As Bad As It Gets Trivia Quiz

Answer: William Peter Blatty

First published in 1971, 'The Exorcist' is the tale of a 12-year-old girl who becomes possessed by a demon. It also focuses on the two priests who try to rid the girl of the demon. Blatty claimed the book was inspired by a tale of possession he had heard about whilst in University.

In 1973 the novel was adapted into movie featuring Linda Blair as Reagan MacNeil and remains one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Blatty adapted the novel for the movie and won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Answer: Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (1897) is the story of Count Dracula, a vampire who moves from Transylvania to England in order to secure new blood. Van Helsing is the professor leading a group of vampire hunters in an attempt to stop Dracula from creating a legion of new vampires.

Dracula was lauded by the critics when it was first published, but didn't become popular until Dracula made it onto the big screen. It is also much more popular in modern times than when it was published. Although not the first vampire novel written, it is arguably the most popular, since it remains in print to this day.

Answer: Mary Shelley

The correct title of Mary Shelley's famous novel is 'Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus', but is referred to as simply 'Frankenstein'. It was first published anonymously on New Year's Day 1818 and was an immediate hit with the readers, prompting the official publication of the book.

The story has been adapted many times into plays, movie and television productions. Erroneously, the creature is referred to as Frankenstein, but the titular character is the scientist who created the monster in his laboratory.

Answer: Michael Crichton

Jurassic Park (1990) is a horror/sci-fi novel about an theme park of cloned dinosaurs. Despite the dinosaurs (supposedly) being infertile, they have been breeding. And despite measures in place to keep the dinosaurs housed, they escape. Of course, it wouldn't have been so bad if they had only cloned the herbivorous dinosaurs. But there's no fun or danger in that, so of course they cloned the carnivorous T-Rex and Velociraptors too. What could possibly go wrong?

Steven Spielberg put Jurassic Park on the big screen in 1993, where it won Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing and Editing.

Answer: H. G. Wells

'The Invisible Man' was first published in 1897, after appearing as a serial in a magazine. The main character of the book is Griffin, a scientist who turned himself invisible during an experiment. Unfortunately he cannot reverse the condition and descends into a life of crime where he comes to enjoy violence.

The story was first adapted for the screen in 1933 and starred Claude Rains as Griffin. It has since spawned numerous spin-off type adaptation for screen, stage and radio.

Answer: Ray Bradbury

Published in 1962, Ray Bradbury's 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' is a blend of horror and fantasy. It tells the tale of two 13-year-old boys encountering a travelling carnival, and while that sounds simple enough, it is a classic fight between the good and evil within everybody and their discontent with life in general.

Bradbury himself adapted his novel for the big screen, and it was released into cinemas in 1983.

Answer: Richard Matheson

Richard Matheson released his sci-fi horror novel, 'I Am Legend' in 1954 and in 2012 it was such a success, the Horror Writers Association awarded it the special 'Vampire Novel of the Century Award'.

The book has been adapted into or inspired no less than six movies. A movie version, with the same name starred Will Smith and was released in 2007.

Answer: Stephen King

In 1977, King released his third novel The Shining'. Following on from the successes of 'Salem's Lot' and 'Carrie', it cemented his place as a master of the horror genre. This tale has a family taking up residence in an isolated hotel where the father, a recovering alcoholic, takes the role of caretaker. However, there are supernatural entities in the hotel which begin to possess Jack Torrance (the father) and he descends into violent and psychotic madness.

'The Shining' was nominated for a Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1978 but failed to win. In fact, Stephen King is such a prolific writer of truly terrifying novels that I found it hard to select just one.

In 1980 Stanley Kubrick released a movie adaptation which starred Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance.

Answer: Daphne du Maurier

Released in 1938, du Maurier's thriller, 'Rebecca' is a study in jealousy, disparagement and manipulation. The key character seems not to be the titular Rebecca, but instead, the manipulative housekeeper Mrs Danvers. While not a horror story, the thriller resonates with many people, because who has not been belittled or controlled at some point in their life?

Since its first release, the book has been translated into at least 15 different languages, won several awards, been voted the U.K.'s favourite book from the last 225 years, and been adapted for radio, television and film. It has sold over 2 million copies and has never been out of print. Early in 2018, a special 80th anniversary edition of the novel was released with the cover showing an embroidery commissioned especially for the dust jacket.

Answer: Bret Easton Ellis

Ellis's horror/thriller effort 'American Psycho' was released in 1991, but after the original publisher shelved it and the rights were bought by Vintage Books. Due to its 'R18' rating, in several countries it was sold shrink-wrapped and unavailable to anyone under the age of 18 years. The plot centres around the life of Wall Street investment banker and serial killer Patrick Bateman and his descent into severe delusional psychosis and sadism.

In 2000 a film adaptation starring Christian Bale was released. In later years the novel was released as an audio book and also as a musical stage production.