Editorials
It Came From the Desert: 10 Horror Films Shot In Arizona
While others were recently celebrating Valentine’s Day, the youngest state in the continental United States was busy celebrating its 106th birthday. That state is Arizona and yes, it is a bit of a wee baby when compared to most other states, but don’t let that baby face fool you. Throughout its relatively brief existence, Arizona has been a major player in the world of film.
Arizona first put its stamp on the western and in 1939 Old Tucson Studios was built by Columbia Pictures for the Wesley Ruggles’ film, Arizona. Old Tucson instantly became a hotbed for westerns with a number of hits like Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, 3:10 to Yuma, Rio Bravo and more filming on location. But the Grand Canyon State has been home to much more than just outlaws and gunfights.
Throughout the years Arizona has been the stomping grounds for a number of horror films. Some great, some not-so-great and a whole lot that fall somewhere in between. If you’re looking to get familiar with Arizona horror films, and you should be, the following list of ten films should serve as a great starting point.
Oh, and I won’t be including Psycho because we all know Psycho and it’s only the beginning scenes that take place in the state.
Without further adieu, I present to you ten horror films shot in the beautiful but deadly state of Arizona.
Night of the Lepus — 1972 — Dir. William F. Claxton
Night of the Lepus is a movie about giant mutant rabbits that terrorize a small Arizona town and it was really nearly 46 years before Peter Rabbit, which means rabbits being assholes is nothing new. The plot isn’t the only thing that makes this film wonderful. It also stars Janet Leigh and DeForest Kelley. How incredible is that? Marion Crane and Bones fight rabbits! If you don’t believe me it means you haven’t watched the above clip yet.
Kingdom of the Spiders — 1977 — Dir. John Cardos
I hate spiders. They’re awful, hideous creatures that I want no part of and that’s precisely why I love Kingdom of the Spiders. William Shatner stars as a veterinarian in a rural Arizona town. When the town is suddenly overrun by the creepy, crawly spiders, it’s up to Shatner and a professor from Arizona State to get to save the day. This movie should be a little cheesy B-movie, but it’s legitimately great. And it features the best acting performance cow that you will ever see.
Near Dark — 1987 — Dir. Kathryn Bigelow
Before Kathryn Bigelow was out winning Oscars she was getting down and dirty in the world of genre cinema. One of her early efforts, and arguably her best film to date outside of Point Break, is a little gem known as Near Dark. This film about a group of traveling vampires is one of the coolest, hippest takes on the bloodsucking genre that there is. It also features one of the best performances from the legendary career of Bill Paxton. The entire movie wasn’t shot in Arizona but enough of it was to claim this one for the desert.
Creepshow 2 — 1987 — Dir. Michael Gornick
A year ago Creepshow 2 turned 30 and in its 30 years, it has been the source of great debate amongst horror fans. Is it a good film and a worthy successor to the original film? I think without question it is and I know many others agree, but I’ve heard some noise from more people than I’d like to admit that don’t like this gem. That’s fine and dandy of course, because everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but one thing we should all agree on is that “The Raft” is one of the best segments from any anthology ever. This is the one were some kids float out into the middle of a lake on a raft and are eaten by some sort of goopied-goop. It’s absolutely terrifying. And to make matters worse you can actually visit that lake in Arizona. Don’t know why you would, but you can.
White of the Eye — 1987 — Dir. Donald Cammell
A series of brutal murders hit a wealthy desert community leaving rich housewives mutilated beyond recognition. David Keith plays the deranged killer and believes he was chosen to carry out his sadistic rituals. White of the Eye has sort of slipped under the radar of the years but it’s a film rich in atmosphere and worthy of your time. And it has a Score courtesy of Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason.
Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time — 1991 — Dir. Sylvio Tabet
Marc Singer returns as Dar in Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time and this go-around he is out to stop his evil half-brother played by Wings Hauser. The plot of this movie has Dar traveling to modern-day Los Angeles but all the other stuff is shot in various Arizona locales. Don Coscarelli didn’t direct this one and there’s no Rip Torn but it’s still a ton of fun. At one point they pass a movie theater in LA and the marquee shows that Beastmaster 2 is playing. Can’t beat that.
Suture — 1993 — Dir. Scott McGehee & David Siegel
Suture is a stylish, low budget thriller about a man that awaken some from an attempted murder by his brother to discover he’s in a new body. It’s not a perfect film and stumbles at points along the way, but it features gorgeous black and white cinematography and is never uninteresting. And it features a great performance from Dennis Haysbert.
Eight Legged Freaks — 2002 — Dir. Ellory Elkayem
Oh, great more spiders! If there’s anything worse than hordes of spiders it has to be hordes of giant spiders. Eight Legged Freaks succeeds by knowing exactly what it is. With roots firmly planted in B-movie sci-fi fare from the 1950’s and the charm of 80’s classics, this is a movie that is willing to poke fun at itself along the way in exchange a good time. As a bonus, the film has Doug E. Doug.
Sasquatch Mountain — 2006 — Dir. Steven R. Monroe
I have never seen Sasquatch Mountain. In fact, prior to putting together this list, I had never even heard of it. But I did find the above 10-minute video featuring the film’s best scenes and I think it’s self-explanatory.
Piranha 3D — 2010 — Dir. Alex Aja
Joe Dante is one of my favorite filmmakers and it is my belief that his Piranha is nearly perfect. In 2010, director Alex Aja proved you can remake a nearly perfect film by creating a new, nearly perfect film when he released Piranha 3D. This film is an absurd spectacle of boobs and gore and a prime example of when 3D actually works in a movie. If you don’t like this film I can only assume you don’t like fun. Why don’t you like fun?
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
Looking for New Episodes of “Chucky” on Peacock? Here’s What Changed
‘Mountain Man’ – Joe Manganiello Will Battle Zombies in Upcoming Horror Movie
‘The Blair Witch Project’ – Original Stars Release a Statement Asking Lionsgate for Residuals & Recognition
‘Trap’ – Official Trailer Previews a Wild New Horror Experience from M. Night Shyamalan
‘Longlegs’ – New Teaser Video for NEON Horror Movie Is Soaked in Cryptic Eeriness
You must be logged in to post a comment.