Explore 40 fascinating insights into the horror movies you can't get enough of.

October is here, and with Halloween fast approaching, it's the perfect time to dig out your scariest films for a month of horror marathons. But before you settle in with popcorn and the lights go out, refresh your horror knowledge with these spooky facts about some of your favorite terrifying movies.

1. Count Orlock only blinks once in Nosferatu.

Max Schreck’s portrayal of Count Orlock in F.W. Murnau’s legendary Nosferatu (1922) includes a blink that occurs just once during his nine minutes of screen time—near the end of the first part.

2. The Exorcist made history as the first horror film to receive a nomination for Best Picture at the Oscars.

The horror genre has long been overlooked by the Academy, but The Exorcist broke through in 1974, earning 10 Oscar nominations. Among them was a nod for Best Supporting Actress for Linda Blair, who was only 15 years old at the time.

3. Robert Englund wasn’t originally cast as Freddy Krueger.

Wes Craven initially considered having a stuntman portray the terrifying, seemingly invincible Freddy Krueger. However, he wisely chose to cast a skilled actor instead. His first pick was the talented British character actor David Warner, known for his roles in Time Bandits, Titanic, and various Star Trek series. Unfortunately, Warner had to decline, making way for the brilliant Robert Englund.

4. Psycho holds the distinction of being the first American film to feature a toilet.

Not only was Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho the first American film to showcase a toilet—oh, the shock!—it also marked the first time in American cinema that the sound of a toilet flushing was heard. This was a reflection of the more repressed attitudes of Americans in the 1950s.

5. Stephen King wasn’t fond of The Shining.

In 1983, Stephen King told Playboy, “I’d admired [Stanley] Kubrick for a long time and had high hopes for the film, but I was deeply disappointed with the final result. While parts of the movie are undeniably chilling, filled with a suffocating, claustrophobic dread, other elements simply fell short.”

King wasn’t fond of Jack Nicholson’s casting either, stating, “Jack Nicholson, though an excellent actor, was completely wrong for the role. His previous big performance in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, combined with his signature manic grin, made the audience see him as a lunatic from the very first scene. But the novel centers on Jack Torrance’s slow descent into madness under the Overlook’s malevolent influence—if the character is already crazy, the entire tragedy of his downfall loses its impact.”

6. The shark in Jaws doesn’t make a full appearance until one hour and 21 minutes into the film.

Although the absence of the shark increases the tension in Jaws, the main reason we don’t see the full creature is because the mechanical shark often malfunctioned during filming. Director Steven Spielberg had to get creative, using clever tricks like Quint’s yellow barrels to work around the faulty shark prop.

7. Fay Wray thought she’d be starring alongside Cary Grant in King Kong.

In an effort to lure Fay Wray into starring in King Kong (1933), director Merian C. Cooper promised, “You’re going to have the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood.” Wray recalled, “While I was hoping Cooper might be referring to Cary Grant, he then pointed at the giant ape and repeated, ‘The tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood.’”

8. It took seven years to bring Aliens to the big screen.

So why the seven-year delay? Lawyers and money, naturally. Talks of a sequel began right after Alien (1979) became a smash hit, but it was held up by a dispute between the film’s producers and 20th Century Fox over the original film’s profits. Fox, hesitant about the high cost of a sequel, finally agreed to greenlight the project to settle their issues with the producers—essentially saying, ‘We won’t give you any more money from the first film, but here’s your sequel, and you can profit from that.’ Ironically, the same producers, along with James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, sued Fox again after Aliens, accusing the studio of using “creative accounting” to avoid paying them.

9. Brian De Palma wasn’t initially sold on Sissy Spacek as Carrie.

Although Brian De Palma admired Sissy Spacek’s talent, he was convinced he had already found his Carrie in another actress. His decision to allow Spacek to audition was mainly out of respect for her husband, Jack Fisk, the film’s art director. "He told me that if I wanted to, I could try out for the part of Carrie White,” Spacek recalled to Rolling Stone. “There was another girl he had in mind, and unless he was truly blown away, she was the one. I hung up the phone and decided to go for it.”

