Movies
‘Silver Bullet’ Should Be Just As Popular As ‘The Lost Boys’
When you hear the phrase “Corey Haim horror movie,” your mind, it’s safe to assume, jumps to The Lost Boys. That’s only natural. Hell, that’s probably the title that comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Corey Haim movie” in general. Unless you’re a die-hard fan of License to Drive, that is. There are a lot of completely valid reasons for the love that The Lost Boys receives. It’s a great movie. Certainly one of the best vampire movies of the 1980s. But Corey Haim was also in one of the best werewolf movies of the 1980s. That would be the 1985 Stephen King adaptation Silver Bullet, which deserves to have the same level of voracious fandom.
Why Silver Bullet Deserves More Love Than The Lost Boys
I can guess why Silver Bullet hasn’t had the same impact as The Lost Boys. Corey Haim wasn’t as big of a star in 1985. Silver Bullet director Dan Attias went on to a long television career, while Schumacher went on to direct Batman movies. Any 1980s werewolf movie has to exist in the shadow of the masterpiece, An American Werewolf in London. Silver Bullet doesn’t have Kiefer Sutherland psychosexually manipulating Jason Patric. I get it. But Silver Bullet’s stats are lagging.
The Lost Boys is Corey Haim’s #1 most popular movie and his #1 highest-rated on Letterboxd. Silver Bullet is #4 and #12. The Lost Boys is his #1 movie on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and #2 on the Popcornmeter. Silver Bullet is #5 and #9. Silver Bullet is Corey Haim’s fifth highest-rated movie on IMDb and The Lost Boys is – you guessed it – #1. Silver Bullet also lagged behind at the box office, earning $12.4 million compared to The Lost Boys’ $32.5 million.
October 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Silver Bullet. It’s high time to raise the profile of this damn movie, even if I have to build the winch myself.
Silver Bullet is a Blast and a Half
Silver Bullet, which was written by Stephen King, adapting his own novella Cycle of the Werewolf, is a doozy. It’s set in a small town that is being besieged by regular werewolf attacks, and nobody can identify the culprit. But never fear, an absolute weirdo is in town!
That would be Gary Busey as Uncle Red, a deeply unsettling fireball of charisma. His nephew is Marty (Corey Haim), who has paraplegia. Naturally, Red builds him a tricked-out motorcycle wheelchair that he can go rocketing through town in. Gary Busey is something of a punchline these days. But let’s never forget that the man became famous in the first place because he was a goddamn movie star. He makes nonstop strange choices that are electromagnetically compelling. Corey Haim was perhaps the only 1980s child actor who could hold his own against that cinematic force of nature. Thankfully, he was cast, and the characters’ relationship is as rich as it is strange. That’s the sweet spot for any King adaptation.
A Stellar Cast of 1980s Character Actors
That dynamic alone could have been enough to sustain a movie. However, Silver Bullet has also assembled a murderer’s row of 1980s character actors around Busey and Haim. This includes Lawrence Tierney, Terry O’Quinn, and perhaps never better Everett McGill. Not to mention the fact that the story is randomly narrated by Broadway legend Tovah Feldshuh.
Thanks to the talented cast, the movie survives the fact that it features a somewhat goofy-looking werewolf. They bring a sense of grit and reality to their small-town characters. What results is an explosion of intensity that plays startlingly well against the uncut 1980s goofiness of its genre elements. This movie’s confident enough to contain both a thrillingly tense covered bridge setpiece and a werewolf swiping off somebody’s head. And if that’s not the vibe you desperately want from an ‘80s shocker, I don’t know what to tell you.
Silver Bullet Lacks Some of The Lost Boys’ More Obvious Flaws
I am certainly not trying to use this article to cast The Lost Boys into the muck. I think both movies can stand together on the Mount Rushmore of Corey Haim’s career. Nevertheless, it is true that Silver Bullet lacks the two biggest flaws of The Lost Boys. It’s got its own flaws, sure, but none quite so glaring as Lost Boys hugely losing steam in Act 3. Once the identity of the werewolf has become known in Silver Bullet, the story actually gets even more tense. That’s because the danger still stems from children being at the mercy of adults, rather than the werewolf mystery itself.
