This week we asked NAPA-Net readers to weigh in on the World Series—and their scary movie picks…
Well, the World Series is (currently) all tied up at one game apiece—but it’s not nearly that close among NAPA-Net readers. More than half (54%) are pulling for the Atlanta Braves, and the 24% that opted for “neither” even outnumbered the 16% rooting for the Houston Astros (the rest were cheering for the end of baseball season).
“It’s a toss up,” began one respondent. “I typically haven’t liked the Braves, but I have a good college friend who played there and now does game analysis for them. I have a best friend who is from Houston and I have kinda rooted for them for many years (and Bregman is an LSU guy) but I don’t care for the garbage can debacle a few years back... makes me want to root against them. So, it’s a toss up for me.
“Dislike both teams,” commented another reader. “Anybody but Houston,” said another, while another stated that, “the Astros will always be branded as cheaters.” Actually, this came up a lot. Those rooting for Houston mostly seemed to be from there, at least by their identification. One reader went so far as to comment: “Really, I am rooting against the Cardinals—so, in reality, I have already won!” Grrrr…
There was, of course, some interesting rationales, such as the reader who caveated their response noting, “Unless I have a good reason to root for the NL team (like it was the Cubs) or against the AL team (like it’s the Yankees) then I root for the AL team because my team is an AL team (and last won the series in 1984).” Another noted, “Lifelong NL guy... unless it is the Dodgers or Giants.”
All that said, things tightened significantly when asked which team they thought would actually win. Here the Astros enjoyed a (slight) advantage—with 39% picking them to prevail in the Fall Classic, compared with (just) 34% for the Braves. Another 18% “hadn’t a clue,” and the remainder “couldn’t care less.”
Those that commented seemed primarily impressed by the Astros uniforms—and their creative use of garbage can lids…
New Scary Stuff
Turning out attention to Halloween, we noted that a lot of new scary movies had emerged in recent months—and asked readers which one(s) they had seen. Well, two-thirds of this week’s respondents hadn’t (yet) seen any of them. But among those who had, the most viewed were:
Fear Street Part One
A Quiet Place Part II
The Resort
Fear Street Part Two: 1978
Fear Street Part Three: 1666
Halloween Kills
Army of the Dead
The Beach House
Well, let’s face it, COVID has put movie making—and movie attending—under some strains. So, we asked readers which of the more “traditional” set of scary movies they had seen, and more than half had seen:
74% - Silence of the Lambs
74% - Jaws
71% - The Shining (the 1980 version)
68% - Psycho (1960)
66% - The Exorcist (1973)
66% - Friday the 13th
63% - The Sixth Sense
63% - Scream
63% - Alien
61% - Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
61% - Carrie (the 1976 version)
58% - Halloween (1978)
58% - Misery
55% - Aliens
52% - Poltergeist (1982)
50% - The Blair Witch Project (launching a whole generation of “found” shaky camera footage)
Some we missed (thanks to those who “shared”), Jeepers Creepers (an awesome creepy movie I can’t believe I missed), Amityville Horror, Jacob’s Ladder (creepy, but I think it requires a couple of viewings to appreciate), Trick R Treat, Blue Velvet, They Live (a John Carpenter classic), ReAnimator (man, but it’s hard to watch), and Ghost Story. One reader commented, “Jaws is not a scary movie.” Must not live close to the ocean…
Favorite Scary Movie(s)
So we next asked readers which was their favorite scary movie. And while it may not have been scary (or perhaps because of that), the most-cited movie was… Jaws (and while only about 13%, that was twice as many as #2—Halloween (1978). The rest of the top 10:
6% - Silence of the Lambs
6% - The Sixth Sense
6% - Saw
6% - The Exorcist (1973)
6% - The Haunting of Hill House
3% - The Blair Witch Project
3% - Rosemary’s Baby
3% - Poltergeist (1982)
The Scariest Movie(s)?
But then—we asked readers which of the “scary movies” they thought was the scariest. While there was a great deal of diversity here, there was a cluster that drew the support of 4% (each) of respondents:
The Blair Witch Project
The Omen (1978)
Seven
Poltergeist (1982)
Silence of the Lambs
Jaws
Carrie (the 1976 version)
The Nun
Midsommar
Salem’s Lot
Drag Me to Hell
Alien
The Thing
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Misery
Rosemary’s Baby
But more scary that that bunch (according to NAPA-Net readers was:
7% - Halloween (1978)
7% - Paranormal Activity
The second-most scary movie was… The Shining (1980), cited by 11%.
That said, NAPA-Net readers, once again, ranked this as the scariest movie!
Thanks to everyone who participated in this week’s NAPA-Net Reader Radar—Happy Halloween!
