Fandango Literally Wants to Make Fans Scream

Movie website Fandango has launched Scream-Off, a “spirited” social media contest hosted on its new horror film hub, House of Screams.

From October 1 to 18, Scream-Off fans can submit videos of their best “blood-curdling, skin-crawling screams” on Instagram or Twitter, with the hashtag #FandangoScreamContest and @Fandango.

Each day, Fandango says, it will select one video as its Scream of the Day, which will be featured on the site and move onto the next round. After the entry period, fans will be able to cast votes on the top 18 screamers. On October 31, Guns ‘N Roses’ Hall of Fame guitarist Slash will choose the winner.

The winning Scream-Off screamer will be awarded a trip for two to Estes Park, Colorado for a two-night stay at the 104-year-old Stanley Hotel, which Fandango says was horror writer Stephen King’s inspiration for The Shining.

As of October 2, the Scream-Off page on the Fandango website had about 50 Twitter posts highlighted as “newest screamers,” although some tweets simply reference movies, like, “About to watch Insidious 2. Send Help.”

Fandango says House of Screams is its “first-ever video and digital content destination dedicated to season’s scariest movies, featuring original and exclusive video and editorial content and access to advance ticketing.”

In addition, Slash will co-host with Fandango correspondent Tiffany Smith a special video mini-series, Slash’s Screamings, highlighting the season’s new horror films, the brand says.

House of Screams will also showcase a six-minute excerpt from Anchor Bay and Slasher Films’ upcoming horror film, Nothing Left to Fear, as well as footage from the movie’s Hollywood screening.

Nothing Left to Fear, which opens October 4, features original music produced by Slash.

Fandango has 118,000 followers on Twitter and 1.7 million likes on Facebook.

“Mobile and social are increasingly important to Fandango’s daily business with our large and growing millennial audience. We also happen to do very well with horror movies, and since we saw a preponderance of horror films in September and October, we strategized on the best way to aggregate our scary movie content into a horror hub called, ‘House of Screams,'” writes Fandango Vice President of Marketing Adam Rockmore in an email.

According to a press release, to celebrate House of Screams, Fandango also launched a Facebook initiative, Fear Face-Off: 13 Days of Psychos. It pits villains against each other, like Psycho’s Norman Bates and Freddy, Jason and Leatherface, and asks fans to vote on “which psycho brings more screams.” In addition, Fandango says House of Screams will offer editorial features like 10 Unlikely Horror Movie Debuts, Great Horror Comedies and The Best and Worst Slasher Villains.

Fandango is an NBCUniversal company. It says it sells tickets to more than 22,000 screens nationwide and also provides reviews, commentary, celebrity interviews and trailers.