Spacek showed up for her audition wearing an old dress she hadn’t touched since grade school, her hair slicked back with Vaseline. After finishing her audition, she waited in the parking lot while her husband, Jack Fisk, discussed her performance with the production team. When Fisk returned to inform her she had the part, “We sped off before anybody could change his mind,” Spacek recalled.

10. Roman Polanski and John Cassavetes had differing visions for Rosemary’s Baby.

In her 1997 autobiography, What Falls Away, Mia Farrow shared the story of the tense relationship between Roman Polanski and her co-star, John Cassavetes, on the set of Rosemary’s Baby. She described a heated moment during the film’s climactic scene, where “John became openly critical of Roman, who yelled, ‘John, shut up!’ and they moved toward each other,” almost coming to blows. Apparently, it was Ruth Gordon and her “consummate professionalism” that deescalated the situation.

11. In 2015, George Romero discovered nine minutes of lost footage from Night Of The Living Dead.

During his time at Monster-Mania Con in Maryland in 2015, George Romero revealed that he had discovered a 16mm work print of Night of the Living Dead, containing about nine minutes of footage previously thought to be lost. This footage, found at the jump cut in the basement, includes 'the largest zombie scene in the film.'

12. Serial killer Ed Gein inspired three major horror films.

You’ve probably heard of Ed Gein. His gruesome house of horrors made headlines for years after he was committed to a mental hospital. His actions were so infamous that they inspired some of the most legendary thrillers in history: Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Among the chilling items found at his Plainfield, Wisconsin farm were four noses, nine masks made of human skin, severed heads, lampshades and bowls crafted from skin, lips used as a pull on a window shade, and even a belt made from nipples. Gein later confessed to two murders and claimed most of the macabre objects came from late-night cemetery raids.

13. The Halloween script didn’t specify a particular kind of mask.

The mask for Michael Myers was only described as having 'the pale, neutral features of a man.' For the film, production designer Tommy Lee Wallace narrowed it down to two affordable latex masks, each costing less than $2. One was a clown mask named 'Weary Willie,' made famous by actor Emmett Kelly, and the other was a distorted Captain Kirk mask from Star Trek. John Carpenter ultimately selected the whitewashed Kirk mask because its eerily vacant expression suited the Myers character perfectly.

14. The Babadook terrified William Friedkin.

On November 30, 2014, Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook gained significant publicity when The Exorcist director William Friedkin tweeted: 'I’ve never seen a more terrifying film than The Babadook. It will scare the hell out of you as it did me.'

15. A double amputee was used to create The Thing’s iconic special effect.

One of the most unforgettable moments in John Carpenter's The Thing, often dubbed the 'chest chomp,' happens when Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart) tries to revive Norris (Charles Hallahan) using a defibrillator. As Copper presses the paddles against Norris’s chest, it opens, and Copper’s forearms are swallowed up by a set of jaws hidden inside the chest, severing his arms below the elbows.

To achieve this effect, special makeup artist Rob Bottin (famous for his work on RoboCop, Total Recall, Se7en, and Fight Club) recruited a man who had lost both of his arms below the elbow in an industrial accident. Bottin outfitted him with prosthetic forearms made of wax bones, rubber veins, and Jell-O. For the wide shot, he fitted the actor with a skin-like mask cast from Dysart’s face, and placed the prosthetic arms inside the chest cavity, where mechanical jaws would clamp down on them. As the actor pulled his arms away, the Jell-O arms were severed below the elbows. The rest is history in practical effects.

16. The original ending of Fright Night was very different.

The original ending of the film had Peter Vincent turning into a vampire while hosting 'Fright Night' live in front of a television audience.

17. The actors of The Blair Witch Project used GPS trackers to find their daily instructions.

The actors in The Blair Witch Project had GPS units with programmed wait points, which led them to milk crates containing three small plastic canisters. Each canister held notes outlining the next steps of the story for the individual actor. They were instructed to follow the general directions without revealing their papers to the other two actors, allowing them to improvise their dialogue within the set guidelines.

