Illinois’ Favorite Halloween Movie May Surprise You

Just in time for Halloween, a new survey is out, this one showing the favorite horror movie in each state.

The great things about "best of," or "Favorite _____ of every state" lists is that they're always good for provoking an argument.

I've got to believe that will be the case with CompariTech.com's latest offering, "Which Halloween Movie Is Most Popular In Each State?"

Why? Well, for one thing, I've never heard of the film touted to be Illinois' most popular. More on that later.

First, here's how CompariTech.com came up with their numbers:

Using IMDB’s list of top horror movies, we searched each film individually on Google Trends to find which state scored the highest. This was then the designated film for that state. If any state came up twice, we used the film that ranked higher on IMDB for popularity. If a state didn’t appear top for any of the movies, we looked at the state’s individual information for the topic “horror movies” to ascertain which movie was being increasingly searched for in the related topics section. We also omitted any film with comedy as a genre (such as Shaun of the Dead).

Got it? Yeah...me neither.

Alright, so let's get to what CompariTech says is Illinois' most popular/favorite horror movie.

Ready?

Here it is:

Martyrs.

Really? Maybe I'm that one lone Illinoisan who honestly has never heard of this movie. According to Wikipedia, here's the lowdown on Martyrs:

Martyrs is a 2008 horror film written and directed by Pascal Laugier and starring Morjana Alaoui and Mylène Jampanoï. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival at the Marché du Film, and was released theatrically in France on 3 September 2008.

The film was controversial upon its release, receiving polarizing reviews from critics, and has been associated with the New French Extremity movement.^[3]

Still a big nope from me. I was totally unaware of this film's existence. And, based upon descriptions and reviews, I'm okay with my own ignorance of this movie.

Rotten Tomatoes says:

Critics Consensus

A real polarizing movie, this Gallic torture-porn is graphic, brutal, nasty and gruesome and not to everyone's taste.

Here's what CompariTech says about the favorites of our Midwestern neighbors:

Wisconsin: The Ring

Minnesota: The Invisible Man (1933 version)

Michigan: The Ring

Iowa: Alien

Indiana: Scream

Missouri: The Others

Kentucky: Halloween

At least I've heard of each and every one of those movies! As for Illinois' purported interest in Martyrs...we're the only state that feels that way.

Check out CompariTech.com's full list by clicking here.

I was going to post the trailer video for Martyrs, but it's revolting enough for me to skip that idea in favor of this:

Thanks, Minnesota.