Alabama is known for its college football traditions and its place in civil rights history. Horror movies filmed in Alabama may come as more of a surprise.
With Halloween approaching, movie fans don’t have to look far to find an Alabama connection to their next fright. The state’s lakes, neighborhoods and historic buildings have provided settings for films ranging from Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood to Get Out.
The Montgomery Advertiser recently highlighted eight horror movies filmed in Alabama. Those selections, along with a few others, offer plenty of choices for a Halloween movie night.
Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) is among the most recognizable. The story follows a young Black man whose visit to his white girlfriend’s family takes a disturbing turn.
A Fairhope home served as the family’s house, while a Mobile neighborhood provided the setting for the opening abduction scene.
Nearly three decades earlier, Jason Voorhees came to Baldwin County for Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988). Byrnes Lake stood in for the series’ fictional Crystal Lake, where Jason faces a young woman with telekinetic abilities.
South Alabama also became a familiar destination for director Mike Flanagan, who returned to the area for several films.
Oculus (2014), about siblings who believe an antique mirror caused their family’s tragedy, filmed around Mobile and Fairhope. Before I Wake (2016), in which a boy’s dreams and nightmares become real, used locations in Fairhope and Mobile, including historic Barton Academy.
Flanagan’s Hush (2016) follows a deaf author trying to survive a masked intruder at her secluded home. The movie was filmed in the Fairhope area.
He returned for Gerald’s Game (2017), based on Stephen King’s novel about a woman left handcuffed to a bed after her husband dies during a getaway. Much of that production was filmed on sets inside the Mobile Civic Center, with additional filming in the Fairhope area.
Other productions found uses for Alabama locations that viewers might recognize.
Mobile International Speedway in Irvington became the fictional McKinley Speedway in The Final Destination (2009), which opens with a premonition of a deadly racing crash.
The former Craig Air Force Base near Selma provided the military setting for Body Snatchers (1993), about a family that discovers people are being replaced by alien duplicates.
Dead Birds (2004) has an unexpected connection to another Alabama-made movie.
The horror film follows Civil War-era bank robbers who take shelter in a house with a supernatural threat. Along with Mobile-area locations, filmmakers used the town of Spectre, built for Big Fish on Jackson Lake Island near Millbrook, for the opening scenes.
Baldwin County’s waterways also appeared in Frankenfish (2004). The television movie features genetically engineered killer fish threatening a Louisiana bayou community, with Alabama supplying the setting.
The list extends to North Alabama, where filmmaker Jay Burleson made two slasher movies in the Tennessee Valley.
The Third Saturday in October and The Third Saturday in October Part V filmed in Athens, Decatur, Belle Mina, Elkmont and Courtland. WAFF reported that more than 200 North Alabama actors and extras participated.
The titles suggest an established series, but the two movies were created as a pair. “Part V” was designed to be watched first, recalling the video-store days when viewers sometimes rented a sequel before seeing the original.
Whether the choice is a familiar horror title or a locally made production, Alabama viewers have another reason to pay attention this Halloween. A street, lake or building on the screen may be closer to home than they think.
Sherri Blevins is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You may contact her at [email protected].
