Well after all this horror talk it is finally here, Halloween week. Aside from the season, there is no real setting to Halloween. In my case late October is chilly but not usually too cold, often wet but not often too wet for the big day. The leaves have all turned (if they are the kind that turns) and many have fallen strategically so as to make roads more dangerous for the little ones as they offer their candy producing ultimatums. This is all to say that late October here is the optimal setting for Halloween and the various levels of spooky fun that you may be trying to achieve.

Now, movies are much the same. They rely on their settings and premises to help draw out scenes, emotions and move the story along. Perhaps you want to convey a sense of isolation, so you set your movie at a Cabin in the Woods, alternatively if going out to the woods is too much effort, they can stay near home with a haunted house/school/abandoned sanitorium. Nothing sets the scenes for scares like an abandoned medical facility. Or maybe your actors are trying to avoid getting killed by an Alien in which case it is super unfortunate for them that they are stuck in a ship in space for the foreseeable future. There are many ways the setting/premise of a movie can add exponentially to it’s atmosphere, and in the case of horror/adjacent movies that can be a really great thing. Even the most mediocre of horror films (and believe me there are a lot of them) can be uplifted through proper use of settings to create or enhance a desired effect.

Cutting this short a bit as it is 53 minutes until this thread goes live and I have got a lot to do (this next week will be a super quick prompt as it is the week of our annual comic con that I help organize). So to get to the point quicker than usual: What is your favourite use of setting in horror and adjacent movies (or any movie, i’m not too picky)?