Britons do not like horror films, YouGov poll reveals 

The spookiest night of the year is upon us again, when people dress to scare, annoy neighbours with pesky trick-or-treating, bake revolting cakes, carve pumpkins, and share ghost stories.

While theatre-lovers may go out and find their hair-raising Halloween fulfilment in darkest fear-exploring plays, for film-lovers Halloween may mean an evening in with a movie to scare them out of their wits.

However, most Brits will not be spending their Halloween evening with a horror movie, according to our poll.

Not admirers of horror films

42% of the population said they did not have a favourite horror film, as they did not like horror films in general. In terms of gender variations, 50% of the female population said they did not like horror films, while a much smaller proportion (34%) of men stated the same.

‘The Silence of the Lambs’ top horror film

• 13% of the population picked ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ as their favourite horror film - a larger percentage of men (16%) than women (11%).

• 5% of the public said ‘Saw’ was their favourite horror film, while 4% chose ‘Psycho’.

• ’28 Days Later’ was also picked as favourite by 4% of the public, with twice more men (6%) choosing it than women (3%).

• The Exorcist, regarded as one of the top horror films of all time by Time Out London and many other publications, is a favourite of only 3% of the population. 

See full results of our film poll here