It's Past Your Bedtime Trivia Quiz

Answer: Signs

"Signs" was released in 2002. It starred Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin. The movie scared many, even those not easily scared. Another scene that scared me was the walkie talkie scene... In the movie, a baby monitor was used as a walkie talkie, but it picked up alien clicking noises.

In the end of the movie, it was discovered that water killed the aliens, and Bo's habit of leaving unfinished glasses of water around the house proved very beneficial.

Answer: Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton wrote "Jurassic Park" in 1990, and it became a movie in 1993, directed by Steven Spielberg. Crichton also wrote "The Lost World" in 1995, which became a movie in 1997. The third movie, however, "Jurassic Park III", released in 2001, was not based on a Crichton novel, and was not directed by Spielberg.

"Jurassic Park" had many issues, as most of the dinosaurs lived in the cretaceous period, and some dinosaurs would have been extinct by the jurassic time period. Dinosaurs were also incorrect, occasionally. For instance, the velociraptor was much smaller than depicted, had a much different snout, and even had feathers! However, "Jurassic Park" has made people's view of the velociraptor much different.

Answer: Jaws

"Jaws" was written by Benchley in 1974, and it became a film in 1975, directed by Spielberg. The movie featured a man-eating great white shark, and many people in the '70s feared the creature because of the movie. The truth is, however, that great whites do not purposefully eat humans, and most who have ever had a very rare encounter with the shark have survived.

"White Shark" was also a novel written by Benchley, but since it did not contain a shark, the TV movie based on the novel was entitled "Creature". "The Island" was also a novel written by Benchley that later became a movie.

Answer: E.T.

"E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial", most commonly known as "E.T.", was released in 1982, directed by, you guessed it, Steven Spielberg. The Reese's Pieces-obsessed alien was abandoned on planet Earth, and met Elliot in the fields (in my opinion, the scariest part). Gertie, Elliot's little sister, played by Drew Barrymore, started out afraid of E.T, but grew to love him.

It was a sad occasion when he finally "phoned home" and left on his mother ship.

Answer: The Abyss

"The Abyss" was directed by James Cameron, and was released in 1989. The aliens that appeared in the movie could shapeshift water, and they had an entire "city" made from air bubbles. You could swim right into the air bubble, and, much like the Gungan city of Naboo in "Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace", you could move from air to water through any of the water walls in the city.

The aliens might have turned out to not be too bad, but I was still afraid to wash my hands and take a shower for months after watching the movie!

Answer: Men in Black

"Men in Black", directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, was released in 1997. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones starred in the movie about a "Bug" who came to earth to take Orion's belt, which contained a galaxy. Orion's belt turned out to be a cat's collar. "Men in Black II" was released in 2002, and involved a search for the Light of Zartha.

Answer: Dante's Peak

"Dante's Peak", directed by Roger Donaldson, was released in 1997, only months before it's volcano movie competitor, "Volcano". "Dante's Peak" was deemed more scientifically accurate than Mick Jackson's man-melting "Volcano". "Dante's Peak" was set in the fictional town of Dante's Peak, in Washington.

The movie was based loosely on the eruptions of Mount St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991.

Answer: Mighty Joe Young

"Mighty Joe Young" was directed by Ron Underwood and released in 1998. In the movie, Jill Young and Gregg O'Hara befriended Joe, the massive gorilla, who grew to that size due to a rare genetic defect. In one scene of the movie, at the Santa Monica Pier, the enormous gorilla climbed a ferris wheel to save a child, and fell off. The scene is similar to King Kong falling from the Empire State Building; however, Joe survived. He was then set free to roam in his own reserve in Africa.

I never have figured out why that movie scared me. It's really quite a good movie. The day we saw it, we saw two movies, one for my parents, and one for us kids. I ended up liking "Stepmom", the one for the adults, better than the one I was supposed to like!

Answer: The Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger played The Terminator in the 1984 James Cameron movie of the same name. He was a cyborg that was sent from the future back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton.

The movie didn't scare me except for two scenes; in one scene, the Terminator was caught in an explosion, and his outer flesh was melted away to reveal his cyborg self. To finally destroy the Terminator, Sarah Connor led the Terminator into a factory where his legs and an arm were destroyed, and with his last arm, the Terminator dragged himself towards Sarah, where she finally crushed him in a hydraulic press.

Answer: Jumanji

"Jumanji" was directed by Joe Johnston, and released in 1995. It was based on a book of the same name, published in 1981 and written by Chris Van Allsburg. The movie was about two kids who find a board game and decide to play it. However, the board game, Jumanji, had magical properties, and whenever they took a turn, something terrible happened, from letting lose a herd of animals to getting attacked by a bunch of giant mosquitoes.

The only way to get rid of everything was to finish the game.