When filming horror, sci-fi and fantasy movies, set construction is often necessary to achieve a believable effect. But, some real-life locations are a surprisingly perfect fit, from gritty abandoned power stations and mental hospitals to a town so impossibly perfect it played a film set, these locations have played prominent roles in movies.
The Stanley Hotel, ‘The Shining’
The hotel in Estes Park, Colorado hardly seems like it could serve as inspiration for ‘The Overlook Hotel’ in one of Stephen King’s greatest horror novels. It was during a stay there in the 1970s that King conceived of the basic idea for ‘The Shining’. The hotel is purportedly haunted, and King is said to have had some paranormal experiences during his stay. Contrary to popular belief, he did not write the novel while staying at the Stanley, nor was the Kubrick film version shot there – though parts of the 1997 tv series were.
Battersea Power Station, ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’
At one time, the Battersea Power Station was a gleaming symbol of human progress. It’s Europe’s largest brick building and boasted a lavish, Art Deco interior that has since deteriorated significantly. It appeared in the Beatles’ movie ‘Help!’ and is also pictured on the front of Pink Floyd’s album ‘Animals’. The station fell into disuse, though it remained one of London’s most iconic landmarks. In addition to ‘Children of Men’, ‘Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life’, ‘MacGuyver’, ‘The Dark Knight’ and an episode of ‘LOST’, and recently an episode of ‘New Tricks’, the Battersea Power Station was used as the external façade of the Victory Mansions in the 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell’s novel, ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’.
Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant, ‘The Abyss’
Many of the scenes in science fiction thriller ‘The Abyss’ were filmed in eerie, claustrophobic underwater chambers at the Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant near Gaffney, South Carolina. Millions of gallons of water were brought in to fill existing unfinished structures on the site, making it the largest underwater movie set in the world. It was abandoned in 1983 after the Three Mile Island accident, but is now under control of Duke Power & Southern Co., who plan to redevelop the site for one of the first new nuclear power plants in over 30 years. The DVD of ‘Abyss’ has an interesting “making of” section showing how they used the Cherokee plant.
And finally, I haven’t seen this movie, but the utilisation of perhaps the most famous abandoned place in America - Danvers State Hospital as the bleak, creepy setting for the 2001 horror movie ‘Session 9′ makes me want to see it. In an unusual twist, Danvers didn’t just stand in for a fictional asylum, but actually appeared as itself. The hospital was closed in 1992 but stood abandoned until its demolition in 2005. It was reportedly the inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham Sanitarium, which in turn inspired Arkham Asylum in the Batman comic book series.
Danvers seems so Essex Mountain Sanatorium (posted in May 2008).
....in the 1980s I used to pick my friend up from work at the hospital after an over-night shift,(he was an orderly) it was so quiet up there on the hill...also, in the 1970s our little league coach would take us on scare rides to the hospital at night in his station wagon...now it is a condo housing project.
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