Film Buffs: Here Are 66 Horror Movie Locations to Know
Every horror film buff knows the house at 112 Ocean Avenue. "The Amityville Horror" (1979) turned this into one of the most notorious haunted houses in movie history.
Why is it suicidal to take a nap in Springwood, Ohio?
Why should you dump your boyfriend ASAP if he suggests spending the afternoon boating at Camp Crystal Lake?
The true film buff will immediately know the answers to these questions! Without further ado, here are 66 horror movie locations that have become synonymous with death, evil, or the supernatural. The mere mention of them will send shivers down any scary movie lover’s spine.
Iconic Horror Movie Locations #1–7
1. Agua Dulce (Nope): Agua Dulce is an actual county in California. In Jordan Peele’s Nope, it is also the hideout for an otherworldly being that particularly hates being looked at in the eye. Unfortunately, given its odd appearance, most humans wouldn’t be able to resist staring at it.
2. Allerdale Hall (Crimson Peak): One of the newer horror movie locations on this list, Crimson Peak’s Allerdale Hall is the post-2000 take on the classic Gothic haunted mansion. A great location for daredevils and authors looking to host the perfect themed party.
3. Amity Island, New England (Jaws Franchise): In a romanticized, safe-for-children story, Amity Island would be described as having a powerful “primordial guardian.” In Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, though, the waters surrounding the rustic town are hunting grounds for a savage great white shark. Till today, “Bruce” continues to be an icon of thriller and horror movies.
4. Amityville (The Amityville Horror Franchise): To be clear, Amityville isn’t all bad—only the house at 112 Ocean Avenue. With a façade that somewhat resembles a shocked face, this nasty haunted house has a penchant for encouraging incest, madness, and murder. In the 2005 remake, vengeful Native American spirits were stated as the cause behind the hauntings.
5. Antonio Bay (The Fog): Many towns have dark origins. In the case of Antonio Bay, the way the founders built the town invited misty supernatural revenge a century later.
6. Armitage Estate (Get Out): There is nothing too sinister about this new horror movie location, or its neighboring properties, as long as you are fair-skinned. But if you are exotically dark, you run the extreme risk of having your body stolen, and your mind replaced.
7. Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane (Shutter Island): There is always something frightening about asylums for the insane. However, one must not forget that such hospitals could still be places of healing. Under the right doctor, the crazy might even be encouraged to explore their delusions, rather than reject them.
Recreation of Amity Island from "Jaws" (1975) at Universal Studios Japan. This is unquestionably one of the most famous horror movie locations.
Iconic Horror Movie Locations #8–14
8. Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane (The Silence of the Lambs): The facility that incarcerated Hannibal Lecter, horror cinema’s most fascinating and seductive serial killer. Also, where Clarice Sterling’s complex relationship with the sinister cannibal formally began.
9. Bates Motel (Psycho Franchise): There are certain things that one must never do when staying overnight at this famous horror movie location. Things such as being nosey, hanging around the staircase, opening the icebox, or taking a shower. You should especially NOT take a shower in Bates Motel, as any true film buff would know.
10. Belasco House (The Legend of Hell House): In the 1973 horror classic, this creepy mansion was described as the “Mount Everest of haunted houses.” That ought to give you an idea of the sort of scariness that dwelled within it. The severe overpopulation problem too.
11. Black Lake, Maine (Lake Placid Franchise): A not-so-serene lake with a huge problem. It’s a beloved nesting ground for giant crocodiles.
Recommended
12. Blair Witch Woods (Blair Witch Franchise): Various locations were named in this mother of all found footage movies and its sequels. For example, Coffin Rock and child-murderer Rustin Parr’s hideout. The limelight, though, should still be on the creepy woods where most parts of the 1999 movie took place in. One could even say the entire woods is the Blair Witch. At the very least, every part of it is her domain.
13. Bly Country Estate (The Innocents): The real evil of this classic wicked estate resides in its inhabitants or victims. However, film buffs and theorists have insisted that the entire property is also a crucible for the analysis of sexual repression. In other words, not the place to venture to if you’re a victim of awful dates.
14. Boston Memorial Hospital (Coma): Other than some black market organ sales on the sidelines, there is nothing too sinister about this hospital. It did, however, provide the horror and suspense movie genres with one of the most disturbing cinematic images ever. That of comatose, near-naked patients suspended from the ceiling using medical tubes.
The Dakota in New York City has such distinctive architectural features, it was the perfect stand-in for The Bramford in "Rosemary’s Baby" (1968).