The Lost Boys is also somewhat scattershot, juggling too many characters, storylines, and tones simultaneously. While Silver Bullet does have a deep bench of characters, its storytelling is much more focused. It’s primarily centered on the relationship between a young boy and his family, and how it’s complicated by werewolf attacks. Standard stuff!
Silver Bullet Deserves a Spot Next to The Lost Boys
Look, here’s the bottom line. The Lost Boys is a fun, great movie. Silver Bullet is a fun, great movie. This town (Hollywood) is definitely big enough for the two of them. That’s all I’m saying. It’s simply unfair that Silver Bullet has taken up B-tier status behind The Lost Boys. Watchers has more than enough B-movie energy to take up that slot all by itself, thank you very much.
PS: I look forward to Horror Press hosting somebody’s impassioned defense of Watchers, but it ain’t gonna be mine.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
Tragedy Girls (2017)
A dark, comedic, high school romp about best friends gaining internet clout through murder. It may feel dated due to its use of Twitter rather than X, but it adds charm and reminds us of a simpler internet age. Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp deliver devilishly fun performances, and their slasher personas are heavily under-appreciated in the horror community. There are lots of familiar faces here, including Josh Hutcherson, Jack Quaid, Craig Robinson, and not to mention the director, Tyler MacIntyre, who went on to be one of the writers for Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023).
Seance (2021)
This Is Not a Test (2025)
School’s Out (2018)
Graduation Day (1981)
One of my absolute favorite things to do when I’m on vacation is to visit horror filming locations. Wherever you happen to be going, odds are that at least one horror project was filmed there at some point. There’s something magical about seeing the places that helped bring iconic scary stories to life on the big and small screens.
However, some locations are better than others. A lot of them (like the original A Nightmare on Elm Street house, Stu’s house from Scream, and the schoolhouse from The Birds) are private property and aren’t always owned by people who are particularly happy to have horror fans milling around out front. Others (like the schools from Buffy, Elm Street, and many other teen horror titles) are active educational institutions that don’t welcome strange visitors.
But I’m here to deliver a guide to some of the coolest horror filming locations in North America that give you that magical vibe without somebody calling 9-1-1 on you. Because the best things in life are free, so are all the locations on this list.
The Bridge from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Location: Linnie Canal Ct. Los Angeles, CA 9029, USA
The bridge where Glen (Johnny Depp) and Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) discuss the Balinese method of dreaming is nowhere near the movie’s fictional town of Springwood, Ohio. It’s actually one of the bridges over the human-made canals in Venice, California. Specifically, it’s the bridge over the Eastern canal that connects to Linnie Ct. It’s totally free to visit, and once you’re done taking photos and quoting “I’m into survival” to your heart’s content, you’re still in Venice. Not a bad place to be!
The Movie Theater from Scream 2 (1997)
Location: Rialto Theatre, 1019-1023 Fair Oaks Ave. South Pasadena, CA, 91030 USA
Although the majority of the campus scenes in the college-set slasher sequel Scream 2 were filmed at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, a lot of the school’s surrounding environs were filmed closer to Hollywood, in sunny Pasadena. While the movie theater where poor Phil (Omar Epps) and Maureen (Jada Pinkett Smith) are killed in the movie’s prologue is no longer an operating cinema and you can’t go inside (the building has been taken over by a church), the exterior has been well preserved and looks more or less exactly the way it did in the late 1990s.
This horror filming location is also just an 11 minute drive from the street where the film’s famous car crash sequence was shot, which is part of Green Street between South Los Robles Avenue and Madison Avenue in Pasadena.
The Myers House from Halloween (1978)
Location: 1000 Mission St, South Pasadena, CA 91030, USA
Although the building has been moved from its original location, it was rebuilt to look exactly the way it does when young Michael Myers is stalking his way around it in the iconic opening sequence of Halloween. There is a business operating out of the building, so don’t bother them or try to get inside (the interiors aren’t the same, anyway). But at this point, they’re very used to people doing photo ops out front. If you find yourself in Pasadena on October 31, it’s a can’t-miss destination, as a nonstop torrent of cosplayers swarm the area.
Other free Halloween locations in South Pasadena include the exterior of the hardware store where Michael gets his mask (right around the corner at 966 Mission St – it’s now the Radhika Modern Indian restaurant) and the famous hedge he hides behind when stalking Laurie Strode (just one mile away, at 1019 Montrose Ave S).