18. Paranormal Activity ranks among the most profitable films in cinema history.

Frequently compared to The Blair Witch Project due to its low budget and massive earnings, the original Paranormal Activity surpassed Blair Witch a decade after its release, claiming the title of the most profitable film based on return on investment (ROI). Currently, it holds the third spot. The Blair Witch Project had a production cost of around $60,000 and earned $248.6 million globally, resulting in a 414,233% ROI. Meanwhile, Paranormal Activity was made for only $15,000, grossing $65 million and yielding a 433,900% ROI. If you include its final worldwide total of $193 million, the film’s ROI skyrockets to 1,286,566%.

19. The Blob is loosely inspired by a supposedly true story.

On September 27, 1950, The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article titled 'Flying ‘Saucer’ Just Dissolves.' The night before, police officers John Collins and Joe Keenen claimed to have witnessed an unknown object fall from the sky. Upon investigating the crash site, they found a purple, jelly-like substance. Before they could gather more details, the material mysteriously disappeared. The FBI was contacted, a press conference followed, and the incident became a national joke.

In 1957, producer Jack H. Harris sought to create a creature feature but struggled to find an engaging premise. He turned to his friend, Irvine H. Millgate, for help. Harris requested a monster movie in color, with believable characters and a unique monster. He also wanted the monster’s defeat to be plausible, something simple enough for a grandmother to prepare. Millgate remembered the bizarre Philadelphia incident and used it as inspiration, and thus, The Blob was born.

20. Joel Coen got his start as an assistant editor on The Evil Dead.

Before he and his brother Ethan became the Oscar-winning filmmaking duo they are known as today, Joel Coen began his career as an assistant editor on Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. Inspired by Raimi's approach to DIY filmmaking, Joel and Ethan produced a pitch trailer, similar to Raimi's Within the Woods, to raise funds for their debut feature, Blood Simple. Although Dan Hedaya eventually starred in the completed film, Bruce Campbell played the lead role in the trailer.

21. Tim Burton was once considered to direct Gremlins.

Following the success of his short film Frankenweenie, Tim Burton quickly became a hot topic in Hollywood, with Steven Spielberg even considering him to direct Gremlins. However, Burton’s lack of feature film experience worked against him, so the job went to Joe Dante. Burton would go on to release his first full-length feature, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, just a year later.

22. Bob Clark’s concept for a Black Christmas sequel seems eerily familiar.

A Christmas Story (1983) is likely to remain a key part of Bob Clark’s legacy, but for horror enthusiasts, his work in the 1970s holds equal significance. Films such as Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (1972) and Deathdream (1974) helped him gain recognition, but it was Black Christmas (1974), one of the pioneering slasher films, that became a cult classic and earned him a loyal fanbase.

In an interview, Clark shared that John Carpenter once asked him if he had ever thought about making a sequel to Black Christmas. 'I was done with horror,' Clark admitted. 'I didn’t get into the business just to make horror films.' Carpenter then inquired about what a potential sequel would look like, and Clark suggested a plot that would sound very familiar to genre fans: 'I said it would take place the following year, the killer would have been caught, escape from a mental institution, return to the house, and they’d start over. I’d call it Halloween.'

23. Gene Hackman was once set to both star in and direct The Silence Of The Lambs.

Gene Hackman and Orion Pictures had jointly paid $500,000 to secure the movie rights to the book. However, Hackman backed out after seeing clips of himself as FBI Agent Alan Parker in the 1989 Oscars, following his performance in the intense Mississippi Burning. Hackman decided he didn’t want to follow up such a dark role with an even more unlikable character.

24. Child’s Play was inspired by a real event. (Yes, Child's Play.)

In 1909, Robert Eugene Otto, a painter and author from Key West, claimed that one of his family’s servants had placed a voodoo curse on his childhood toy, Robert the Doll. According to Otto, the doll would move on its own, knock over furniture, and even engage in conversations with him. Robert the Doll was kept in the attic until Otto passed away in 1974, and when new owners moved into his Florida home, they too reported bizarre occurrences linked to the doll. Today, Robert the Doll is on display at the Custom House and Old Post Office in Key West, Florida.

