Horror Movie Locations I'd Like to Visit

Last November, I took a fantastical trip to New York City, where about 9 million movies have been shot. Only being there for a few days, I made it to just one famous filming location...

... the firehouse in Tribeca that served as the exterior location for the Ghostbusters firehouse. I also saw The Dakota, the apartment building made (in)famous for being not only the location of the murder of John Lennon, but also was yet another exterior location for the apartment building in Rosemary's Baby (didn't get a picture though... dangit).

Anyway, it turns out that there are a bunch of cool places in the US and abroad that horror fans can visit and relive some of the classic scenes from their favorite films. Here are some places that I personally would like to go to - even though I'll probably never get to see any of them!

The Night of the Living Dead Cemetery

(Evans City Cemetery, Evans City, Pennsylvania)

Thanks to Christine from Fascination with Fear, whose picture of her next to that monument in the middle got me thinking about this post to begin with! On the outside, I'm sure this cemetery is not that much different than many others, but to this zombie film fan, going to the place where modern zombie movies were born would be like going to heaven.

The Poltergeist House

(4267 Roxbury Street, Simi Valley, California)

Well, duh! Of course I want to go here! And how weird is it that the house looks kinda exactly the same as it did in 1982? 

The Orphanage House

(Llanes, Asturias, Spain)

This is just a still from the movie but here's a link to Flickr where a guy took a picture of the actual house: http://www.flickr.com/photos/francesco_pics/5055639398/. I don't know how to describe this house other than a monstrosity of beauty. It immediately got my attention when I first saw the movie and has stayed in my future-home-owner dreams ever since. It's in Spain, though, so that sucks.

The House on Haunted Hill

(a.k.a Ennis House, Los Angeles, California)

Okay, not only was this house (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) used as the exterior for the famous House on Haunted Hill in the Vincent Price B-movie of the same name, it was also used for the exteriors of the mansion in which Angel, Spike, and Drusilla dwelled in the second season of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Poof! Two awesome locations for the price of one!

The Omen Church

(All Saints Church, Fulham, London, England)

Oh, the fun I would have taking pictures here. I would gladly go out and find my own metal spike or lightening rod to reenact the spectacular death of Father Brennan in The Omen. I'm pretty sure they would just kick me out and tell me that I'm going to hell or something.

The Amityville House

(112 Ocean Avenue, Long Island, New York)

Yes, I know the owners are probably sick of people gawking over their house, but they should have known what they were signing up for. And while I'm not the biggest fan of the original movie, I guess I can't deny that this is one of the most famous movie locations in the US. 

The Stanley Hotel

(Estes Park, Colorado)

Though not the actual hotel that is in the movie The Shining (that's the Timberline Lodge in Mount Hood, Oregon), this is the place where Stephen King stayed way back in '73 and which inspired him to write the famous novel. While briefly living in Colorado two years ago, I seriously thought out taking a trip to see it, but Estes Park was way too far away and I never had time.

The Exorcist Steps

(M street, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.)

So I didn't even know that this very steep set of stairs that Father Karras fell down was a famous location to visit until I watched a feature on the Hot Fuzz DVD where Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost go there and play around for a while. Forget the Washington Monument or the White House - if I'm ever in DC, The  Exorcist steps will be the first thing I want to do!

I know that some of these are kind of obvious ones, but whatever! That's all I got for now. So what say you? Any horror movie locations on your radar?

Ghostbusters Mini-Tour in NYC

I'm back from the Big Apple, people. It was a great trip all around, just so's you know. We had great weather, saw lots of sites, and, aside from the blisters on my feet from all the walking, it was a fantastic time and I'm ready to go back and catch up on all the stuff we didn't have time to see.

I went to New York City because a friend from high school lives there and it was a great excuse to go visit her and see the city, as well. One thing I made her do was go to the famous Ghostbusters firehouse, now known as Hook & Ladder No. 8 on North Moore Street in Tribeca.

And here it is as it stands today!

And there I am standing by it! I saw some dudes inside, but was too chicken to ask if I could go in. I know this location was only used for the exteriors, but they apparently have some memorabilia from the movies hanging around inside. I don't think they would have let us, anyway. Boo.

