Small Town Horror

Fun fact, I live in a township. I don’t know if that qualifies as “fun” but it is a fact and it is true. I also had to look up what the hell a township even is and it is “numbered” and “sectionalized land system” which makes sense in the state where I live, there are MANY townships. I live in ONE of NINE townships within my county. This is all confusing but kind of interesting but it made me think about today’s post.

There’s something very different about the suburbs versus the city vs small towns. And small towns in horror are just…something different. Now the biggest point in suggesting some of these mentions is that the town ITSELF plays a role in the characters, the plot, etc, not just some passing through town.

Think of how Stranger Things takes place in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana (I do live in Indiana so I see the small hometown energy) for a list like this. Or for animation fans: Gravity Falls! Get it? Got it? GOOD.

Let’s talk about small town horror!

Dead & Buried (1981) – an underrated horror about a small town’s crimes against naive tourists
Blue Velvet (1986) – david lynch does small town real well… i mean, ear found in a field
The Blair Witch Project (1999) – burkittsville, maryland is the destination that three filmmakers went missing
The Lost Boys (1987) – the definition of 80s horror with vampires and you know the two coreys
The Faculty (1998) – an alien invasion takes over a high school; don’t trust authority
Fright Night (1985) – another vampire flick from the 80s
The Wicker Man (1973) – small town, small island of paganism, you know, normal things!
Salem’s Lot (1979) – i personally wish the miniseries focused more on the weird town itself
Scream (1996) – woodsboro feels like a small town that got big because of ghostface
The Mist (2007) – anything stephen king fits this
House of Wax (2005) – an entire town where there’s “no one” but wax stand ins
30 Days of Night (2007) – an alaskan town is preyed upon by vampires

There are so many honorable mentions that go beyond film, I wanted to include some tv shows.
Gravity Falls
Twin Peaks
Sleepy Hollow (first season only, the rest is pure trash. SHADY HOLLOW)
Crawl
Nope
Pearl
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Children of the Corn
Stephen King’s IT
Halloween
The Fog
Sinister
Silent Hill
My Bloody Valentine
The Village
Pet Sematary
Hannibal (NBC series)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer

So why did I pick these? Why did ANY of them make the cut (including honorable mentions)? The honest answer is that it’s all about mood and environment. I think when it comes to horror that takes place in the city, it can become distracting. I was thinking of (of all movies), Jason Takes Manhattan where as cool as it is to see Jason in a very urban jungle like Manhattan, it was almost off putting but made sense? I’m like the entire movie couldn’t be like that because we associate that character with small town, summer camp vibes.

And I think small towns = more secrets. A town that knows each other and can carry gossip, secrets, history, ghost stories and myths, things that I don’t see in anything else OTHER than a small town. Can you imagine the 1983 A Nightmare on Elm Street movie taking place in a city? I kinda want to see that.

But there is something inherently creepy about small town horror. The seclusion, the unknown of who people are, how they are, is it safe? Should I be on my toes? You should always be on your toes but somehow I feel safer in the city than a small town?

The honorable mentions were extras that I felt should be mentioned, mostly television series. Buffy has Sunnyside, Hannibal (I miss that show so much) has Maryland, Virginia, but the way it’s shot, it feels like a small town at some points.

What movies (or shows) would you add into this conversation? Leave a comment below and I’ll see you guys next week!