Best horror movies based in new england

When most people think about New England they think about the Salem Witch Trials or Fall trees or old buildings and while that's good, there's so much more to New England than just those things. As a lifelong New England resident I have experienced a lot of different things that make this region so unique. The trees in the fall are nice yes, but our air is cleaner than other parts of the country, our highways and byways are green and mountainous and this all creates a perfect atmosphere for horror and mystery.

I wanted to put together a list of a few horror films that take place in New England and perfectly show off the natural terror in our environment and the more laid-back lifestyle New England has to offer. These are not ranked in any particular order and this is in no way an extensive list.

1. IT - All the IT films

   
   

   Stephen King is also a fellow New England-er and from Maine which is pretty similar to Vermont (Where I am from) with the minimal cities and more suburban to rural areas within the state. A lot of his stories are based in New England but IT is probably the most famous of his works as it's explicitly said to take place in the fictional town of Derry, Maine. Derry I find similar to Poland Maine or Camden Maine with it's one or two main streets with the shops for the town and the town offices and then homes are spread out into other neighborhoods nearby with no large city around. The trees and the mountains in the background of shots really seal the deal of the New England landscape. The foggy mountains and the rivers and valleys are beautiful but can also be altered to be terrifying!

   
   

2. Beetlejuice (1988)

   
   

   While many folks think of Beetlejuice as anything but a horror film, I think it's a prime example of ways a comedy-horror can succeed with audiences. It's an iconic film and even more iconic to my fellow Vermonters as both the original Beetlejuice and the sequel were filmed in East Corinth Vermont which ain't too far from my home town so that's pretty cool. While the film itself is not set in Vermont, it was partially filmed here and is set in the state of Connecticut. Both states represent New England's perfect canvas for wholesome stories or even terrifying and funny ones. The mountains loom over the house in the film and the covered bridge (isn't actually covered in real life) is the catalyst for the film's dive into the underworld and afterlife. The hardware store in the town area, is actually someone's home right now in Vermont but has been changed a few times for filming reasons. Here in Vermont we like to claim Beetlejuice as our own but in Connecticut, the sorry unfolds.

   
   

3. The Conjuring 1 and 3

   
   

   The Conjuring is probably the most well-known New England horror story and the extended universe takes place mostly in New England as well (minus La Llrona, Annabelle, Annabelle Creation, and the Conjuring 2). The first Conjuring film seemed to set the stage for New England horror and the background canvas for other horror stories to fall into the haunted New England farmhouse trend. While yes, a lot of New England farmhouses may be considered haunted, a lot aren't and they're just old and creaky. The first Conjuring film takes place in Rhode Island where the Perron family moved to and Connecticut where Ed and Lorraine live and both states have rich witch cultures from around the Salem Witch Trials era and later into the early 18th century. The real Perron family house looks more like most farmhouses in New England than the film version does. The film has a large white home by a river with a large menacing tree when in real life, the Perron home was more of a longer, dark brown home with a small second floor, a basement that has a "haunted" well and a graveyard on the property. The third Conjuring film also takes place in Connecticut mainly with the Warrens traveling to Northwest Massachusetts and upstate New York (not technically New England but I'll let it slide). All throughout you see these houses that are older and even some that are newer looking that are still thought to be haunted and it's just a really cool setting that changes but never in a crazy jarring way. It all feels smooth and like it all takes place in the general setting of New England which is always a nice touch.

   
   
   
   

4. The VVitch (2015)

   
   

   If you've been following along with my posts for a bit, you know I love Robert Eggers' films so much and The Witch is my second favorite film of his after Nosferatu (2024). This is explicitly titled "The VVitch: a New England Folktale" in promotional materials and in the credits to the film. It's right at the birth of colonial New England as we know it and thus we see some of the first puritan immigrants from England and Ireland travel to what's now Western Massachusetts. You really understand that this is a spin off of the Salem Witch Trial stories but in a much more isolated way that it almost doesn't feel like a film set in Massachusetts. It's creepy and the density of the woods and the animals within it really feel like something I would experience on a hike here in Vermont or anywhere in the region. The gardening is also really accurate to the region because in Western Massachusetts, there are many areas that have been know in historical records or be "Cursed places" when in reality, the soil was just not fit for the crops that folks were planting. The dying crops and the lack of harvest are amplifying the atmosphere of a dark and dreary toned film and the way it's shot is really emphasizing those feelings of dread and sadness.

   
   

5. The Whisperer in the Darkness (2011)

The Whisperer in the Darkness is based on a story by HP Lovecraft who wrote some truly terrifying horror and fantasy-horror tales and stories but this film I haven't seen yet (on my list), takes place in Vermont and centers around some odd footprints found around a gentleman's property in rural Vermont. I love that setting because as someone who often traveled through more rural areas of Vermont, there's nothing. Legitimately nothing for miles and it's just trees and that's it. No cell service and the roads aren't even marked all that well so it's really isolating and I think that isolation makes the hysteria even crazier and the setting for a horror story that much scarier. It's currently on Tubi for free.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the films set in New England since there's a ton! So if you'd like another post, please let me know and I'll make sure to get working on it but I hope something on here was interesting to learn about regarding New England or horror in this region and I'll see ya in the next one.