These are the top Halloween movies in the DMV
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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Turns out your zip code dictates more than your property taxes. It also drives your Halloween movie queue!
Cars park up as they arrive to watch a horror film at a temporary drive in cinema in Manchester, northwest England on October 29, 2020. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Regional favorites
Local perspective:
Recent search data has uncovered exactly which Halloween films and franchises dominate living rooms in Virginia and Maryland, revealing a mix of hometown pride and shared comedic tastes.
Virginia
Virginians are currently fascinated by the tense, tech-driven anxiety of 2020s "The Invisible Man," which ranks as their top standalone horror movie. For a marathon movie night, their favorite horror franchise is the inescapable suspense throughout the "Final Destination" series.
Maryland
Maryland embraces its own frightening folklore. The state's number one pick is "The Blair Witch Project," a film rooted in the local woods of Burkittsville. For their favorite ongoing saga, they turn away from found footage and instead favor the chilling 90s urban legend of "Candyman."
When these two neighboring states want to tone down the terror, they share the exact same taste in comedy. The Tom Hanks cult classic "The 'Burbs" reigns supreme as the ultimate lighthearted seasonal watch for the region.
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National trends
Big picture view:
When looking at the country as a whole, a few major consensus winners emerged.
In the franchise category, "Final Destination" absolutely dominated the competition. The anxiety-inducing series topped the search charts in 10 states, which is twice as many as its closest runners-up, "Candyman" and "Saw." For standalone scares, the country was split evenly between classic and contemporary horror. The 1976 prom-night terror "Carrie" and the 2020 psychological thriller "The Invisible Man" tied for first place, each winning over five different states.
For viewers looking to turn down the terror, a surprising sleeper hit took the national crown. The cult-favorite 1989 comedy "The 'Burbs" beat out heavy hitters like "Ghostbusters" and "Practical Magic," ranking as the number one Halloween watch in eight states.
The data also revealed a heavy "hometown hero" bias. Audiences frequently sought out horror that hit close to home, with over a dozen states crowning movies that were set or filmed right in their own backyards.
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Data behind the study
Dig deeper:
To figure out exactly what viewers are queuing up in each region, Only In Your State pulled a full year of search metrics.
The research team first built specific watchlists based on highly rated IMDb titles. They created a pool of 100 top-rated horror movies, a separate list of 25 massive horror franchises, and a lighter lineup of 60 family-friendly Halloween hits.
From there, they turned to Google Trends. By analyzing online search patterns from across the United States over a 12-month period (ending in October 2026), the researchers were able to measure which states were searching for specific titles the most relative to the rest of the country.
The Source: Information from this article was sourced from Only In Your States's Halloween movie analysis for each state.