Brennan’s Tip: If you do have money to burn, check out the SugarMynt Gallery next door, which is chock full of horror-themed artwork. Also grab a snack at the Heirloom Bakery across the street! They’ve got all kinds of great treats (I even had them do the desserts for my wedding), and you can enjoy them on the outdoor patio with the Myers house looming over you.
The Town Square from Scream (1996)
Location: Healdsburg Town Square, Healdsburg, CA 95448, USA
Scream was filmed in and around Sonoma County, but the core town playing Woodsboro was the real-life wine country borough of Healdsburg. The town square, complete with fountain, is still there, and surrounded by cute shops and restaurants. You can also find the police station exterior where Sidney punches out Gale at Oakville Grocery (124 Matheson Street) nearby, but it has changed enough to be barely recognizable at this point.
Derry from It (2017), It: Chapter Two (2019), and It: Welcome to Derry (2025-)
Location: Port Hope, Ontario L1A 2Y7, Canada
The majority of the important locations in It and Welcome to Derry’s fictional town of Derry, Maine are all located along the main road of Port Hope, including the movie theater (Capitol Theatre on 20 Queen St), the library (Port Hope Town Hall, 56 Queen St), the park with the bandshell, and the alleyway outside the butcher shop, which still has the door painted with the faux sign from the movie.
Brennan’s Tip: Check out the river that runs parallel to the main street. When I went, there were hundreds of fish making their way upstream for spawning. Multiple species do this in Port Hope, in various seasons, so you never know if you’ll get lucky.
The University from Black Christmas (1974)
Location: Soldiers’ Tower at the University of Toronto, Hart House Cir, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H7, Canada
The college from the 1974 proto-slasher Black Christmas is played by the real-life University of Toronto, with the most notable area being the plaza outside Soldiers’ Tower, where Clare’s dad is seen waiting for his ill-fated daughter.
Brennan’s Tip: If you’re a huge Killer Party (1986) fan like I am, the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada building (25 Spadina Rd), which plays the haunted frat house, is just a short walk away.
Abe’s Snake Bodega from Scream VI (2023)
Location: Dépanneur St.Ambroise, 5701 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC H4A 1W9, Canada
Our next horror filming location is of a more recent vintage, but it’s an instant classic: the “New York City” bodega in which Ghostface hunts down Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) in Scream VI. Both the exterior and the interior of the shop were used for filming, though they changed a great deal of the inside to make it look more New York-y. You don’t have to pay to visit, but if you want to do a photo op posing like Ghostface at the end of the row of refrigerator cases, you might as well buy a soda on your way out as a thank you.
Other worthwhile free Scream VI filming locations in the area are the campus of Blackmore University (McGill University at 845 Sherbrooke St W), and “Central Park” (Parc La Fontaine, 3819 Av. Calixa-Lavallée).
Crawford Academy from Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
Location: Concordia University – Loyola Campus, 7141 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, Quebec H4B 1R6, Canada
The fictional high school from this classic Canadian slasher was played by the real-life Concordia University (except for the opening kill scene, which was shot around Douglass Hall at McGill University). It’s a relatively small campus, so you can’t miss the grand brick buildings, which look exactly the same now as they did 45 years ago, though the quad has been relandscaped.
The Steps from The Exorcist (1973)
Location: Corner of Prospect St and 36th St NW, Georgetown, Washington, D.C., 20007, USA
William Friedkin’s landmark classic The Exorcist is home to one of our most iconic horror filming locations yet. The steps that claim the lives of both Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran) and Father Karras (Jason Miller) are still there more than 50 years later, and you’ll almost certainly find people exercising on them, as if they aren’t worried that Pazuzu is gonna fling another victim toward them when they least expect it.
While the house from The Exorcist is indeed at the top of the steps (at 3600 Prospect Street), it is more set back than the movie implies (the exterior of Reagan’s window was a facade). But it’s still there, as is the Georgetown campus, where other scenes from the movie were filmed.
The Crystal Shop from Obsession (2026)
Location: The Green Man, 824 N Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505, USA
Our tour of some of the greatest free horror filming locations of North America comes full circle now, bringing us back to Southern California with the most recent movie on the list. Curry Barker’s Obsession was entirely shot in and around Burbank, and the metaphysical supply store The Green Man looks almost exactly like the fictional store from the movie, both inside and out. Just don’t go in hoping to find a display of One Wish Willows.