Iconic Horror Movie Locations #15–20
15. The Bramford (aka The Dakota) (Rosemary’s Baby): The Dakota in New York City is such a lovely apartment block in New York City. Designed with German Renaissance touches, it was the perfect stand-in for The Bramford in Roman Polanski's 1968 classic, Rosemary’s Baby. The only problem with the building: the residents worship the Devil and have no respect for privacy, or your body.
Tragically, the Dakota became the site of real life horror when Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon in the building's entryway on December 8, 1980.
16. The Cabin (Evil Dead Franchise): As a theme park funhouse, this gloomy cabin could be loads of fun for horror movie lovers. It has an atmospheric cellar and comes with a hysterical laughing deer head. On the other hand, if you have to survive a night in it, chances are, you aren’t going to be quite the same person the next day. (That is, if you survive at all) This is so even if you, somehow, manage to decipher the demonic tome hidden in it.
17. Cabin in the Woods (The Cabin in the Woods): Joss Whedon’s homage to the above-mentioned Evil Dead Cabin, this death house ups the game by featuring an ever-rotating cast of supernatural nasties. Worse, it’s also equipped with insidious gadgets to ensure victims are especially vulnerable to the performers of the evening. Quite simply, one of the deadliest horror movie locations ever. One of the most imaginative too.
18. Camp Crystal Lake (Friday the 13th Franchise): As one of the most notorious and famous horror movie locations ever, Camp Crystal Lake is synonymous with many things in the slasher genre. Things such as irresponsible teens, horny teens, and creatively butchered underdressed teens.
Camp Crystal Lake was also the death location and original hunting ground of legendary slasher Jason Voorhees, and before him, his mom. Definitely not the place to bring your date to, even if you are a fan of zombie slashers.
19. Carmichael Mansion (The Changeling): Which is worse in this 1980 horror movie location? The supernatural hauntings that besiege it, or the unspeakable crime that gave rise to the hauntings? Most film buffs and scary movie lovers would likely state the latter.
20. Castle Rock, Maine (Various Stephen King movie adaptations): Watch enough Stephen King movies, or read enough of his books, and you’d be convinced that small Northeastern American towns are the scariest places in the whole galaxy.
This fictitious Maine town is the setting for no less than 14 King stories as of 2023, with numerous references to it in other works too. (Some not by King) Needless to say, the whole town is a magnet for the macabre, the malicious, and the downright murderous.
Iconic Horror Movie Locations #21–30
21. Colonial Theater (The Blob): Special effects for 1958’s The Blob are cheesy by today’s standards. Still, the spectacle of malignant ooze oozing out of a cinema while hapless movie-goers shriek and flee remains one of the most memorable moments of the horror movie genre. At the actual Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where the scene was filmed, a “Blobfest” is held annually to commemorate this iconic moment.
22. The Colony (The Howling): Today, werewolves are widely regarded as sexy and hunky shapeshifters, who would be your pets for life were you to tickle their ears correctly. Back in the 80s, however, they were universally feared as brutal man-killers. In The Howling, an entire horde of such savage killers resides incognito at the enigmatic resort known only as The Colony.
23. The Cube (Cube Franchise): The best way to describe the Cube is to put it as cinema’s largest gathering of hi-tech escape games. The zeal of the creators saw to it that “customers” rarely win in this futuristic thriller movie location too.
24. Cuesta Verde (Poltergeist): Here are some pro tips for home buying. Before acquiring any property, thoroughly research the history behind the land. If you cannot avoid buying land that used to be for the dead, avoid building swimming pools. Selfish as it might sound, it’s really not a good idea to share a pool with the rotting dead.
25. Danvers State Hospital (Session 9): Danvers State Hospital was the shooting location, not the fictitious asylum, for Brad Anderson’s supremely creepy Session 9. Nonetheless, for some scary movie lovers, the name represents the creepy abandoned psychiatric hospital in the film. It is a place where dark spirits prey on the weak and wounded. The movie also contributed a lot to the public perception of asylums as dangerous places.
26. Derry, Maine (IT Franchise): If you are a cosmic, shape-shifting monster, and you decide to relocate to Earth, where would you stay? In a town like Derry, of course, with many flawed adults to manipulate, and many intrepid children to feast on.
27. Dolphin Hotel (1408): A classy hotel on Lexington Avenue, New York City. For 95 years, no one has survived more than an hour inside room 1408.
28. East Proctor (An American Werewolf in London): Though it has a pub with a truly unsavory name, there’s nothing too dangerous about this town in Yorkshire, England. Instead, the real danger lurks in the moors surrounding it. Were you to encounter this menace, let’s just say, you’d next be feverishly researching the many myths about the Wolfsbane plant.