Top 10 Horror Locations in Media

When it comes to a work in the horror genre, the characters, from the villains racking up a kill count, to the victims become part of the kill count, get most of the credit for creating the story’s dark atmosphere and sense of dread and unease. But sometimes, the location of a horror story can add just as much tone and flavor to a work as the characters within it, surrounding the characters with a feeling of discomfort and unease.

This Top List is all about the Top 10 Horror Locations in Media.

For this list, we will be looking at different horror properties, including movies, video games, and TV shows, to find terrifying locales that are eerie, foreboding, and indicative of the horrors that have happened within them, possibly even being dangerous themselves. They are just as iconic and integral to their series as the killers associated with them and can be as small as one building or as large as a city. To qualify, most of the story needs to take place there and there needs to be something clearly unsettling and unnatural about the setting itself. If it is essentially just a normal town except there’s a slasher on the loose, then it doesn’t count.

10. Silent Hill (Silent Hill)

It may look like a normal town at first, but looks can be deceiving.

Though portrayals may differ between stories, Silent Hill is typically shown as a small town in the northeastern United States. Protagonists wind up here through different circumstances and while some may see it as normal at first, once the fog rolls in, all bets are off. Monsters spawn in all over the town and reality itself can warp into a twisted version of itself, most of it as a result of the main character’s psyche. Some characters, like the infamous Pyramid Head, were born out of a character’s inner turmoil.

9. The Upside-Down (Stranger Things)

The main setting for this darkly fantastical Netflix series may be the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, but the real horror here comes from a place both near and far. The Upside-Down, first named so by Mike Wheeler and his friends, is a parallel dimension to Earth. It looks like a twisted reflection of the regular world, with similar buildings and landmarks, but appearing colder, darker, and more foreboding. The air is toxic to non-native flora and fauna after long periods of time, practically every surface is covered in strange tendrils, and there is an ever-present ashy fog. The worst part is that this dimension is also home to strange, murderous monsters like the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer.

8. Raccoon City (Resident Evil)

This once-bustling metropolis now infested with the undead is the most iconic location in the Resident Evil series of video games and movies. What makes this city more overtly horrific is its connections to the Umbrella Corporation, a large biomedical company that repeatedly dabbled in experimental bioweaponry. One of their creations was the T-Virus, a virus that essentially turned people into flesh-eating zombies that could spread the contagion through a bite or scratch. The virus got loose at a laboratory within the city and it spread, engulfing the entire area and killing/zombifying most of the population. If hordes of zombies aren’t dangerous enough, some of Umbrella’s other experiments (also loose within the city) include mutant monsters, most notably, the powerful, rocket-launcher-wielding Nemesis T-Type.

7. Dr. Frankenstein’s Castle (Frankenstein)

This castle in the German countryside is the home of the original horror mad scientist, Doctor Victor Frankenstein. It is within his lab in the castle that he and his assistant Igor bring to life a large monster made from the sewn-together body parts of several dead humans. Things initially seem to go well for Frankenstein, who is overjoyed that his experiment to create life was a success, but karma eventually comes back around as his creation escapes. Saying that the townspeople don’t like what they see and find out about the creature would be a huge understatement. Over the years, this story has formed the blueprint for what mad scientists could be and this castle played a huge part in that.

6. The USCSS Nostromo (Alien)

The setting of the original Alien movie, this spaceship plays host to a very ill-fated star voyage. After answering a distress call, the crew of this ship finds themselves the prey of a merciless predatory creature we have come to know as the Xenomorph. Slinking through the ship’s air ducts and tight corridors, the Xenomorph manages to kill all the crew members one by one, with the last survivor, the equally as iconic Ellen Ripley, just barely making it out alive. The ship’s narrow hallways give the vessel a claustrophobic feel and its isolation within the depths of space can give a feeling of despair as you know help will not be coming.

5. U.S. Outpost 31 (The Thing)

We just touched on how isolation can make a horror scenario worse. Here’s Exhibit B.

This laboratory in the middle of the frozen continent of Antarctica was meant to be a simple research station, but everything changed when the aliens attacked. An alien killer that can shapeshift to take the form of any living creature makes its way into the station, disguised as a dog getting chased by some crazy-looking Norwegian guys, and from there, no one is safe. The biggest things about this place are the isolation and the climate. Given that this place is in Antarctica, barring another research station, help is an ocean and several hundred miles away, and the cold climate means that just running away won’t guarantee your safety; if the alien doesn’t get you, the elements will. And again, none of this is touching on the paranoia that the alien itself brings to the table.

4. Rapture (BioShock)

This video game is well-regarded for several reasons and the terrifying atmosphere its setting brings is a big part of it.

