As the leaves turn and the nights grow longer, the allure of Halloween casts its enchanting spell. For movie buffs and thrill-seekers alike there’s no better way to embrace the season than by exploring the iconic Halloween film locations across the United States.
From the mystique of Hollywood’s cinematic magic to the eerie beauty of America’s landscapes, these cities have provided the backdrop for countless horror classics. Whether you’re a fan of slashers, supernatural tales, or spooky comedies, the U.S. boasts a treasure trove of places that have left a mark on Halloween cinema.
Join us on a journey through some of the nation’s most popular and hauntingly beautiful film locations, where reality and fantasy converge. Whether you’re planning a spine-tingling road trip or seeking a virtual escape into the world of Halloween movies, our guide will lead you to unforgettable destinations that have captivated generations. Grab your flashlight, brace yourself for surprises, and let’s explore the eerie landscapes that continue to inspire Halloween dreams (and nightmares).
Most Popular Cities for Halloween Filming Locations
Pittsburgh’s gritty industrial landscape, including iconic locations such as abandoned steel mills, has set the stage for 104 horror films. George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) and “Dawn of the Dead” (1978) used these settings to amplify their horror. Other horrors featured in Pittsburgh include “The Pale Blue Eye” (2022) and “Archive 81” (2022).
The second most popular city to film horror is Baltimore with 94 horrors filmed. “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) utilized nearby Maryland woods for its unsettling backdrop. The third most popular city for horror filming is Missouri City, Texas with 93 horrors filmed. The most popular horror films from Missouri City include “Sicko” (2007), “They Wait in the Dark” (2022), and “The Cursed Tomb” (2009).
Most Popular States for Horror Films
California is the state with the most horrors filmed with almost 2,500, with its diverse landscapes, offering a perfect canvas for scary movies. Iconic locations like the ominous Redwood forest or abandoned ghost towns provide atmospheric settings. Additionally, the state’s rich cinematic history and access to top-notch production facilities make it an ideal choice for creating spine-chilling movies.
In second place is Texas, with just over 1,000 horrors filmed. The vast, untamed landscapes of Texas provide an eerie canvas for horror. Its rich cultural history offers a deep well of supernatural folklore to draw from, standing as an ideal setting for spine-tingling cinema.
With 750 horrors filmed, Florida is our third most popular horror filming location. Its haunting swamps, dense forests, and decaying urban areas create a diverse range of settings. The state’s history of strange phenomena and supernatural legends adds depth to storytelling, making Florida a captivating horror backdrop.
Spine-Chilling California: A Horror Film Haven
While Pittsburgh is our most popular city for horror films, the area around LA and Orange County has been featured in a whopping 800 films, with Lake Forest being featured in 64 films – including “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (2010), “Jack Frost” (1997) and “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954).
Other popular cities in the area are Orange, with 50 horrors filmed, including “Halloween” (1978) and “The Ring” (2002) and Long Beach with 46 horror features, including, “Blade” (1998), “The Craft” (1996), and “The Queen Mary” (2023).
Methodology
A seed list of U.S. cities was created by identifying the 1,000 largest cities by population size.
Next, each city’s IMDb location page was scraped using the Screaming Frog SEO Spider and the number of titles which were included in the “Horror” genre was recorded. We scraped Horror films from the top 500 most popular films in each location.
To do the analysis we removed any cities with duplicate names, both within the U.S. and globally. For example, Vancouver is a city in Washington state and is a major city in Canada, so it was removed from the data set.
