According to data shared with Newsweek from social media company Sprout Social, the most-watched horror TV show this year is Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, with nearly 100,000 Twitter mentions this October. Hocus Pocus meanwhile, has been the most-mentioned movie, with viewers sharing their nostalgic feels after watching the film on Disney+ and/or watching its surprisingly successful cinema re-release.
Not all of this social media traffic, however, was positive. Though Lovecraft Country is the second most-watched piece of horror content this Halloween, over half of the tweets counted by Sprout Social were negative, suggesting not everyone was pleased with the way the HBO show ended its critically acclaimed run.
Though 2020 releases like Bly Manor, Lovecraft Country and Adam Sandler’s Hubie Halloween all made the top 10, it was classic movies that dominated the chart. The oldest film on the list was 1968’s classic zombie movie Night of the Living Dead, which also included four movies from the 1990s, suggesting ’90s kids are reliving the Halloweens of their youths in a year where they cannot go out.
The full top 10 of the most-discussed horror TV shows and films this month is as follows:
- The Haunting of Bly Manor
Twitter mentions: 93,306 (19% positive, 64% neutral, 17% negative)
Getting more than double the mentions of any other show or movie, Netflix’s Bly Manor got over 25,000 mentions on the Sunday after it was released. As well as being the most discussed on social media, the show also spent 11 days at the top of the U.S. Netflix charts, suggesting this new adaptation of the classic ghost story The Turn of the Screw has been a spooky success.
- Lovecraft Country
Twitter mentions: 43,139 (20% positive, 28% neutral, 52% negative)
HBO reported earlier in October that the season finale of Lovecraft Country had been a major ratings hit both during broadcast and on HBO Max. The social media traffic for the racially-charged sci-fi show, however, actually peaked with its penultimate episode, with close to 20,000 Twitter mentions about the show’s trip back in time to the Tulsa Massacre in 1921.
- Hocus Pocus
Twitter mentions: 21,542 (28% positive, 57% neutral, 15% negative)
In a year where studios pushed back all their major releases, Hocus Pocus was a rare cinematic success story. A commercial flop when it was first released in 1993, it was named the highest-grossing rerelease of the year, sitting right behind Tenet the week of its release in the (admittedly small) U.S. box office. This combined with Disney+ viewers has made the movie a big hit with Twitter users.
- Hubie Halloween
Twitter mentions: 12,091 (33% positive, 47% neutral, 20% negative)
After perhaps his best role yet in Uncut Gems, Sandler is back to his usual tricks (and sometimes treats) in his Netflix movie. His previous films for the streamer are believed to be some of the most popular ever released on the streamer, and it seems like his horror-comedy has followed suit.
- The Addams Family
Twitter mentions: 11,566 (52% positive, 29% neutral, 19% negative)
Though the 2019 animated reboot has its fans, it is the ’90s original that has generated the most buzz from ’90s kids reliving the spooky delight of Anjelica Houston and the rest of the pitch-perfect cast. It also helps that the film is streaming on multiple streaming service – even though the sequel Addams Family Values is the better movie.
- Sleepy Hollow
Twitter mentions: 6,351 (15% positive, 71% neutral, 14% negative)
Speaking of the cast of The Addams Family, it is not the only Christina Ricci film that Twitter user have been loving. The Wednesday Addams actor also stars alongside Johnny Depp (who has been all over Twitter for different reasons recently) in Tim Burton’s take on the classic American ghost story.
- Cabin in the Woods
Twitter mentions: 3,874 (37% positive, 38% neutral, 25% negative)
What is it about this 2012 movie that has struck such a chord in 2020? What could people possibly get in this pandemic-ridden year from a film about people trapped at home while shady government figures make life or death decisions about them? Clearly something has struck a chord from this movie, featuring one of the greatest cinematic bait-and-switches.
- Night of the Living Dead
Twitter mentions: 2,160 (25% positive, 44% neutral, 31% negative)
In a decade of Get Out, Us and now Lovecraft Country, the idea of using horror tropes to explore the plights that affect Black lives still feels radical. George A. Romero, however, explored similar ground with his Night of the Living Dead, one of the all-time great horror movies that invented the zombie genre as we know it.
- The Silence of the Lambs
Twitter mentions: 1,538 (30% positive, 51% neutral, 19% negative)
Though nearly thirty years old, plenty of horror fans still decided to sit down (ideally with some fava beans and a nice chianti) to watch the only horror movie ever to win Best Picture at the Oscars…even if it had to pretend to be a “psychological thriller” to do it.
- ParaNorman
Twitter mentions: 1,005 (49% positive, 32% neutral, 19% negative)
A late addition to the Halloween 2020 discourse, ParaNorman has recently shot into the top 5 Netflix movies chart, showing that the 2012 animated comedy is stealthily becoming an October staple – and one of the first mainstream animated films to feature an LGBTQ+ character.