Rapture was a large, Art Deco-style, underwater city built by businessman Andrew Ryan in the mid-1940s, envisioned as a utopia where society’s greatest could thrive and allow their ideas to blossom uninhibited by restrictive governments. However, unrest soon spread throughout the city, owing in part to internal political unrest and an arms race over ADAM, a substance that can alter genetic material and grant special abilities. This culminated in a civil war that left the city in ruins and many of its populace dead.

At the time of the story, in 1960, the city is crumbling. Parts of the buildings are falling apart or leaking water and the few people that are still alive have either become psychotic Splicers who are hungry for ADAM or have hidden themselves away to stay safe from the Splicers. Then there’s the Big Daddies, massive behemoths in heavy diving gear meant to protect small beings called Little Sisters as they gather ADAM from the numerous dead bodies lying around the city. The impressive atmosphere meant to look daunting even in the city’s heyday looks almost menacing in its ruined state. The sense of danger never really leaves either as behind any corner a Splicer could be ready to strike or a Big Daddy could be walking by practically daring someone to mess with it.

Mess with it at your own risk.

3. The Overlook Hotel (Stephen King’s The Shining)

Sitting in the Colorado Rockies, the Overlook Hotel is a large establishment with a dark history. The hotel is reportedly haunted, with several guests having died within its walls, including the previous winter caretaker who the story says “succumbed to cabin fever” and killed himself and his family. As writer and recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance takes the new winter caretaker position for the hotel’s off-season, he and his family experience the hotel’s hauntings first-hand. At most points, especially with Jack, it’s hard to tell whether the strange happenings around them were actually happening or if they were just tricks of the mind. But even without the ghosts, the hotel’s large, empty space, maze-like corridors (not even counting the literal hedge maze in the gardens), and isolation from the nearest sign of other people mean there is a large opportunity for things to go wrong.

2. Camp Crystal Lake (Friday the 13^th)

What started out as just a normal summer camp for kids has become one of the most infamous murder grounds in movie history.

It all started when Mrs. Pamela Voorhees found out her son Jason had drowned in the camp’s lake due to neglectful counselors sneaking off to have sex. Since then, between Mrs. Voorhees and Jason himself, Camp Crystal Lake has seen a steadily climbing body count throughout the years. Even setting aside the level of common sense in your typical Voorhees victim, the camp itself serves as an effective hunting ground for slashers. It has several places where a killer could hide, both in and outdoors, several potential hazards, and isolation from the nearest place to get help or make a call if the lines are down (no cell phones here. 80s, remember?) Taking into account Jason’s resourcefulness, the camp also shows that just about anything can be used as a weapon in the right, or in this case, wrong hands.

And if all that isn't enough, there's always the fact that Jason seems to come back to kill again when ever he dies at the camp. That may say something about either Jason or the camp itself, but either way, Jason's preferred hunting ground grants a quick kill for most of the people that enter it.

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Before revealing the number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

The Cabin & The Facility (The Cabin in the Woods) – Cabins in remote woods already have a history with horror stories, but underneath this one is a facility housing just about every terrifying entity you could think of.

USG Ishimura (Dead Space) – Another case of a spaceship crew confined to their ship with killer aliens, but these aliens infect and twist your body into horrific shapes, all to continue the killing.

Cabrini-Green Housing Projects (Candyman) – If the gang members and desperate people living in these low-income high-rises are too down-to-earth for you, there’s always the supernatural killer of urban legend roaming the area.

Derry, Maine (Stephen King’s It) – A seemingly normal small town with an evil entity living underneath it, luring away and killing children, keeping the adults oblivious to it, and bending minds to IT’s will.

The Murder House (American Horror Story) – A large, but seemingly normal house with a violent history. Just about everyone who dies here comes back as a ghost and several evil souls roam within its walls.

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1. Transylvania (Dracula)

Sometimes, you just can’t beat the classics.

Based on an actual region of Romania, Transylvania, as depicted in numerous books, films, shows, and games, is the home to one of the most infamous monsters of all time, the vampire Count Dracula. In his various depictions, he rules over the land from his castle, allows his vampire progeny to have their way with the humans that they find, and may even open his home to other creatures of the night. This castle is often alpha priority for vampire and monster hunters but getting to the Count is no easy task.

Transylvania is often depicted as being lousy with all things spooky, from dark forests with a mind of their own to raging rivers impeding progress to other monstrous beings including witches, werewolves, zombies, and ghouls. Depending on the story, the Count may even be getting a visit from Frankenstein’s monster or an Egyptian mummy. All that is before you even reach the big man himself and he is not easy to keep down.

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Did you like this list? What horror locations are memorable to you? Make your voice heard in the comments below.

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