Horror films – you either love them or you hate them. While some people refuse to watch movies with gore, jump scares or creepy concepts for fear of nightmares, others love the excitement and thrill of being frightened by the events on screen. 

Horror films have been around for decades and have experienced varying levels of popularity over time around the world. However, the general trend shows that over the last two decades the number of horrors produced has increased dramatically.

Between the 1960s and early 2000s, horror films accounted for around three percent of all films released to cinemas, but from 2006 this figure jumped to almost six percent. One explanation for this could be that they are simply cheaper to produce than films in other genres like science fiction and viewer demand for horror has also grown. 

For the biggest fans of horror films and popular horror franchises, being able to experience the part of the film they really enjoyed, including the plot or characters, again and again is appealing. Turning these films into games is one way of keeping them alive and capitalising on their popularity.

Here are just some of the top horror films for the last few decades that have been reimagined as games:

Horror themed slot games – Beetlejuice

Online slots are an example of one type of game that often use horror films as inspiration for their theme. You can find slot games based on many different films, their features and ‘wilds’ often make reference to memorable aspects or characters from the movie.

At Megaways slots there are a number of these types of games, with a popular choice being the Beetlejuice themed game. Beetlejuice is an American title that follows a recently deceased couple who haunt their former home.

The slot game features 248,832 paylines and players can spin for bets as low as 10p. Fittingly, ghost symbols are a big part of the game and when matched with other symbols can complete a win.

The game has a Return To Player percentage of 96.00 percent.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a 70s slasher film that follows a group of friends who find themselves the victims of a family of cannibals. Despite being produced on a budget of just $140,000, the horror went on to make more than $30 million dollars in the US box office.

Over the last four decades, a great number of games inspired by the film have been produced. One of the earliest was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre game for the Atari 2600.

Released in 1983, this single player title sees players take the role of the character chainsaw welding Leatherface. The aim of the game is to chase and muder as many victims as possible. 

This game had mixed reviews due to its content and was considered to be too violent at the time; newer games based on the same premise have been released since. A new game, also known as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, will be launched in 2023 on Playstation, Xbox and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store.

Nightmare On Elm Street

Another film considered to be a horror classic is Nightmare On Elm Street, this supernatural slasher film was first released in 1984. The film follows a group of teenagers who fall victim to midnight mangler Freddy Krueger, who preys on them in their dreams. 

Over the years, there have been many games created based on this. The first to be released was the game published by LJN for the Nintendo Entertainment System, in this game players are tasked with finding all of Freddy’s bones.

In 2010, fans of the horror flick were delighted with the release of the interactive browser game Keep Her Awake. This game coincided with the release of the movie reboot.

The 2014 Family Guy mobile game also makes references to villain Freddy Krueger and 2017 multiplayer game Dead By Daylight features a content pack for A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Jaws: Unleashed

Jaws: Unleashed was a video game first released in 2006 and was inspired by the very popular 70s film Jaws. This film is about a man-eating Great White Shark that unleashes chaos on a beach off Long Island.

In the end, a marine biologist, local sheriff and a local resident are tasked with hunting down and killing the creature to make the sea safe once again for their community.

The game was developed by Appaloosa Interactive and released for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. The player assumes the role of Jaws the shark in this game and must attack other creatures.

The player can upgrade the shark with additional powers, such as increased speed, power or health. Overall, it received mixed reviews and while many players enjoyed the game’s theme and plot, they were unimpressed by the game’s glitches and inconsistencies.