Best in Show: Horror Landscapes (Pt. I of II)

Spring has sprung and as everyone begins venturing outside, it's important to remember the dangers that lurk in the places we go. From sprawling mountains to deserts and deep forests, horror has been using sprawling outdoor settings to instill fear in vacation-goers since the dawn of time. For the characters central to these films, the unknown dangers lurking in these landscapes often take on different forms, but the ending is almost always the same. In honor of Earth Day (April 22), here's a list of horror's scariest landscapes, featuring the threats that lurk within: 



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10. Desert in New Mexico (The Hills Have Eyes)

I saw The Hills Have Eyes 2 prior to ever seeing the first remake or it's original. Yet, there was something so troubling about the arid plateaus surrounding the formerly radioactive site. From the off-putting holes and crannies used by the sequel's somehow more aggressive mutants to the visual dryness of spaces surrounding the home, this desert setting should make anyone long for the comforts of A/C and rivers. This is by far one of the harshest settings of any horror movie around.

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9. Remote Forest (Evil Dead/Cabin in the Woods)

With so many films taking place in a desolate cabin in the wilderness, who pick these two? For one, Evil Dead is perhaps the most emblematic of the horror convention and secondly, The Cabin in the Woods resonated most with me. Each offer similar visuals; a dark and dense tree line with nothing but forests in sight, but each also offers its own unsettling aspects. The woods of Evil Dead seem cold and harsh, with plenty of twisting and turning roots to upset the stomach, while the warmer, more polished forest of The Cabin in the Woods looks far more safe than it actually is. Add in the booby traps and higher intervention of Cabin in the Woods, and what seems like another plain old setting quickly becomes a daunting maze of epic proportions.

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8. Rural New England (The Witch)

There's something drearily plain about the forests surround The Witch, but anyone who's seen the movie knows just what unsettling atmosphere it creates. Sure it looks like any other woods, but exasperated by the dark brooding stories and mythology surrounding it make for a hike that no one would want to take. It's a dimly lit, grey backdrop to an already dark and desolate film. The woods surrounding the farmland of The Witch is visually one of the most on-point settings in modern horror as it pairs a sense of familiarity with an impending feeling of dread.

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7. Amazon Rainforest (The Green Inferno)

Plenty of films take place in the jungles surrounding the Amazon River and Cannibal Holocaust most certainly did so the most prolifically, but it's Eli Roth's The Green Inferno that deserves the credit for encompassing the deep, lush colors of foreigner's image of the rainforest with the stark realities of its dangers and the mythological threats within. It feeds it's audience with imagery that'll make them fall in love with the idea of visiting but then lampoons that with terrible situations that'll make them want to look away. Tie in the unknown-lands aspects of the characters central to this film, and viewers are left with a truly terrifying journey.

 

(imdb.com)

6. "Mount Holliston" Ski Resort (Frozen) 

Okay, so this one's not quite the spring/summer destination others on this list might be, but it undeniably deserves a spot on this list. Following a group of skiers who become trapped on a chair lift on the fictitious Mount Holliston in New England, the visually freezing and stark setting of this film is sure to send chills into its viewers- regardless of the weather outside. It's a grounded, mostly realistic tale of survival that should make skiers and snowboarders weary of chairlifts everywhere.