts Amelia.
  20. B. Candyman (1992) — Helen says the name in the projects’ mirror.

How did you fare? Share your score in the comments and challenge your horror-loving mates to beat it!