During our trip, we made a stop at the beautiful New York Public Library, which, as Ghostbusters fans know, is also a landmark from the film. It's where the guys encounter the terrifying librarian ghost and is also the first shot of the movie, with that spooky music playing over it.

The building looks a little dingy in the movie (maybe it was just how it was filmed or something) but in real life, it is an absolutely gorgeous building outside and in.

And here's me with the lion on the right side of the steps, the one that appears in the first shot of the movie.

I know there's a lot of other places we could have seen - Dana's apartment building or maybe the hotel where Slimer shows up - but we only had three full days for sightseeing so I was happy to work these two locations into our itinerary. Yay for Ghostbusters!

Movie Review: Zombieland

Why is it that zombies seem to be the only monster in the horrorverse that make the best butts of jokes for horror comedy films? There are a few funny vampire movies out there, but they don't seem to work as well as funny zombie movies. Sorry to curse, but GODDAMN I waited too fucking long to see this movie. What's wrong with me?

Zombieland takes place after a zombie apocalypse and follows a survivor, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), trying to make it back home to find his parents. He soon meets up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a man who has adapted well to the plague of zombies and thoroughly enjoys killing them by any means. They are both trying to get to their respective namesakes until trouble arises in the form of Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). Columbus comes to like Wichita, which complicates things as the girls constantly swindle the boys for their own advantages.

First of all, the opening credits were quite enjoyable. Two thumbs up for that little bit.

Zombieland was for shizz a great zombie horror comedy. It runs a very close second to Shaun of the Dead as being the best out there (one more bad-mouth comment about Shaun of the Dead and I will personally feed you all to the zombies myself when they take over the world). Most importantly, this is the kind of humor that I like. Play-on-words comedy, references to pop culture, and dry, sarcastic comments. I don't know why, but I found it exceedingly hilarious when Columbus announced that he had to "take the Browns to the Super Bowl."

Do I even need to mention how funking glorious Woody Harrelson is in, like, pretty much anything? Especially love his comedy roles because he is hi-larious. The perfect Tallahassee: lots of kick-assedness, unapologetic redneck goodness to be had here. Jesse Eisenberg... yes, he seems to have bit from everything about the dude who played Bleeker in Juno, but I don't give a shit. He was good at what he did and he made me laugh. Abigail Breslin I adore from Little Miss Sunshine, and she's getting better. I see a really good actress emerging.

I don't think I even have to mention the scenes with Bill Murray. So awesome. I loved the part where they were playing Ghostbusters just like I used to do with my cousins as a kid. Ah, memories. They had the proton packs and the trap, everything but the jumpsuit. It was killer.

The film is oddly not exactly plot-driven. There is a basic plot - they all want to go to the place that has no zombies - but it's decidedly pretty thin. The movie seems to be about something else. Comedy films usually have a touch of heart to them, and this is no exception. Every character seems to be looking for something in this new Zombieland to help them get over what they have lost in the crisis and learn to accept things as they are.

In the hands of comedy writers, this idea manifests itself in, for instance, Woody's character Tallahassee on a constant search for a Twinkie (did you notice the parallel of the Twinkie scene from Ghostbusters? I did). He's not really looking for a Twinkie. Well, he is, but it's what the Twinkie represents. Oh, gosh, stop me if I'm going overboard. He lost his son, so everything good about the world had basically been taken away from him. If he gets his Twinkie, then there's still a bit of happiness and goodness left in the world.

Columbus is a caring but shy guy who in the past avoided people because they basically ignored him. Like he says at the end, he's found a new family in this gang of zombie-killing misfits because they accept him for who he is and he feels like he has a place in the world.

Or maybe not. Maybe I'm looking too much into it.

The only nitpick is maybe some of the earlier scenes go on a little long, when they don't really add anything to the plot. Mostly, the scene of Columbus's encounter with 406. I felt like that whole part was a little out of place.

Gore fans don't despair! Too much. The zombie people-eating is fairly good in Zombieland. Nice make-up and gore, although nothing really that memorable. I like the idea of the Zombie Kill of the Week. Banjo-smashing was pretty good, but they really could have come up with WAY more interesting ways to kill zombies than we saw in this movie. Where's the ingenuity?

Good fun film! Yea! Me likey.