25. The Conjuring’s Ed and Lorraine Warren were real-life paranormal investigators.

The Conjuring is based on the real-life experiences of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, who worked with the Perron family in 1971. The Perrons had recently moved into a farmhouse in Rhode Island, where they began experiencing terrifying and supernatural events.

"When Insidious was released and became a hit, I was inspired by the Warrens' story,” director James Wan told Entertainment Weekly in 2013. “But I didn’t want to just make another ghost story or supernatural movie. What really intrigued me was the opportunity to create a narrative based on real-life characters, real people. Those factors ultimately led me to The Conjuring.”

The Warrens also possessed a haunted Raggedy Ann doll, which served as the inspiration for the Annabelle spin-off film. It is said that a demon spirit took control of the doll, and it is now kept under lock and key at the Warrens' Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut.

26. Damien originally had a different name in The Omen.

Screenwriter David Seltzer originally intended to name the antichrist character Domlin, after the ‘total obnoxious brat’ child of a friend. However, his wife persuaded him that this would be a terrible idea (and a friendship-damaging one at that). He eventually chose the name Damien, inspired by Father Damien, who founded the first leper colony in Hawaii.

27. The creature from the Black Lagoon was modeled after the Oscar statuette.

Universal secured a rising director with a distinguished resume to helm Creature from the Black Lagoon: Jack Arnold, who had received an Academy Award nomination for his documentary With These Hands. Although Arnold didn’t win the Oscar, he kept the nominee certificate the Academy sent, and this small card later became an unlikely source of inspiration during the production of Creature from the Black Lagoon.

As Arnold shared with Cinefantastique magazine in 1975, "There was a picture of the Oscar statuette on it. I said, ‘If we put a gilled head on [the figurine], plus fins and scales, that would look pretty much like the kind of creature we’re trying to get.’ So they made a mold out of rubber, and gradually the costume took shape.” Initially, the creature had what leading lady Julie Adams (credited as Julia Adams) described as an “eel-like” form. It was sleek and streamlined, lacking fins, ridges, or body armor, which were added later to give it a more intimidating look.

28. Bruce Campbell earned $93,000 for Army of Darkness.

To shed light on the financial realities of a working actor, Bruce Campbell once detailed his earnings for 1992’s second Evil Dead sequel, Army of Darkness. With a $500,000 salary reduced by agents, managers, taxes, and a now-former wife, he calculated that he took home around $93,000. However, since the film took two years to finish, his annual earnings for playing the iconic Ash in a major motion picture amounted to less than $50,000 a year.

29. A real witch was brought in to ensure authenticity in The Craft.

To ensure the portrayal of Wicca in The Craft was as accurate as possible, the filmmakers hired Pat Devin as a consultant. Devin, a member of the influential Wiccan group, Covenant of the Goddess, and at that time, the First Officer of their Southern California Local Council, was deeply involved in the production. She often worked directly with the actresses, sharing that while not all her suggestions made it to the screen, most were given serious thought and consideration.

30. The demon in The Exorcist is named Pazuzu.

Although it is never mentioned in the film, the demon that possesses Regan MacNeil is named Pazuzu, a figure from Assyrian and Babylonian mythology who is known as the king of demons.

31. Wes Craven regretted including a sequel hook in A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Although Wes Craven was firmly against adding a 'sequel tease' ending, New Line's Bob Shaye insisted on it. Craven told Vulture, 'Bob wanted a hook for a sequel. I felt the film should end when Nancy turns her back on Freddy and his violence—that’s what ultimately defeats him. Bob wanted Freddy to pick up the kids in a car and drive off, which completely undermined the message I was trying to convey. It made Freddy appear victorious.' As a compromise, Craven added a scene where the kids get into the convertible, and as the roof lowers, Freddy’s iconic red and green stripes are visible. Craven later admitted, 'Do I regret changing the ending? Yes, because it's the one part of the film that isn't me.'

