The Most Popular Horror Movies By State, From “The Shining” to “It”
With Halloween a few weeks away, it’s just about that time to cozy up in front of the TV and watch Neve Campbell be terrorized by an unknown caller in a skeletal mask. Before you turn off the lights and prepare the popcorn, though, consider a recent report on the most popular horror movies by state for some film inspiration this year. Kill the Cable Bill, a company that specializes in cost-effective cable TV alternatives, recently partnered with Mindnet Analytics to determine some horror movie trends by each U.S. state, and the findings are spine-chillingly fascinating.
To determine the results, the companies compiled the top 200 horror films on Rotten Tomatoes and cross-referenced that data with Google Trends search frequencies. The searches, conducted between Oct. 1, 2019 and Oct. 1, 2020, also yielded some recurrent findings state-wide. The 2001 gothic horror film “The Devil’s Backbone” from director Guillermo del Toro, for example, is the horror film that most states are obsessed with, appearing as the most popular in Washington D.C., Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas.
In regards to the state most interested in horror films, Oregon came in at No. 1, followed by Alaska, Washington D.C., Utah, and Wyoming. Southeastern states, on the other hand, apparently aren’t as interested in spooky films. Florida had the least interested in horror movies, followed by Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Mississippi.
Getting into some of the more specifics, Jordan Peele’s 2017 thriller “Get Out” reigned supreme in Alaska, while Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror “The Shining” came in at No. 1 in Colorado, where the film is also set. Elsewhere, Andrés Muschietti’s 2017 clown horror “It” is most popular in North Carolina, while Jonathan Demme’s 1991 thriller “The Silence of the Lambs” reigned supreme in Utah. In any case, it is now officially horror film season, so let’s all grab some popcorn, dim down the lights, and momentarily forget about the current horrors of the real world for some fictional haunts.