Still not sure how you'll be celebrating Halloween tonight? How about settling in with a scary movie? Here are 10 of our all-time favorites for both intriguing sets and spine-tingling creepiness. Add your favorites in the comments.
- The Shining (1980): This Stanley Kubrick movie is full of iconic interior shots, from hotel halls flooding with blood to a creepy ballroom filled with well-dressed ghosts. It's also a terrifying story that's one of the best horror films to date.
- Rosemary's Baby (1968): As a young couple start decorating their new apartment, weird things begin to happen, including an unexpected pregnancy.
- The Exorcist (1973): The Georgetown setting and the traditional interiors make this terrifying movie even creepier.
- Dracula (1992): Francis Ford Coppola's movies are always worth watching for interior inspiration — this one has a dark, 19th-century glam look.
- Psycho (1960): Only Alfred Hitchcock (and maybe Stanley Kubrick) could make a bathroom such a scary place.
- Poltergeist (1982): The Freeling family's home seems completely mundane until the ghosts show up. This movie wins the award for best horrifying use of a TV set.
- Cemetery Man (1994): This film (which was first released in Italy as Dellamorte Dellamore) didn't get too much attention, which is a shame because it's funny, stylish, weird, and creepy. Rupert Everett stars as a handsome zombie-killing grave digger who lives in a small but stylish shack.
- Scream (1996): Suburban family houses and teenage parties form the backdrop for this semi-scary Wes Craven film. It wins best horrifying use of a boxy 1990s cordless phone.
- Jacob's Ladder (1990): A Vietnam vet suffering from PTSD experiences a series of flashbacks through various apartments, homes, and pieces of his life.
- The Sixth Sense (1999): This psychological thriller has some great interiors, including scary spiral staircases and dark but well decorated homes.
Photos: The Shining via DVD Beaver, Rosemary's Baby via IMDB, Dracula via Allocine, The Exorcist via IMDB, Pyscho via IMDB, Poltergeist via IMDB, Cemetery Man via DVD Beaver, Scream via Allocine, Jacob's Ladder via IMDB, The Sixth Sense via DVD Beaver
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This post lacks effort I think. There are some great set pieces in a lot of these movies and screen captures with a little more text would be nice.
Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetary Man) is one of the strangest movies I've ever seen, and not one that many people seem to be familiar with. The sets are definitely striking.
That carpet in The Shining is reeaally scary! Rosemary's Baby is of course mainly about decor. She transforms a creepy dark Gothic apartment into a typical mid-60s flat: all walls and woodwork white (very avant garde), G plan sofas with green tweed upholstery, and a pale yellow scheme in the bedroom with flowery wallpaper... The real-seeming settings make it such a good film. (We also get to see inside the flats of the Castevets and Maurice.)
Just watched the Korean film "A Tale of Two Sisters" last night, which was riddled with incredible patterns and thick, rich colors. A gorgeous and fabulous movie.
Another great one for the list: Suspiria!
I'm with Mattster. It doesn't even show any of the decor?
Although not scary in a Halloween type of way, but creepy nonetheless is "Single White Female". That decor was fitting...I think it took place at the Ansonia in NYC..very creepy scenes.
Where's the Décor on the Psycho still?
Yeah, this seems a bit lazy. I'd like to see a few more examples of actual "decor".
@aaron able - Totally agree! Dario Argento films are awesome for set design and creepy stories!
I'd add The Others, Sleepy Hollow and From Hell, and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.
One of my faves is Rosemary's Baby...but I also like the young couple's apartment in the beginning of Dead Silence.
Rosemary's Baby is set in the beautiful Dakota and the 60s fashion and decor are a treat.
I tried to watch a netflix, Tam Lin, a black and white movie set in Scotland about 60s partiers at a beatiful estate, but fell asleep. Will try it again.
All the 70's Hammer Studio movies are full of atmosphere.
Yesterday we saw a screening of Nosferatu with a real chamber orchestra. I was right in front! It doesn't get any better than that.
Oh yes, it does! I once saw a screening of Cockteau's Beauty and the Beast with a live opera by Philip Glass. Best thing ever!
Another vote for "A Tale of Two Sisters". Gorgeous colors and patterns and a great movie.
I liked the apartment in "Joshua, Shutter, and Cloverfield."
I agree with ChrisGal, Dead Silence in the beginning, nice apartment.
Can never get enough big, brooding English country houses, so this inspired me to add The Others and The Innocents to my queue.
susperia!!!!
Around age 8 I used to live near a Montana hotel a la "The Shining" so that one rings true. I had read the book before seeing the movie and I pictured that hotel as the setting--CHILLS! Not only were the interiors eerie in the movie, they were also quite similar to the hotel I knew, making it doubly creepy. The ballroom (pre-blood flood!) in particular struck home with me, as did the seemingly endless hallways. I love suspenseful fright films (as opposed to gore) and "The Shining" even beats "Psycho" by just thaaat much!