Horror movies have been very popular for a long time, but what makes them so popular? Streaming platforms have been wildly popular with horror films, and 2020 saw the horror genre take home its largest share of revenues.

There are all different genres of horror movies like slasher, thriller, suspense, comedy horror, supernatural, gothic horror, and much more.

“I feel like the old ones like the slasher movies; ‘Scream’ and ‘Halloween,’” freshman Chloe Bekin said.

Another genre of horror movies is paranormal. It’s when unnatural things happen, like someone coming back to life. Paranormal films often feature haunted houses, possession, exorcism, or occult worship.

“Probably like ghosts and paranormal stuff, they just have cool ways of explaining it and showing what could happen,” sophomore Nikol Pattengale said.

Thriller is different from the paranormal. It gives the audience a feeling of suspense and excitement over what will happen next.

“I like suspense because it just keeps you on your toes and makes you jump,” freshman Athziry Antunez said, “You never know what’s gonna come.”

One example of a thriller movie is “Black Phone.” It came out on June 24, 2022. It was pretty popular and had an 82% rating on rotten tomatoes. It’s a horror/thriller movie and it’s about a young boy who gets abducted in a killer’s soundproof basement.

“It’s not really scary but the most recent one is called ‘Black Phone,’” said Belkin, “I don’t really like any other scary movies, but that one, I just kinda fell in love with, and I love the actors and the characters.” 

It seems like a lot of people like suspenseful movies and Scream fits into that category. “Scream” movies have also been very popular among students in picking their favorite scary movies.

“My favorite scary movie is ‘Scream’ because I like the characters and the storyline,” Antunez said, “All of it’s really good.”

The “Shining” is a psychological horror movie that’s about a family that heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both the past and future.

“Probably ‘The Shining’ because of where it was located and just how it was filmed. It was filmed really well,” Pattengale said.

Popular horror genres include thriller, psychological, and paranormal. There are way more horror genres and movies to choose from but those are just some of the underclassman’s favorites.