Noah Barth is an Experience Developer at the Science Museum of Minnesota with a unique annual tradition: he watches 31 different horror movies every October. This year, he went to the museum floor to find inspiration for his spooky watchlist.
Birds of the Nether
For the first movie on my October watchlist, let’s talk about cranes. No, not Marion Crane, though Psycho is a classic for a reason. Instead, I’m talking about the giant birds in the museum’s lobby (Level 5). They got me thinking: Would you rather be chased by a couple of giant birds or thousands of regular-sized birds? Melanie Daniels didn’t have much of a choice in another Alfred Hitchcock classic, The Birds (1963). All the species of birds in this movie may be great to study, but I don’t think even our ornithologists would want to deal with these violent swarms of avians.
A Witchy Trilogy
The witches in Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) don’t have a crystal ball like the one in our Light Gallery (Level 3). But the primary-colored lights and shadows on the gallery walls brought up the surreal and vibrant cult classic anyway. Luckily, I don’t think anyone saw me waving my arms around like an avant-garde ballet dancer: I’ll save that for home while I watch the sequels to this movie—Inferno (1980) and Mother of Tears (2007).
Truck or Treat
Minnesota may be safe from the creature feature horrors of Jaws (1975) and Anaconda (1997). But we live in a state where lumbering is pervasive, as evidenced by our approximately 600-year-old tree cookie (Level 3). So the likelihood that we may end up driving behind a truck full of logs on the highway is much more significant than encountering giant snakes or sharks—though we do have a titanaboa replica and megalodon teeth. I haven’t seen a Final Destination movie since I was maybe 12 (way too young!), but the log truck scene from Final Destination 2 (2003) makes me change lanes anytime I see something that could turn luck/Death against me at 60 miles per hour. The recent release of Final Destination Bloodlines (2025) has me considering a rewatch to discover other everyday occurrences I should avoid.
Skin-spired Watching
They say you’re supposed to love the skin you’re in. But does that apply if the skin is someone else’s? So Buffalo Bill may have been disappointed when Skin: Living Armor, Evolving Identity (Level 4) opened at the museum. It’s not the exhibit you think it is, Bill! Skin is the largest organ and can do a lot to protect you. While our onsite cafes have plenty of options, I don’t think fava beans and chianti are on the menu. But I guess if you need your fix, settle in and pour yourself a glass while you watch Silence of the Lambs (1991).
The Wonder Fears
Our Weighing the Evidence exhibit (Level 4) is full of questionable medical advice, but none of it holds a candle to the “psychoplasmics” of Dr. Hal Raglan in The Brood (1979). This David Cronenberg film is a favorite from my horror movie marathons. But sometimes at the museum, I think I’ve undergone “psychoplasmic therapy” like Nora Carveth with the amount of mutant children running around… kidding, kidding. We love our visitors!
I hope this gives you some ideas for what to watch this spooky season. But if you’re not able to handle the scare (or even if you can), come pay us a visit at the museum…it will be a real Scream.
