October is here, and it’s the perfect time of year to turn out the lights, curl up on the couch, and put on your favorite scary movie. As it turns out, your go-to horror movie could be influenced by where you live.
Using data from Rotten Tomatoes, proprietary Amazon MTurk surveying, and other public sources, we compiled a list of the most popular horror movies of all time. Then, we partnered with Mindnet Analytics and used Google Trends data to determine which horror movie each state was most obsessed with relative to other states.
Interesting Finds
- There are some movies that multiple states across the country are obsessed with, including The Silence of the Lambs, Shaun of the Dead, and The Exorcist, to name a few.
- The most obvious examples of geographic location clearly aligning with the horror movie a state was obsessed with include Texas Chainsaw Massacre in Texas, The Shining in Colorado, and The Blair Witch Project in Maryland.
- North Dakota does rank fifth for having the most UFO sightings in the US, so perhaps that’s why they’re obsessed with Aliens?
- Some states/regions just don’t have much interest in horror movies in general, as evidenced by the heat map below:
The Horror Movie Each State is Most Obsessed With
Don’t feel like browsing the map above? Here are the findings in list form:
Alabama: Halloween
Alaska: Little Shop of Horrors
Arizona: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
Arkansas: The Thing
California: The Orphanage
Colorado: The Shining
Connecticut: Pan’s Labyrinth
Delaware: The Birds
District of Columbia: The Exorcist
Florida: This is the End
Georgia: Get Out
Hawaii: The Exorcist
Idaho: The Birds
Illinois: The House of the Devil
Indiana: Frankenstein
Iowa: Evil Dead 2
Kansas: Shaun of the Dead
Kentucky: Evil Dead 2
Louisiana: Get Out
Maine: The Host
Maryland: Blair Witch Project
Massachusetts: The Silence of the Lambs
Michigan: Near Dark
Minnesota: The Silence of the Lambs
Mississippi: Drag Me to Hell
Missouri: The Silence of the Lambs
Montana: Young Frankenstein
Nebraska: King Kong
Nevada: Shaun of the Dead
New Hampshire: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
New Jersey: The Silence of the Lambs
New Mexico: Bride of Frankenstein
New York: Psycho
North Carolina: Halloween
North Dakota: Aliens
Ohio: The Silence of the Lambs
Oklahoma: This is the End
Oregon: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Pennsylvania: The Silence of the Lambs
Rhode Island: The Love Witch
South Carolina: The Loved Ones
South Dakota: Cabin in the Woods
Tennessee: The Witch
Texas: Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Utah: Zombieland
Vermont: The Exorcist
Virginia: Drag Me to Hell
Washington: Shaun of the Dead
West Virginia: A Nightmare on Elm Street
Wisconsin: Shaun of the Dead
Wyoming: The Babadook
Do you share the same favorite horror movie as your state? Let us know by commenting below.
