Halloween is creeping up on us, so turn off the lights and turn on your favourite horror movies. Or better yet, head to the spooky sites where they all came to life. Deserted alleyways, idyllic beaches, isolated hotels: anything can be scary in the hands of a great director.

The Screen Traveller's Guide

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Planning a trip to London? You’ll likely stumble across locations from this creature feature without even realising it. Werewolf David Kessler’s (David Naughton) chaotic time in the capital sees him chasing commuters through Tottenham Court Road tube station, confessing his sins to the police in Trafalgar Square and causing mayhem in Piccadilly Circus. Director John Landis really did shoot scenes at these iconic tourist landmarks – he even persuaded Naughton to climb, naked, out of a cage full of wolves at London Zoo. (Luckily they’d already been fed.)

Prim and proper Georgetown was the primary backdrop for director William’s Friedkin’s terrifying tale of demonic possession. Georgetown University (where the author of The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty, once studied) appears in the movie-within-the-movie, while the Alexandria Aqueduct Footbridge features, too. Arguably, however, the most iconic location is the now-dubbed Exorcist Steps. Located just off Prospect Street (where Regan’s house was), this ominous narrow staircase looks just as terrifying in real life as it does on screen.

Upon Jaws’ release in 1975, summer holidays took a turn for the worse. The sunny skies, sandy beaches and calm waters of resort towns quickly became the stuff of nightmares, and sharks were the brand new movie villain. This iconic feature from director Steven Spielberg ushered in the modern blockbuster and highlighted that horror films didn’t always need a spooky setting to make them scary. Fans can visit the film’s various locations on their own summer holiday to Martha’s Vineyard: quaint Edgartown stood in for the fictional town of Amity.

Crowded streets, sun-soaked plazas, shimmering canals: that may be the Venice we all know, but not so in Nicolas Roeg’s gothic horror. Here, the Italian city is in the midst of winter, with the hotels deserted and the fog rolling in. Fitting this less conventional portrait of Venice, Roeg’s locations are obscure sites within the city. Lesser-known churches, such as San Nicolò dei Mendicoli (which character John Baxter is seen renovating) and Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo (where John’s wife Laura lights a candle) both featured prominently in the film. The classy Hotel Gabrielli also acted as the facade of the made-up Europa hotel, where the fated couple stayed.

For screen travellers, Scotland is perhaps best known for its association with the fantasy TV series Outlander. But years before Claire and Jamie’s romance unfolded across the Highlands, the country formed the backdrop to a more sinister story. Horror classic The Wicker Man was shot on the wild southwest coast here. Remote towns such as Kirkcudbright and Creetown play key roles in the film, along with the grand Culzean Castle (which formed the exterior of Lord Summerisle’s grand residence). If you’re looking for the Wicker Man statue though, you’re out of luck – all that’s left is a concrete base on Burrow Head.

Were funfairs a little creepy before Jordan Peele’s Us? The screaming certainly didn’t help, but the director’s sophomore feature really took the fun out of it all. This doppelganger horror show was shot around the sunny Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, an iconic amusement park in California. Take a trip here and you’ll recognize numerous rides from the film, though sadly the Hall of Mirrors was a specially made set. Us wasn’t the first film to shoot here, however; the boardwalk has previously appeared in cult classics like Harold and Maude (1971) and The Lost Boys (1987).

Horror, sci-fi, action: whatever genre you put 1987’s Predator in, there’s no denying it’s epic. Filmed in the humid jungles around Mismaloya, Mexico, this story of an almost unkillable alien is legendary for its tough shoot. The cast were trained by military advisors to make them believable special forces soldiers, while Arnold Schwarzenegger led them all on morning workouts (in a gym he’d imported and built in the hotel ballroom no less). If you’re in the area don’t miss Misol-Ha waterfall, where the Predator pursues Dutch (Schwarzenegger) to a muddy climax.

Hotel’s don’t get much creepier than the Overlook. This beacon of supernatural activity was played by the suitably formoding Timberline Lodge in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. Isolated on the slopes of Mount Hood, in Oregon, it’s blanketed in snow during the winter (and easy to imagine getting snowed in). If you’re looking for King’s inspiration behind the Overlook however, head to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. The author had an unsettling stay here back in 1974 – and no wonder, it’s reportedly one of the most haunted hotels in the US. Not a fan of spooky stays? Drive the epic Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park instead. You’ll recognize it from the film’s opening credits.

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