Mapped: The Sites of the World’s 200 Scariest Horror Movies

"The Geography of Horror," a Halloween-themed interactive map by the software company Esri, plots the locations of 200 horror movies, from Psycho (which evidently took place along California’s interstate 10, somewhere between Blythe and Indio) to Nosferatu (set in a small German town along the Baltic Sea).  

The full-frame presentation of the map allows users to filter the films by decade, making it possible to observe the spread of horror across the globe, over time. Before the 1960s, for example, most horror movies took place in Europe, the birthplace of Frankenstein, Dracula and other classic monsters. Over the decades, Asia gradually became a more popular setting for paranormal horror. The U.S., with its wealth of lonely highways and woodland cabins, has consistently dominated the slasher film genre.

The map draws from IMBD’s list of the highest rated horror films, so it’s a good resource for movie buffs in search of obscure but well-received films, particularly those set in unusual, exotic locales.