PENNSYLVANIA, USA — The air is getting cooler, the leaves are changing colors and the scary movies are streaming.
It's finally the time when horror movie fans can celebrate the most hair-raising genre, and what better way than to revisit some classics, and newer additions, that were filmed in Pennsylvania?
Director Irvin Yearworth Jr.'s sci-fi horror movie about a carnivorous jello blob from outer space was primarily filmed in Phoenixville and Downingtown.
This groundbreaking, low-budget movie was filmed in Evans City, about 25 miles north of Pittsburgh. The featured cemetery, Evans City Cemetery, sits right beside the chapel. Movie-Locations.com states that although the chapel was once disused and about to be demolished, a successful campaign to restore the landmark has allowed its legacy to continue.
The sequel to the iconic Night Of The Living Dead was filmed almost entirely within the Monroeville Mall just outside of Pittsburgh. While the mall has expanded since filming, zombie lovers can still expect to see roughly the same layout as what was shown in the movie.
Director George Romero's final addition to his zombie trilogy features an underground bunker, which was actually a limestone mine towards New Castle. Movie-Locations.com states that the giant elevator to the underground compound was the Nike missile base outside Pittsburgh, but the elevator platform entrance was built and filmed off the coast of Florida.
While this movie is set in a variety of different states, the majority of filming was done in Pittsburgh. Notable locations include the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, an abandoned mental hospital in Canonsburg (which has now been demolished) and the abandoned Westinghouse turbine factory.
M. Night Shyamalan's science fiction horror film starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix was shot throughout Bucks County. The main location was in Doylestown, where a farmhouse was built in the middle of a cornfield specifically for the movie. While the farmhouse was dismantled after filming, other locations, including a pizza shop and billiard hall in Newtown and a pharmacy in Morrisville, remain, albeit some buildings have been repurposed.
This horror-thriller based around an Amish-style community dealing with creatures in the woods around them was filmed in Chadds Ford, Pennsbury Township. According to VisitPa, M. Night Shyamalan had a "village" located just off Cossart Road, which is also known as "Devil's Road" by locals.
Based on actual events, this movie was filmed in Stroudsburg and utilized the Poconos mountains to maintain a rural and abandoned feel. Tom Mattera and David Mazzoni's film focuses on a young boy going to live with his grandparents during the Manson Family trials, and the isolated cinematography of the fields surrounding the house helps maintain the creepy energy.
M. Night Shyamalan's thriller which tells the story of a man with 23 different personalities features Philadelphia in a significant way. VisitPa discussed how James McAvoy's character kidnapped three girls just outside the city, and how the movie's finale showcases a specific Philly landmark.
