10 Horror Movie Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

Poltergeist's truth is stranger than fiction...

POLTERGEIST DEAD
MGM

Everyone loves a good fact. Whether it's that different coloured bell peppers are all the same fruits at different stages of ripeness, or that chickens are our closest relatives to dinosaurs, or that scratching the inside of your ear makes the same noise as Pac Man (and yes, your finger is in your ear right now) - we're always stumbling across useless information that positively blows our minds. So why not take a look at the horror film industry to see what weird and wonderful facts we can find there, too?

Tales from haunted sets and rumoured apparitions are one thing, but did you know that the words 'Elm Street' are never once spoken in the first Nightmare on Elm Street? Or Church from Pet Sematary is actually 7 different cats? Horror movies as a whole are designed to tell the most outrageous and disgusting stories, so it's only right that their real-life counterparts are just as morbidly interesting.

With everything from blood you can buy at the supermarket to some frighteningly authentic props, there's sure to be something to surprise you ahead...

10. The Ending Of Paranormal Activity Was Changed By Steven Speilberg

POLTERGEIST DEAD
Paramount

As a first time director about to drop his debut movie, Oren Peli had no idea what an effect he was going to have on the industry when he unleashed Paranormal Activity on the world.

We all - fondly, or not - remember that period of found footage movies that dominated every waking moment of our film experience for a good few years, born from Peli's now ridiculously successful and profitable idea to just film a load of spooky stuff around his house. Why pay big money when you can scare the sh*t out of people to the tune of a $100 million simply by creaking your door a bit?

The Paranormal Activity we got wasn't actually he one that Peli had originally planned however, with the shock ending of Katie lunging at the camera actually an interjection from Steven Spielberg himself. After cutting a deal with the production companies, Spielberg suggested an alteration from Peli's version where Katie got shot to appeal to a wider audience.

Peli went with it, but has openly stated how much he prefers his original version ever since. Can't have sour grapes with Steven freaking Spielberg though, really.

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Horror film junkie, burrito connoisseur, and serial cat stroker. WhatCulture's least favourite ginger.