When thinking of horror films, one's mind usually conjures up a few different settings. People think of the woods, as in the Friday the 13th film series. There are the haunted mansions of films such as The Haunting. Some people even envision hotels, used so eerily in The Shining and season 5 of American Horror Story. One setting that doesn't immediately jump to mind is New York City.
When thinking of horror settings, the big city doesn't always play but there have been many great scary films of different types that have successfully induced chills from "The Big Apple."
C.H.U.D. (1984)
There is something creeping around the sewers of New York City. At night, it comes to feed on the homeless. They are referred to as Cannibalistic Human Underground Dwellers or C.H.U.D.
1984's C.H.U.D. is less tongue-in-cheek than its title suggests and is definitely one of the great undervalued "Creature Features". John Heard, Kim Greist, and Daniel Stern stumble on to the existence of the title creatures. New York City is used to great effect, as most of the film takes place at night and the darkened streets create an eerie vibe. Atmospherically speaking, with its dark and violent view of the New York streets, this film could be a proper companion piece to John Carpenter's Escape From New York.
The Sentinel (1976)
In the first all-out horror film from the director of Charles Bronson's Death Wish, 1977's The Sentinel told the story of a woman who moves into an NYC apartment building that houses a devilish evil.
Adapted from the novel by Jeffery Konvitz, who created the undervalued Christmas horror tale, Silent Night Deadly Night, Michael Winner's New York set horror uses the skyline to good effect. When the sun goes down, the city lights no longer offer a safe haven for the inhabitants of the building. Now they represent the night and the awakening of the evil that comes with it.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Roman Polanski entered himself into horror film history with his smash adaptation of Ira Levin's hit novel Rosemary's Baby. Mia Farrow stars as a young mother who moves with her husband (John Cassavettes) into a New York apartment building that is inhabited by a cult of devil worshippers.
The film received rave reviews and was among the biggest horror hits of its time. Now widely regarded as a pure classic, Polanski's film took the comfort of living in a swank NYC apartment and turned it into a soul-endangering trap from which Rosemary could not escape. Producer Robert Evans tried to lure Polanski back to direct a sequel but the director declined. The sequel was subsequently made as a television film but was not well-received.
Mimic (1997)
Guillermo del Toro made his American debut with the exciting Creature Feature Mimic starring Mira Sorvino. The film is about genetically created insects that set out to destroy the human population of New York City.
The city had not looked that grimy since the films of the early 1970s. Del Toro masterfully creates an uneasy feeling brought out through superior sound design and darkly-hued cinematography from Dan Laustsen. A series of straight-to-video Mimic sequels followed without the blessing of the filmmaker.
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
Keanu Reeves does an awkward accent but gives a good performance as a Southern lawyer who accepts a job with a big New York City law firm. Al Pacino is his boss, who also happens to be The Devil.
The Devil's Advocate has a silly premise but director Taylor Hackford creates macabre humor out of the tale of a lawyer who is caught in a demonic time-arena who "sells his soul" for power. Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves played well off of one another and a then little-known actress named Charlize Theron nearly stole the acting honors as Reeves' wife.
Wait Until Dark (1967)
Audrey Hepburn stars as a blind woman being terrorized by three villains who believe there is heroin hidden in her apartment. Former James Bond film director Terence Young created a New York City apartment that was a safe haven for Hepburn's lonely, blind woman but the sounds of the streets would never fully quiet and made for an uneasy and out-of-reach safety for her character.
Wait Until Dark is considered one of the most frightening films of the genre for its brilliant use of small space and darkness and for possessing one of the most audience-shocking jump-scares in film history.
Maniac (1980)
Gritty, grungy, and violent, William Lustig's 1980 NYC-set horror film Maniac was one of the great Grindhouse films of its decade. Joe Spinell starred as a demented killer who scalps women and uses their skins to make wigs for his mannequins.
One of the most disturbing of all '80s slasher films, Lusitg used the dingy and sleazier parts of the city to unnerving effect. The violence and dirtiness of the streets and the film's killer seem to find a grisly symmetry.
Sisters (1972)
Brian De Palma began his cinematic homages to Alfred Hitchcock with Sisters, his 1972 horror film that centers on a writer (Margot Kidder) living on New York's Staten Island who sees a murder in the apartment across the street. No one believes her and the film turns into a lurid tale of death and sibling rivalry.
NYC is used as a backdrop and most of the film takes place inside but the New York attitudes are ever present in the characters and the stuffiness of the apartments is used to chilling effect by De Palma.
American Psycho (2000)
Based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel, Mary Harron's American Psycho is a vicious and hilariously macabre parable of the "out for blood" attitude of banking executives circa the 1980s. Christian Bale does some of his finest work as Patrick Bateman, a homicidal maniac who loves the thrill of the kill and counts it as part of his hedonistic lifestyle.
Harron captures the NYC of the '80s by shooting the skyscrapers as sharp, sliver blades cutting through the landscape and keeping the scenes inside Bateman's home fully lit, as there is nowhere to hide from his bloody violence. Harron's film is widely considered to be one of the best horror films of the 2000s.
The Seventh Victim (1943)
Set in Greenwich Village, The Seventh Victim finds Kim Hunter searching for her missing sister and uncovering a Satanic cult. Produced by Val Lewton, the film contains his signature overall mood.
Regarded as one of the best films about the terrors of Devil worship, Lewton and director Robson turned the welcoming and artistic aura of Greenwich village on its head, making it a most sinister and dangerous place. The film exists as a haunting and quite lyrical piece that is as much pure noir suspense as it is horror.