Halloween 2021: One in eight people believe they could slay a Vampire

In the research commissioned by digital collectibles platform Terra Virtua to mark its ‘Monster Week’ and new digital collectibles drops, almost two thirds (58%) of people admit to being frightened by all or some of the same things that they were when a child, with almost half (44%) admitting they are just as or more afraid of things now than when they were a child.

With over a quarter of Brits admitting to loving a horror film or TV show (26%), it is monster villains from older movies who more than one in five people find better or scarier (22%), with Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street) (18%) and the shark from Jaws (13%) among the top five most terrifying monsters and creatures in pop culture history.

When it comes to the scariest horror movie moments of all time, iconic scenes from horror classics including The Exorcist (20%), Alien (17), Nightmare on Elm Street (16%), Psycho (14%) and Silence of the Lambs (14%) were polled the top five, with more than one in five people (22%) admitting to hiding behind a cushion or closing their eyes to avoid the really scary bits during horror films.

With the turn of the 21st century welcoming a plethora of blockbuster horror hits, it is no surprise that more recent films and TV programmes including Kong, Lord of the Rings and Stranger Things are among the top 10 people would most like to appear in themselves.

Top ten monsters/creatures people would most like to defeat:

Zombies

Dracula

Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street)

Voldemort (Harry Potter)

Pennywise the Clown (IT)

Grim Reaper

Shark from Jaws

Dementors (Harry Potter)

Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

Kong

Top ten movies people would most like to be in:

Lord of the Rings (15%)

The Hobbit (11%)

War of the Worlds (9%)

Alien (9%)

Jaws (8%)

Dracula (8%)

Stranger Things (8%)

Kong (7%)

Predator (7%)

Van Hesling (6%)