Modern Horror Films
100: In the 2012 film Sinister, a true-crime writer finds disturbing Super 8 films in his new house.
Answer: What is Sinister?
This tall, faceless figure in a suit became an internet legend and inspired a real-life moral panic in 2014.
Who is Slender Man?
100: This year marks the starting point of our game—events since this year qualify.
Answer: What is 2012?
100: The trend of blending social commentary with horror, as seen in Get Out, is called “____ horror.”
Answer: What is “elevated horror”?
100: This tall faceless stalker from a 2012 indie game became a pop-culture icon (and meme).
Answer: Who is Slender Man?
200: Released in 2012, this film features a vengeful ghost in a remote village and became one of the highest-grossing British horror films in 20 years.
Answer: What is The Woman in Black?
This smiling creature from a distorted image became infamous in 2018 after reports that it encouraged children to harm themselves online.
What is the Momo Challenge?
200: This term refers to the irrational fear of spiders.
Answer: What is arachnophobia?
200: Horror games focusing more on survival, stealth and atmosphere rather than combat are often called ____ horror.
Answer: What is survival horror?
200: This streaming-era platform helped bring horror films to global audiences and revitalized older titles.
Answer: What is Netflix?
300: This 2014 (or later) horror movie by Jordan Peele peeled back racial tensions in a suburban setting.
Answer: What is Get Out?
This mysterious sound heard worldwide — often described as “sky trumpets” — led people to believe the apocalypse was near.
What are the Sky Trumpets (or Sky Sounds)?
300: In crowd disasters research, one event in which 21 people died and over 500 were injured was revisited in a 2023 study about crowd “turbulence”.
Answer: What is the 2011 Love Parade Disaster?
300: This sub-genre of horror films features minimal gore but heavy psychological dread and everyday settings.
Answer: What is psychological horror?
300: This 2020 social media challenge had people posting themselves running from “something unseen” on the beach, later tied to a horror film.
Answer: What is the Smile viral challenge?
400: This 2018 film by Ari Aster introduced the “elevated horror” trend with a family tragedy turned bizarre supernatural ordeal.
Answer: What is Hereditary?
This cursed figure from a creepypasta appears only if you summon her by saying her name repeatedly in a mirror.
Who is Bloody Mary? (reignited online in 2010s)
400: This 2025 event in Texas became one of the deadliest mass-casualty events for US children, mentioned in a July report.
Answer: What is the 2025 Texas flooding?
400: The revival of this one-shot long-take style horror film technique became popular with films like Bird Box (2018) and A Quiet Place (2018).
Answer: What is the “distorted POV/one-take” style?
400: This 2017 horror film’s success led to a surge of “black executes white suburban horror” themes and made its director a household name.
Answer: What is Get Out?
500: This 2022 film rebooted a classic horror franchise and gave us a viral “running from the ghost” scene on the beach.
Answer: What is Smile?
This urban legend describes a man in a rabbit costume haunting a bridge in Virginia, attacking passersby with an axe.
Who is the Bunny Man?
500: In a 2020 study, which 2012 horror film was identified as “the scariest film ever made” based on viewer heart-rates?
Answer: What is Sinister?
500: In the 2010s horror review lists, the film The Cabin in the Woods (released in 2012) is credited with deconstructing horror tropes and ushering in the modern meta-horror era.
Answer: What is meta-horror?
500: This recurring Halloween-style event is held in the US and features haunted houses, mazes, and scare zones, becoming a staple of horror entertainment culture.
Answer: What is Halloween Haunt (or simply Halloween events)?