32. Stanley Kubrick is said to have typed all of those 'all work' pages in The Shining.

It remains a mystery whether Stanley Kubrick typed the 500 pages of 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy' in The Shining. Kubrick didn’t rely on the prop department for this task; he used his own typewriter, which had built-in memory, suggesting it could have produced the pages without human involvement. However, the individual pages in the film show varying layouts and errors. Some argue that such attention to detail would be characteristic of Kubrick. Unfortunately, we’ll never know for sure, as Kubrick never addressed the question before his passing.

33. The ending of Psycho was spoiled months ahead of its release.

Despite Alfred Hitchcock’s best efforts to maintain secrecy, both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter published detailed spoilers about Psycho’s plot months before its official release.

34. Steven Spielberg thought his DVD copy of Paranormal Activity was haunted.

According to the urban legend, Steven Spielberg, whose DreamWorks Studios was considering distributing Paranormal Activity, watched a DVD copy at home. He was freaked out when the door to his bedroom mysteriously locked by itself. Director Oren Peli shared with Moviefone, 'I personally believe the story about the door locking from the inside. It's not something the marketing team just made up.' Spielberg, convinced the DVD was haunted, even carried it to work in a trash bag. Despite this creepy experience, Spielberg loved the film and suggested a new ending that was later used in the theatrical release.

35. Drew Barrymore was initially set to star in Scream.

Just five weeks before production was about to begin, Barrymore changed her mind about playing the lead role. Instead, she suggested playing Casey Becker, the teenager who becomes the first victim of the killer in the film’s iconic opening scene. This move was a clever way to subvert audience expectations, as viewers likely thought that a star of Barrymore’s caliber would survive the movie. In the end, casting directors considered Alicia Witt, Brittany Murphy, and Reese Witherspoon for the role of Sidney Prescott before finally choosing Neve Campbell.

36. James Cameron had to put an end to a mutiny on the set of Aliens.

Aliens was filmed at the renowned Pinewood Studios in England, which provided its own unionized crew for productions. Some of the crew members, unfamiliar with James Cameron's abilities (as The Terminator had not yet been released), were frustrated with the long 14-hour workdays. One particularly disgruntled first assistant director believed that he should be the one directing the film, mocking Cameron, calling him 'guv'nor,' and rolling his eyes at him. His insubordination led to his firing. A new assistant director took over and showed respect, improving the atmosphere on set.

37. Sissy Spacek insisted on her hand appearing in Carrie's final scene.

Although Brian De Palma had intended to use a stunt double for the final scene where Sue Snell visits Carrie’s grave, Sissy Spacek was determined that her own hand should be shown. To achieve this, she had to be buried in the ground. ‘I laughed about that,’ Spacek shared with NPR. ‘I do all my own foot and hand work, and always have.’

38. Buffalo Bill's iconic dance in The Silence of the Lambs wasn’t originally in the script.

However, it was part of the original novel, and Ted Levine, who portrayed the serial killer Jame Gumb (Buffalo Bill), insisted on including the dance. He felt it was essential for portraying the character’s twisted psyche more effectively.

39. The original ending of Jaws was inspired by Moby-Dick.

In the early script, the shark would die from harpoon wounds inflicted by Quint and Brody, much like Captain Ahab's battle with the whale in Moby-Dick. However, Spielberg decided the film needed a more thrilling conclusion and replaced it with the iconic exploding tank scene. The idea of the tank was then retroactively added into the dialogue and foreshadowed as filming progressed.

40. Director Ari Aster of Hereditary has a favorite scene in the film, and it’s ... that scene.

If there's one moment from Hereditary that sticks with you, it's almost certainly the shocking car accident that triggers the terrifying events of the latter half of the film. Director Ari Aster knows the effect this sequence had on his viewers—and he has a deep appreciation for it. He shared with Vanity Fair, "That’s probably my favorite sequence in the film,” referring to everything unfolding during those 15 minutes. While it's likely the film's most gripping segment, calling it his 'favorite' might not be entirely accurate.