Boo! Don't Give Up the Ghost! Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Frighteners

In "The Frighteners", Michael J. Fox plays Frank Bannister, an architect who discovers he can talk to the dead following a car accident that kills his wife. He uses those powers to con people as he befriends three ghosts who scare people until Frank comes along to exorcise them, for a fee.

He discovers a ghostly mass murderer who is able to kill both the living and undead and Bannister decides to investigate and try to stop him. This 1996 movie was directed by Peter Jackson and nominated for a number of Saturn Awards (by the Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy).

Answer: 1408

"1408" is a psychological horror film based on a Stephen King short story of the same name. In it, Cusack plays a skeptical author named Mike Enslin who writes about supernatural events that he has no belief in. He receives a postcard inviting him to stay at a hotel with a message to not enter a certain room (number 1408) and he of course sees this as a challenge.

Despite efforts to dissuade him and being told of the number of deaths that have taken place in the room, he insists on staying there.

In the room, he is subject to a number of mysterious and terrifying happenings, including ghosts of the past victims of the room. The movie was filmed with three different endings, a Director's Cut, a theatrical cut, and one other. None of those endings match the ending of the short story.

Answer: Ghost

The movie "Ghost" was released in 1990, starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. Moore plays Molly, the girlfriend of Sam (played by Swayze) who was murdered. The ghost of Sam enlists the help of a con woman named Oda Mae Brown (played by Goldberg) who pretends to speak to ghosts to swindle people in grief.

It turns out she can speak to ghosts and Sam persuades her to warn Molly that she is in danger from the same people who murdered him. The movie was the highest grossing movie of 1990 and received five Academy Award nominations.

Answer: The Sixth Sense

Toni Collette plays mom to a little boy named Cole who can see dead people in this film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Cole is working with a psychiatrist named Malcolm Crowe who is trying to redeem himself from a patient he was unable to help as well as reconcile with his wife. Collette is superb as the doting mom who worries for her son's safety and socialization and garnered an Academy Award nomination for her role. Just in case you haven't seen this superbly suspenseful movie with the incredible twist, I won't spoil the ending.

The film received six Academy Award nominations in total.

Answer: Scrooged

"Scrooged" is a modern take on "A Christmas Carol". In it, Murray plays Frank Cross, a horrible and heartless TV executive who is warned by his mentor that he will be visited by three ghosts. The ghosts are meant to help him regain the spirit of Christmas.

While he is visited by the ghosts, he re-connects with an old flame. The movie was co-written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue and apparently O'Donoghue was not happy at all with the finished product. There is a quote of him saying some very unflattering things that cannot be repeated here....I think this movie is awesome and am one of those people who watch it every Christmas. You should watch this movie too, "your life....might just depend on it."

Answer: Field of Dreams

This 1989 sports fantasy movie starring Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta and James Earl Jones was nominated for three Academy Awards. In this film, Ray Kinsella (played by Costner) hears the famous line "If you build it, he will come" while out walking in his cornfield.

He sees a vision of a baseball field and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson standing in the middle of it. He then decides to build a baseball field, with the blessing of his wife. Kinsella has a broken relationship with his dad, who passed away before they were able to reconcile. Through events that take place as he builds the baseball field, he is able to find peace with his dad. Fun fact - Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, both teens at the time, are extras in a scene that takes place at Fenway Park.

Answer: Casper

"Casper" is the first film to have a fully CGI character in the lead role. Starring Bill Pullman, Christina Ricci and Eric Idle, it is an interpretation of the "Casper the Friendly Ghost" stories of comics, films and cartoons. The main character Casper is the lonely ghost of Whipstaff Manor who becomes smitten with the teenage daughter (played by Ricci) of a paranormal therapist (played by Pullman).

The film was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film and for a Stinkers Bad Movie Award in the same year (but lost the Stinker to "Showgirls").

Answer: Beetlejuice

"Beetlejuice" is a 1988 film directed by Tim Burton about a couple who recently died (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) who haunt their home when it is inhabited by a new family. They do so while a mischievous and annoying poltergeist named Betelgeuse which is pronounced Beetlejuice (played by Michael Keaton) tries to scare the new family away. Catherine O'Hara hilariously plays the matriarch of the new family who also happens to be a sculptor and plans to completely renovate the home. Winona Ryder plays their socially awkward teen daughter who is the first to see and interact with the ghosts of the deceased couple.

The movie won an Academy Award for Make Up.

Answer: Poltergeist

"Poltergeist" was co-written and produced by Steven Spielberg but not directed by him, as he was contractually not able to direct another film while making "E.T.". This 1982 horror film stars Heather O'Rourke as a five-year old named Carol Anne who is abducted by malevolent spirits in the family home. Bizarre events start when she is seen fixating on the static of the television, followed by moving objects and increasingly malevolent actions. Finally, Carol Anne is taken through a portal in her closet and a paranormal investigator is brought in to the home to get her back.

The movie was incredibly successful and was nominated for three Academy Awards.

Answer: The Shining

"The Shining" is a terrifying movie about a family who move to a hotel to become caretakers while it is closed for the winter season. While at the hotel, they experience sinister events, see the ghosts of murdered little girls, and the father, Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) descends into madness.

The mother, Wendy Torrance (played by Shelley Duvall) helplessly watches while her son and husband are both impacted by the evil in the hotel. Jack Nicholson originally suggested Jessica Lange for the role. Duvall was pushed to her limit by Director Stanley Kubrick so that he could get the right qualities of vulnerability and terror from her. Apparently the scene where she is on the stairs with the baseball bat swinging at her unhinged husband was shot one hundred and twenty-seven times!