Movies
Exploring the Forgotten 1980s Thanksgiving Slashers
Eli Roth’s new movie Thanksgiving (which is an expansion of the parody trailer “Thanksgiving” that was created for the 2007 throwback double feature Grindhouse) is set to premiere on November 17, which means the discourse around “Thanksgiving” is being taken out of tin foil and re-heated once more. This annoys me because I thought I’d never have to read about the idea behind the trailer again.
The Origins of Holiday Slasher Films
The story goes like this: In the 1970s and 1980s, the slasher genre was obsessed with movies centered around holidays or special occasions. Silent Night, Deadly Night. Black Christmas. Halloween. My Bloody Valentine, New Year’s Evil, Mother’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Happy Birthday to Me, Prom Night, Friday the 13th, and so on. You get the picture. Roth came up with the idea to create a trailer for a fake early ‘80s slasher based around Thanksgiving because when he was a kid, “every November we were waiting for the Thanksgiving slasher movie.”
But here’s the thing. There were actually two 1980s slashers set on Thanksgiving. To be fair to the young Roth, these Thanksgiving movies were not huge releases, nor were they actually released around the Thanksgiving holiday, so he can be forgiven for not being aware of them at the time. But they existed, dammit, and there was plenty of time between 1989 and 2007 to look into this. “Thanksgiving” is thus not really filling a void at all. He shoulda done Columbus Day, just saying.
Exploring Forgotten Thanksgiving Horror Films
The moral of the story is that I’m an insufferable pedant. Don’t be like me. But do come with me on a journey through the pair of movies that prove Eli Roth wrong. We’ll take a look at what they have to offer and rate them on how Thanksgiving-y they actually are, on a scale from one to five turkeys.
Home Sweet Home (1981)
Home Sweet Home isn’t a terribly memorable slasher movie, unfortunately. However, it does have the distinction of being the first of just a scant few 1980s slashers to be directed by a woman (documentarian Nettie Peña).
The movie is entirely watchable, though, because it is so thoroughly weird and random. Even its opening scene is disorienting: A man who seems to be hanging out in the L.A. riverbed proffers beer directly to the camera before the killer leaps into frame on the reverse shot and strangles him to death. Who is this man? And who is he offering the beer to? Is it us? We’ll never know. RIP Beer Man.
This is also a movie where a teenage boy named Mistake runs around with an electric guitar amp strapped to his back while slathered in faux KISS makeup, making him look less “Starchild” and more “mime on laundry day.” Once the escaped mental patient descends on the ranch and the slashing heats up, things get a bit dull and bloodless, but it never stops offering up unpredictable and strange encounters with a vast ensemble of characters who seem to have learned about human behavior via correspondence course.
This off-kilter vibe extends to the cast, which randomly includes then-five-year-old Hocus Pocus star Vinessa Shaw. Also, as the killer, we have Jake “Uncle of Hailee” Steinfeld, the Body by Jake workout mogul who was known for being a personal trainer for celebrities, including Harrison Ford.
How Thanksgiving-y Is It? You’d be forgiven for forgetting Home Sweet Home is set on Thanksgiving in the first place. The only real indications that this is the case are the fact that the group is gathered for a turkey dinner and several mentions of Thanksgiving in the copy on the VHS box.
1 out of 5 turkeys
Blood Rage (1987)
Hoo boy. If you thought Home Sweet Home was weird, get ready for Blood Rage. So this movie is about a young man breaking out of a mental institution and coming home, at which point a bunch of killings happen. Seems straightforward, right? Wrong. The killings are actually perpetrated by his twin brother, who framed him in the first place and is mostly just mad that his mother (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman’s Louise Lasser) is getting engaged. It’s all very Oedipal.
Blood Rage is a family drama potboiler that keeps crashing headlong into a 1980s slasher movie, complete with ooey gooey gore from future Terminator 2 effects guru Ed French. It’s all very heady and exciting, even if the third act could probably have used some tightening up. Also, it’s the only slasher movie I can recall where the killer stops to take a pee break, which is well worth the price of admission.
This movie probably still rests in the “bad-good” camp, but it’s weighted so much toward the good that it’s hard even to tell the difference. In addition to Lasser and French consistently bringing the house down, Mark Soper gives a surprisingly complex performance as both twins.
How Thanksgiving-y Is It? Solidly Thanksgiving-y. The kills and many individual scenes aren’t specifically themed after the holiday, alas. But it does take place explicitly on Thanksgiving night. There’s a football game complete with tiny short shorts, Terry can’t stop pointing at his bloody blade and remarking “It’s not cranberry sauce,” and Louise Lasser has a sublime freakout scene where she sits on the floor in front of the fridge and desperately chows down on leftovers. Plus, what’s more Thanksgiving-y than a movie about what happens when a relative you can’t stand comes to town?
3 out of 5 turkeys
Can Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving Outshine the Classics?
This does in fact leave some wiggle room for Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving to out-festive both of these titles put together. That remains to be seen, but hopefully the new movie is a true cornucopia of Thanksgiving-ified fun.
Then maybe I’ll stop complaining. Probably not. But maybe.
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.
