Horror movies have been chilling our spines since the first, Le Manoir du Diable, was produced in 1890. The silver screen has spawned many iconic villains since then, each one raising hairs on the back of our necks.

We at the Treetopia blog are such big fans of Halloween, which is right around the corner! This got us thinking about all the horror movies that are set in each state, and which are the most popular.

Favorite Films

We scoured the deepest, darkest places (and have cobwebs in our hair to prove it) for the scariest horror films by state.

No surprises, but Texas’s fan-favorite movie is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (with Texas in the title it kind of has to be right?)

Alaska’s favorite is 30 Days of Night, which is no shocker. The plot really drives the stake home as it plays out during Alaska’s month-long period of darkness. Let’s hope real-life vampires don’t come out and ravage the towns this year!

Georgia is staying true to country music with Deliverance as its fan-favorite horror movie. If you’re ever in Georgia and see a young boy with a banjo, you should probably run the opposite way just in case!

Favorite Villains

Villains are what really take horror movies from scary to downright chilling. Ghosts, aliens, monsters, vampires, and psychopathic humans have all been featured in these fan-favorite horror movies. So, we’re keeping your screams coming with the most popular horror villains by state.

Looking regionally, human villains dominate the West, South, and Northeast regions of America whereas, in the Northwest, aliens and ghosts tie for the most popular movie villains. That said Horror fans have spoken to name human psychopaths as the most terrifying of all. They took first place with a whopping 18 states.

Coming in second, we have spooky ghosts in 7 states. Evil extraterrestrials, demons, monsters, vampires, and zombies are tied in third place in 5 states. Coming in dead last in just one state are sharks (yes, Jaws is a horror film!).

So there you have it, out of all these fan-favorite horror movies humans are the most featured villains. If there’s a horror movie with the state’s name in the title, you can be sure it’s the fan-favorite—looking at you Texas and Idaho!

Wishing you a very happy—and haunted—Halloween regardless of whether you trick or treat from all of us at Treetopia.