Alphabetical Horror Films - N & O Quiz

Answer: Night of the Living Dead

A true classic, Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" is considered by many to be the zombie movie that started it all, showing up as an independently-made, mostly ad-libbed horror feature in the late 1960s. Containing flesh-hungry ghouls brought about by radiation from an exploding space probe, the film showcased a group of people who sought refuge in an otherwise abandoned farmhouse.

The film, in the public domain, would be remade and resold several times over, though Romero would have a long and fruitful career in the industry. On top of this, the 'ghouls' (or zombies) featured in the film would become a template for the creatures from that point on. Romero's first direct follow-up, "Dawn of the Dead", would appear in theatres ten years later.

Answer: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Freddy Takes Manhattan

It was actually Jason who 'took' Manhattan in the eighth "Friday the 13th" film, leaving Camp Crystal Lake for a few days in the Big Apple. Freddy stayed relatively close to home in Springwood (though every house has an Elm Street!), emerging from the Dream World on occasion to wreak havoc in new groupings of teenagers who set out to stop his reign of terror.

The "Nightmare on Elm Street" series started in 1984, spearheaded by Wes Craven and New Line Cinema. The franchise was catapulted to fame in the horror community with Freddy Krueger being one of the most iconic horror baddies of all time. Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015, would go on to make the "Scream" series as well.

Answer: Night of the Demon

Although the film title "Night of the Demon" was used several times prior to the graphic 1988 version, this one has proven to be one of the more enduring offerings, even receiving its own sequels and remakes. Directed by Kevin S. Tenney, the film had a group of teens head to a spooky place to drum up evil, demonic spirits, and the story to follow basically had them facing their untimely demises.

The movie isn't necessarily the gold standard in terms of possession stories, but at a time where, internationally, these types of rampant slashers were the norm, "Night of the Demons" hit all the beats, even bringing in B-movie scream queen Linnea Quigley to chew the scenery for a bit, in all the ways you'd expect in the '80s.

Answer: The Nun

After James Wan's "The Conjuring" started to develop into a larger horror cinematic universe, offshoot series started emerging from the case files of the fictionalized Ed and Lorraine Warren. While the trend started with "Annabelle" in 2014, "The Nun" was the second series to show up, resulting from the appearance of the evil nun Valak in "The Conjuring 2" (2016).

"The Nun", set in the 1950s at a Romanian convent, starred Taissa Farmiga as a young nun trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious events in the cloistered monastery. Though critically panned, it was popular enough to result in a sequel, bringing back the cast in 2023.

Answer: Nope

Starring "Get Out's" Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, "Nope" was filmed in 2021, marking Peele's first trip behind the camera during and after COVID-19, and this time he shifted his horror sensibilities into a different direction, exploring the supernatural from beyond Earth. "Nope" followed siblings and townsfolk from a California ranching town as they had first-hand experiences with living UFOs fascinating people from the skies.

Releasing in early 2022, the film managed to take advantage of box office eagerness after the Omicron variant swept through the world. Critics expressed that it was one of the best alien films of the early 21st century.

Answer: Ouija

Ah yes, the classic "play our game, you'll die!" strategy. You may recognize 'Ouija' as the spirit board game, where you and your friends put your fingers on a planchette and it moves around to spell words in response to questions you provide. The movie does much of the same, forcing a handful of teenagers to come to terms with the spirits they've contacted via these means. Unfortunately, the "Ouija" movie wasn't well-received.

On the bright side, the prequel, "Ouija: Origin of Evil", was quite well-received. Released in 2016 it was part of a massive year for filmmaker Mike Flanagan, who would go on to make Netflix shows like "The Haunting of Hill House" and "Midnight Mass" off the turn-around success of movies like this one.

Answer: The Orphanage

Released as "El Orfanato", this Spanish-language horror film, spring-boarding off the success of the dark and Gothic "Pan's Labyrinth", was the first film directed by J. A. Bayona, done with support from Guillermo del Toro himself. In the film, a couple moved into a new home, formerly the orphanage where Laura, the wife, was raised until her adoption. With plans to reopen the facility, things took a turn when their son went missing.

An emotional ghost story, the film opened to standing ovations during its rounds on the film festival circuit (starting with Cannes). It was critically renowned and nominated for fourteen Goya Awards in 2008, winning seven of them.

Answer: Orphan

Collet-Serra, previously known for the Paris Hilton "House of Wax" remake, brought this unexpected Dark Castle horror film out in 2009, creating an unexpected psychological thriller from the ol' trip of 'something is wrong with my child'. Starring a young Isabelle Fuhrman as the orphan, Esther, and Vera Farmiga as her adoptive mother, the movie followed the Coleman family as they handled the escalating circumstances arising from their new daughter's integration into their home.

The film received a prequel, "Orphan: First Kill", in 2022.

Answer: Opera

Releasing in 1987, Argento's "Opera" came at a fascinating time in Italian horror maestro Dario Argento's career. Hot off a series of well-regarded features in the late-1970s and early-1980s that defined a European take on the genre, "Opera" was possibly the last of his giallo fare that avoided a more critical eye from viewers and film reviewers. Set during the production of Verdi's "Macbeth", the film followed the cast and crew as they were set upon by a masked murderer-- classic for an opera, right?

Argento's later giallo works, like "Trauma", "The Stendhal Syndrome", "The Card Player", and a film simply titled "Giallo" flipped back and forth between well-regarded and panned, with many feeling that his glory days of horror cinema ended back in the late 1980s.

Answer: One Missed Call

Actress Shannyn Sossamon couldn't catch a break in horror cinema, appearing in movies like this, "Sinister 2" (2015), and "Grimcutty" (2023) over the course of her career. "One Missed Call" was a massive flop from a critical point of view, dated before it even hit the theatres, in an attempt to cash in on the emerging J-horror wave that occurred in the mid-2000s, spurred on by "The Ring" and "The Grudge". While "Chakushin Ari", directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike, was well-regarded and spawned several sequels, this remake was dead in the water.

"One Missed Call" featured a curse set upon people, chained one after another, perpetuated through a cell phone call with a spooky ringtone.