There are thousands of horror movies out there, enough for several lifetimes. Each film features a setting that either enhances or is enhanced by finding the creepiness within the mundane. Though many of the terrifying stories share the same settings, some make the most out of their setting to terrifying results.
From outer space to creepy asylums, horror fans have seen it all time and time again. However, these films go above and beyond in the presentation of their setting and make something truly memorable.
10 ‘Underwater’ (2020) — The Ocean
Deep at the bottom of the Marianna Trench, a drilling station suffers intense damage from unknown, massive earthquakes. A small scientific crew remains and faces a deadly task if they want to survive. Walk their way across the ocean floor to another station under the threat of deep pressure, dark waters, and constant lack of oxygen. Unknown to them, a mysterious deep-sea creature is hunting them.
It’s like Alien but 36,000 feet below sea level. Underwater creates an entirely original film set exclusively within the water. Humans aren’t built to survive underwater, but the creature hunting them makes for a delightfully horrifying chase.
9 ‘The Blair Witch Project’ (1999) — The Woods
Three fearless amateur documentarians hike into Burkittsville’s foreboding Black Hills Forest in pursuit of the mythical Blair Witch. Except for the raw material they left behind, the student filmmakers have not been seen for a long year since that terrible night in October 1994.
Besides putting the found-footage genre on the map, The Blair Witch Project brings a new life to the horror of getting lost in the woods. The very tone of the fictional documentary takes an honest and almost improvisational tone, which allows the audience to feel trapped in the forest alongside the film crew truly.
It is safe to say that The Menu became one of 2022’s best horror films for its fresh new take on a hostage horror flick. The film follows a young couple and several other A-list customers who travel to the exclusive restaurant, Hawthorn, to partake in a decadent night of fine food prepared by an intense chef. Plus plenty of horrifying surprises the guests won’t see coming.
Horror movies that take place in everyday settings are often left wanting, but The Menu presents a hilariously dark take on “eat the rich” within an environment the rich know well: a five-star restaurant. With beautiful cinematography of the insane dishes served to the guests, the entire movie serves as a distraction of wealth to hide a more nefarious intent.
7 ‘Unsane’ (2018) — An Psychiatric Hospital
Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy) involuntarily admits herself to a mental care institution. She soon realizes that one of the staff members is a dangerous stalker and tries to prove her sanity before it is too late. But a series of events leads Sawyer to question if it’s all in her head.
Fun fact, this film was shot in only 10 days. This is evident in Unsane‘s raw, realistic qualities. With the unfiltered use of a psychiatric hospital, the film gives the audience a real look into what being involuntarily committed looks like. The film conveys some people’s worst nightmares, the question of, in this all in my head? Or is it real?
6 ‘The Descent’ (2005) — A System of Underground Caves
A year after a terrible incident, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) and her girlfriends go on a cave exploration adventure. The women discover disturbing cave artwork as they delve further and find the remains of an earlier expedition. They soon learn they are not alone when they encounter a pack of terrifying that hunger for human flesh.
One thing is for sure, those who are claustrophobic should avert their eyes when The Descent is on. Set completely within a series of underground caves, the creatures savagely hunt the women into tighter and tighter caves. Caves filled with blood caves the size of a bathtub and wide open caves with no place to run.
5 ‘Life’ (2017) — In the Middle of Space
A sample from Mars may contain proof of extraterrestrial life on the Red Planet. Six astronauts aboard the space station discover that the sample includes a large single-celled creature, the first proof of life outside Earth. The life form has greater intelligence than anybody could have predicted as the crew starts their research, and their methods have unexpected consequences.
Those that compare this to Alien are not completely off course. While it shares similarities with the cult classic, Life‘s ending is one no one saw coming. With the overly saturated market that is space-set horror movies, Life stands out purely for its clever choice of an ending.
4 ‘The Thing’ (1982) — Frozen Tundra
While exploring Antarctica, a group of researchers come across a Norwegian facility near their research station. They soon come to realize something horrible happened there. After they discover that all the Norwegians are dead or missing, they find the remains of a strange creature the Norwegians burned. Terrified by what they’ve stumbled on, they leave, but something comes back with them.
With the danger frozen in ice, the countdown to it thawing out is one of the most suspenseful moments in horror history. Fighting a parasitic alien is hard enough but pair that with an intense cold and dangerous climate, and that make The Thing a classic horror movie.
3 ‘The Shining’ (1980) — A Haunted Hotel
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a writer and recovering alcoholic, relocates to the remote historic Overlook Hotel with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd), taking a job as the hotel’s off-season caretaker. Danny has supernatural skills known as “shining,” which allow him to see dreadful predictions of the future and the past. Due to the supernatural forces that reside in the hotel after the Torrances get snowbound, Jack’s sanity begins to fail.
Everyone who loves horror knows about The Shining, the terrible hotel it takes place in. With numerous terrors around every corner and behind every door, The Shining is a gem of a haunted house movie.
2 ‘The Nun’ (2018) — An Unholy Abbey
When a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania takes her own life, a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate. Together they uncover the order’s unholy secret.
Part of the Conjuring Universe, The Nun is full of religious themes turned into horror storylines. The Nun gives a new meaning to a church turned evil. With the serene and peaceful church usurped by an evil force on par with the devil, the film is terrific at utilizing its setting to the max.
1 ’28 Days Later’ (2002) — A Post-Apocalyptic London
In a top-secret British lab, animal activists release a monkey infected with a highly powerful and contagious test virus, despite the begging of the scientist in charge of operations. 28 days later, the infection has gone from one monkey to the majority of the UK: those infected are left in a murderous state, losing all higher cognitive functions. Jim (Cillian Murphy), a courier, wakes up from his coma in an empty hospital to find that the streets have been heavily littered and are empty. The true terror begins when he realizes that he isn’t alone.
It’s the biohazard apocalypse like you’ve never seen it. Instead of spending too much effort on effects and gore, 28 Days Later focuses more on the characters’ sadness, emptiness, and helplessness. The film depicts a devastated London in such a real and grounded way that it feels like a documentary: the handheld cinematography certainly contributes to that feeling.
