There are some classic horror movie settings that are always perfect, from adorable small towns to haunted houses, and sometimes a scary film comes along that impresses audiences with its unique location. Maybe a couple goes on a tropical vacation that turns horrifying, or characters are dealing with a zombie outbreak in their city.
A horror movie setting should feel smart and deliberate, not random, as a tiny town is eerie since its residents don't expect anything strange to happen there. From an iconic horror movie small town to an anthology story set on a great holiday, there are some great horror movie settings that should be appreciated.
The Night House (2021)
The Night House is about grief and the 2021 horror movie also features an eye-opening, intense setting that isn't matched by any other film. As Rebecca Hall's character Beth mourns her husband Owen (Evan Jonigkeit), she learns that he was building a replica of their lake house nearby.
It's fascinating watching Beth wander through the woods and find this other house, which is a mirror image of her own, and where she keeps seeing brunette women who look just like her. It's horrible imagining going through the same thing as Beth, as she learns that Owen was seducing women and bringing them back to the second house so he could try to fool a demon into believing that he was sacrificing Beth. The lake houses are both pretty and more eerie than calming as they have lots of windows and they don't seem like fun places to be in the middle of the night.
Trick 'r Treat (2007)
The small town of Warren Valley, Ohio (which doesn't really exist) is the setting for this beloved horror movie. Trick 'r Treat's monster named Sam is featured in all of the stories in this anthology film. It's totally brilliant to set a movie on Halloween and to show how creepy trick or treating can really get. The movie leans into pumpkins, colored leaves, costumes, candy, and all of the fun elements of this fall holiday.
In the first story, Emma (Leslie Bibb) doesn't enjoy October 31st as much as her husband Henry (Tahmoh Penikett), and Emma is murdered while cleaning up Halloween decorations from outside her house. In the next story, Principal Wilkins (Dylan Baker) is actually evil and hurts kids who trick or treat. Next, Laurie (Anna Paquin) and her friends seem to be looking for some fun on Halloween night, but they end up being vampires. The movie also features the backstory of the Halloween Bus Massacre, and the spirits of the children who were killed in a crash years before come back to murder Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox).
Escape Room (2017/2019)
Setting a horror movie in an escape room is a great idea. The concept of this popular activity is already fairly creepy, with some people saying that they would never find this a fun way to spend an afternoon.
Unfortunately, there haven't been any good horror movies that use this location. The 2019 Escape Room and its sequel aren't scary, and the 2017 film of the same name isn't much better, either. Still, the concept of a scary movie set in a location that people aren't supposed to love (and that they can't leave now that they're in the middle of a life or death scenario) is an intriguing one. Both of these films had a lot of potential and perhaps there will be a new horror movie in the future with this setting that will be much scarier.
Scream (1996)
There are so many different horror movie settings, including horror films about one location, but the classic will always be a beautiful small town where only good things seem to happen (until a serial killer shows up and ruins that image, of course). The Scream franchise is set in Woodsboro, California, a tiny town with some classic places: Woodsboro High School, the town hospital, and the police station. The characters spend a lot of time in these locations, from the teenage characters attending school and learning about recent murders to Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton) working at the police station.
The first movie also features an iconic movie location: the video store. According to Bloody Disgusting, the video store scenes were filmed at Bradley Video, a small chain with 11 stores. The location was 3080 Marlow Road, Santa Rosa, California, and it closed down in 2008. This store is featured in a perfect scene as Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) is an employee and he loves recommending horror movies to customers and answering their questions.
House Of Wax (2005)
House Of Wax is an underrated 2000s horror movie thanks to its unique and cool setting. A group of teenagers are driving and they find a wax museum. This is already interesting and strange, so of course they want to go inside and see what the wax figures are like.
When the characters find out that twins Vincent and Bo (Brian Van Holt) run the museum and that they have killed people and turned their corpses into wax figures, it's incredibly unnerving, making this one of the scariest horror movie settings. Haunted house movies have been done many times and they're always fun, but what about a haunted museum? This film might not be talked about all that often, but it's definitely a compelling story.