With the recent release of Halloween Kills, fans have been discussing the scariest moments and elements of the popular horror series. While obviously Michael and his devastating kills are among the hot topics, one creepy aspect of the series should not be overlooked.
The Halloween series is also home to a fair amount of scary locations that make viewers squirm in their seats. It is always terrifying to think The Shape could be lurking around any corner, but sometimes the building that contains said corner could be just as terrifying in its own way.
Smith's Grove Sanitarium
Michael's home for the majority of his life was the unsettling Smith's Grove Sanitarium. First being sent there at six, Michael escaped in 1978 in one of the most terrifying and unforgettable moments in the first film. On Halloween night, he is yet again detained where he remained for forty further years. This is where fans first see him in the 2018 reboot and one of the best looks inside the Sanitarium they have gotten yet.
What makes the building so unnerving, is the large rec area where Michael is seen hanging out. The checkered floor is already somewhat off-putting, but the large number of criminals and the list of rules given to protect visitors is what seals the deal. Even without the deadly shape of Michael Myers in the middle of it all, this is not the kind of place most people would enjoy visiting in their free time.
Haddonfield Memorial Hospital
There are a large of people who are afraid of hospitals. Take away a majority of the staff and add in Michael Myers, and Haddonfield Memorial Hospital becomes one of the scariest hospitals in existence. In the original sequel to Halloween released in 1981, most of the film takes place in the hospital. Inexplicably, the building is mostly empty save for a handful of staff, patients, and of course Michael.
Taking place the same night as the original film, her time at the hospital is one of the first times Laurie felt safe that night, making Michael's return all the more upsetting. There are several shots of Michael walking down long, empty hallways in dim lighting. Imagining being incapacitated in bed while a killer is outside the door is enough to give anyone a fear of hospitals.
Silver Shamrock Factory
Halloween III: Season Of The Witch has been claimed as underrated by some Halloween fans and awful by others. Regardless of the fan's stand on the film, the lumbering Silver Shamrock Factory is clearly one of the spookiest locations throughout the franchise's 43-year history. One thing that made the original so scary is how familiar it was to many people. This is no exception, as most fans have seen an old factory that has given them the creeps at some point.
The factory in this film not only looks imposing, but it also houses a Halloween-obsessed mad man looking to use masks to bring the holiday back to its terrifying roots. This familiarity is what makes fans so uneasy when seeing the factory, and seeing what is inside only confirms their fears.
Thorn Cult
It is no secret that most fans want to forget the Cult of Thorn subplot was even a thing. In short, Halloween 6 reveals that there is an ancient cult that cursed Michael Myers as a child to kill his entire family. This takes away all mystery of Myers, and almost makes him a victim as opposed to a force of evil. While this was retconned by the next film, the cult's base of operation was still pretty creepy. In the center is a large altar where the subject is tied down.
Standing around the altar, is a large group of hooded people and occasionally, Michael Myers. As laughably bad as this subplot is to most, there is no denying that this setup is freaky and spine-chilling, even if it doesn't belong in a series that was originally so grounded as Halloween.
Wallace House
On Halloween night, 1978 Laurie Strode spent most of the night babysitting while her friends went and goofed off. When she went to the Wallace house to check on her friends, she found something straight out of a nightmare that changed her life forever and became one of the scariest scenes in the Halloween franchise.
Michael Myers had not only killed her friends, but he had also displayed them for poor Laurie to find. Knowing that such an unassuming house could hide such horrors is enough to make anybody squirm. The Wallace's left their young daughter for the night with a trusted babysitter, not expecting their house to become a showcase of evil.
Laurie's House
After the events of Halloween 1978, Laurie Strode has spent the last forty years turning her home into a fortress. While Laurie doesn't seem as traumatized by the end of Halloween II, which has plenty of unpopular opinions, the 2018 reboot retcons it, meaning she has faced Myers once and is begging for a rematch. If Laurie had been alone all these years, the heavily fortified homestead wouldn't have been as bad.
However, Laurie had a daughter that, up until she was 12, had to live in the house surrounded by firearms and trap doors. Being around such a dark and depressing surrounding during her younger years, it is nothing short of a surprise that Karen didn't turn out worse than she did. The house may have been created as a way to defeat evil, but that doesn't make it any less intimidating.
The Myers House
On October 31, 1963, a young boy named Michael brutally and senselessly murdered his sister in an upstairs bedroom. The family home had been the subject of local Haddonfield ghost stories ever since. The Myers house first appeared in the opening moments of the original film and has been a subject in several sequels.
The house has changed appearances several times over the course of the series, but it always remained scary. Halloween Kills sees the return of the original, and arguably scariest, design of the house and puts it in the center of the story. The Myers house was the birth of evil and reminded viewers of an old house they may have believed to be haunted in their youth, which makes the terror personal.