ENTERTAINMENT

Pennsylvania ranks #1 in deaths, according to horror movies

Pennsylvania has the highest horror movie death toll, a Halloween-themed study shows.

Using analysis from Rotten Tomatoes’ list of 200 best horror movies, Pennsylvania turned out the deadliest, with 615 total kills, helping it top the CableTV.com crafted list of lethal states.

The Pennsylvania-set horror movie notching the most deaths was George A. Romero's 2005 "Land of the Dead," adding 490 to the state’s body count, according to CableTV.com. Except for a quick establishing shot of downtown Pittsburgh, "Land of The Dead" filmed in Toronto, though Romero's earlier zombie classics "Dawn of The Dead" and the seminal "Night of The Living Dead" shot in suburban Pittsburgh and were set in Pennsylvania. Those three films alone, from the Carnegie Mellon University alum's zombie oeuvre, contributed to 594 corpses in the Keystone State. 

Pennsylvania ranks as the deadliest state for horror movie characters, according to a new study.

New York, with fright film classics like "The Amityville Horror," and "King Kong" (1933), where the angry ape’s rampage made 52 New Yorkers lose their lives, finished second.

California, the setting to "Scream," "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "The Lost Boys," finished third. 

The methodology to CableTV.com's madness: "We skipped any movie that was not based in the United States as well as any movie in which the location or the number of deaths were not readily available. We ended up with a list of 63 movies separated by the state they are set in. Using bodycounters.com and List of Deaths Wiki, we totaled the number of deaths in each film."

Six of those films were set in Pennsylvania; also including "Eraserhead" (1977), "Martin" (1978), and "Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark" (2019).

Beaver County resident Bill Hinzman played Zombie No. 1 in George A. Romero's "Night of The Living Dead," a horror classic that helped Pennsylvania top a recent list.

"Being No. 1 is pretty awesome," Jason Proakis, founder of More Gore Effects, a Pennsylvania company specializing in horror film effects, said. "Let's face it, Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas, while beautiful, are just made for horror. We have so many areas that are perfect for horror movie locations."

Proakis, a Center Area High grad, worked on "Waltz," a Grimm Sleeper Productions horror film recently shot in Beaver County. The cast and crew will greet fright fans this Saturday at Freddy's Haunts haunted attraction in Independence Township. 

"The movie scene has been growing around here over the past few years," Proakis said. "The best part is you have smaller production companies like Grimm Sleeper Productions out there looking for locations like our little town."

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To see the full report of Top-10 Deadliest States for Horror Movies, revealed Tuesday, visit cabletv.com/blog/horror-movie-death-count

More:Looking creepy, Beaver County!

As with most lists these days, the counters and rankers hope to draw publicity, in this case CableTV.com, an online company that researches and compares TV, internet, and streaming services, "slashing through the techno-speak to give you straight-forward reviews and reliable advice."

See a Top-10 list you don't agree with? Don't worry, a new one arrives almost every day.

Also Tuesday, a list came out proclaiming Pittsburgh as the No. 2 Best City for Vampires nationally, sandwiched between Naperville, Illinois, and Chicago. 

Granted, one of the top criteria was the total number of sunny days, for which Pittsburgh finished dead last.

 Also catapulting Pittsburgh toward the top: most blood centers, many homes with basements on the market, and the least number of garlic festivals.

Sink your teeth into the Best/Worst vampire cities list, at lawnlove.com/blog/best-worst-cities-for-vampires/ brought to you by national landscape company Lawn Love.