Photo courtesy of G Yancy/CC BY 2.0.
It turns out the Lone Star State is quite popular as a horror setting. From classic films to more modern-day scares, here are 12 scary movies set in Texas.
Spooky season is upon us! Hopefully, you’re practicing appropriate habits like gorging on candy and donning your most festive seasonal clothing. This time of year is also perfect for curling up under a cozy blanket and watching scary movies.
Many filmmakers believe Texas lends itself to creepy vibes, from rural towns to spacious farmland. There’s no shortage of films that capitalize on the Lone Star State, often filming here, as well.
Here are 12 horror films and scary movies set in Texas, listed chronologically. We’ll do our best not to spoil them so you can be properly frightened.
1. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974)
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” might be the most Texan movie on the entire list. Filmmaker Tobe Hooper primarily used Texas actors who hadn’t really appeared in films, instead selecting commercial, TV, or stage actors. The main location is set at an early 1900s farmhouse north of Austin in Round Rock, with temperatures regularly surpassing 100 degrees while filming. Despite, or perhaps because of, the suboptimal shooting conditions, the movie turned into a smash success, grossing $30.9 million at the box office compared to a modest $140,000 budget. The “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” series has persisted for 50 years, with nine movies alongside books, comics, and video games.
2. “Race with the Devil” (1975)
The main characters in “Race with the Devil” own a motorcycle shop in San Antonio. The stress of working gets to them, so they pack into an RV for a ski vacation in Aspen, Colorado. Because more than nine hours of that ride is still in Texas—it’s a big state, as you may have noticed during a road trip—the group decides to set up camp in central Texas. When they spot a human sacrifice as part of a Satanic ritual, their adventure gets a little more intense. The movie was shot on location in Texas, with scenes in Bandera, San Antonio, Castroville, Tarpley, and Leakey.
3. “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” (1976)
Can you imagine dreading sundown? I just took my dog for a walk as the sun set, and we both had a lovely time! Thankfully, we don’t live in this town. The movie is loosely (and we do mean loosely) based on the 1946 Texarkana Moonlight Murders that occurred in Bowie County. Shooting occurred in areas of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. If you’re near Texarkana, you can watch the film at the annual “Movies in the Park,” a tradition that’s been going on since 2003.
4. “Eaten Alive” (1976)
The poster for this movie could be confused for a “Crocodile Dundee” spin-off, but this one’s far more scary. Neville Brand plays the owner of the Starlight Hotel in rural Texas with a peculiar habit: He feeds guests he doesn’t like to the crocodile that lives in the swamp next to the hotel. When released, the film received negative reviews, but it gained a bit more of a positive (or at least a mixed) outlook in subsequent decades. Quentin Tarantino—who we’ll see later on this list—loved Robert Englund’s performance so much that he referenced one of his character’s lines in “Kill Bill.”
5. “The Swarm” (1978)
In the mid-70s, disaster movies were a prevalent trend. “The Swarm” set to capitalize on that excitement, but audiences were looking for new thrills by the time it was finally released. It also doesn’t help that “The Swarm” simply doesn’t have a great story: A ton of bees—between 15 and 22 million were used during production—escape south Texas and head north to terrorize Houston. The production was a box office bomb but has some redeeming value. You can see stars Michael Caine, Olivia de Havilland, Henry Fonda, and Katharine Ross, plus Fred MacMurray in his final film appearance. The movie also features some truly impressive costume design, so visually, it’s quite the treat.
6. “The Initiation” (1984)
A college student has a recurring nightmare of an unknown man being burned alive in her childhood home. The dreams turn to real life when a killer stalks the student and her sorority sisters during their initiation in a department store. Lead actress Daphne Zuniga has fond memories of her first major role: “It was a great part. I got to play twins: a good sister and an evil sister. I got shot in the back on-screen.” Delightful. The movie was primarily shot at the Dallas Market Center and around the SMU campus. “The Initiation” was released to largely negative reviews, though, like many good horror movies, it has become an annual cult classic.
7. “House of 1000 Corpses” (2003)
I’d be spooked to find one corpse in my house, and Rob Zombie’s directorial debut ratches that up times a thousand. Zombie came up with the film while he was creating a haunted-house attraction for Universal Studios Hollywood. Set in late 1970s Texas, the movie follows a group of college kids visiting unusual roadside attractions who eventually meet some serial killers. Universal Studios thought the film was too grotesque and wouldn’t be marketable, so Zombie acquired the rights himself. “House of 1000 Corpses” made back more than double its budget and has spawned two sequels, 2005’s “The Devil’s Rejects” and 2019’s “3 from Hell.”
8. Grindhouse (2007)
“Grindhouse” was released theatrically as a double feature, consisting of the films “Deathproof” by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror.” Both movies have significant settings in Texas, so you get a double dose of creepy fun. “Deathproof” starts with a scene in a Congress bar in Austin before hitting the open road. Meanwhile, “Planet Terror” takes place in rural Texas and, as you may recall from the trailer, features Rose McGowan with a super cool machine gun leg.
9. “Exists” (2014)
Eduardo Sánchez struck movie gold with “The Blair Witch Project,” and he returned to the found footage formula with “Exists.” A group of friends head to a cabin deep in the woods in East Texas—surely a recipe for a calm and unfrightening trip. Their car hits something on the road, and shortly after, a Bigfoot appears. Exists didn’t receive stellar reviews and didn’t have the same success as “The Blair Witch Project,” though the score hits that perfect tense balance that every horror film should strive for.
10. “Bloody Scum” (2015)
Don’t head into “Bloody Scum” expecting groundbreaking theatre, and you’ll be just fine. The movie is a low-budget slasher film set in a countryside Texas town and features gratuitous blood and nudity—the movie poster is an obvious indication of that. Yet there are also some clever visual gags, funny (if corny) one-liners, and quirky commercial parodies and songs. If you can stomach the blood, it’s got all the essential elements for a ghoulish time.
11. “The Dark and the Wicked” (2020)
Sometimes, you don’t have to go beyond your backyard to make a movie. Or, in the case of “The Dark and the Wicked,” you just need to go to your parents’ farm. Writer-director Bryan Bertino shot on location at a Texan farm that his parents own. The plot finds two siblings taking on a demonic entity after their mom dies by suicide, and it’s got a lot of classic terrifying moments. The jump scares are plentiful, the score sets an eerie atmosphere, and the lo-fi feel of shots immerses you in the environment. Your heart rate will be quicker by the end credits, the mark of any successful scary movie.
12. “X” (2022)
Typically, when a movie in a series comes out, we often have to wait a couple of years, if not longer, before the next film gets released. The “X” film series, written, directed, and produced by Ti West and starring Mia Goth in dual lead roles, shot two movies at once. “X” premiered on March 13, 2022, at SXSW, while “Pearl,” a prequel, debuted at Venice less than six months later, on September 3, 2022. “X“ finds us watching the cast and crew of an adult movie arriving at an elderly couple’s rural Texas farmhouse to film, but once nighttime falls, all kinds of spooky things start happening. These movies offer welcome modern twists to the horror genre while paying homage to classic films, including “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Scares really do come full circle.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
