The horror movies of 2026 are taking audiences far beyond haunted houses and jump scares. From deserted islands and ancient tombs to endless liminal spaces and sinister apartment buildings, many of the biggest horror movies of 2026 are using location as a key part of the terror. Whether they’re inspired by real destinations or entirely fictional worlds, these settings help turn already unsettling stories into full-blown nightmares.
As horror fans continue searching for the must-watch horror movies of 2026, it’s clear that some of this year’s most talked-about releases aren’t just memorable because of their monsters or villains – they’re memorable because of where they take place. These horror movies of 2026 prove that sometimes the scariest thing isn’t what’s chasing you, but the location you’re trapped in.
From Backrooms and Send Help to The Mummy and Insidious: Out of the Further, here are nine horror movie locations of 2026 we’d rather not visit after dark.
Backrooms
Director
Kane Parsons
Cast
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell
Plot
Based on the viral internet phenomenon that terrified millions online, Backrooms follows a furniture store owner who discovers a mysterious doorway leading to an endless maze of interconnected rooms. What begins as curiosity soon becomes a fight for survival inside a reality where the rules of space and time no longer seem to apply.
Location We’d Rather Not Visit After Dark
While Backrooms takes place inside a seemingly endless maze of yellow corridors, vacant office spaces and fluorescent-lit rooms, the film was shot across locations in Canada, with production transforming everyday commercial interiors into the movie’s unsettling liminal world. The concept itself stems from the internet-famous “Backrooms” creepypasta, which was inspired by the eerie feeling of getting lost in empty office buildings, abandoned shopping centers, and forgotten public spaces. Rather than sending audiences to a haunted house or a remote forest, Backrooms finds horror in places that feel strangely ordinary – prompting viewers to question whether the next anonymous hallway they walk through could lead somewhere far more sinister. Eek!
Obsession
Director
Curry Barker
Cast
Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter
Plot
After using a mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win over his longtime crush, a hopeless romantic gets exactly what he wished for – only to discover that some desires come with terrifying consequences. What begins as a dream romance quickly spirals into obsession, paranoia, and horror.
Location We’d Rather Not Visit After Dark
While the story was originally imagined as set in a small Southern town, Obsession was filmed throughout Los Angeles County, including Burbank, North Hollywood, and San Fernando. Real locations such as Cassell’s Music, Little Toni’s restaurant, and The Green Man crystal shop all appear in the film, helping ground its increasingly supernatural story in recognizable everyday places.
Scary Movie
Director
Mike Tiddes
Cast
Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Lochlyn Munro
Plot
Twenty-six years after first outrunning a masked killer, Cindy, Brenda, Shorty, and the gang return for another round of horror-movie chaos. This latest installment spoofs modern horror hits while bringing back several fan-favorite characters from the original films.
Location We’d Rather Not Visit After Dark
While the film’s story jumps between various horror-inspired settings, production was primarily based in Atlanta, Georgia, with filming taking place at Tyler Perry Studios. The city has become one of Hollywood’s busiest production hubs, providing the backdrop for everything from slasher-movie suburbs to haunted houses and supernatural nightmares.
Passenger
Director
André Øvredal
Cast
Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, Melissa Leo
Plot
A young couple’s van-life adventure takes a terrifying turn after they witness a fatal car accident. Soon, they find themselves pursued by a supernatural entity that seems impossible to escape, no matter how far they travel.
Location We’d Rather Not Visit After Dark
Road trips are usually about freedom, but Passenger turns open roads into something far more sinister. Filmed across British Columbia, Canada, the movie uses remote highways, dense forests, and isolated stretches of countryside that leave its characters with nowhere to run. It’s the kind of horror that taps into a universal fear: being miles from civilization when something starts following you.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy
Director
Lee Cronin
Cast
Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, Natalie Grace, May Calamawy, Verónica Falcón
Plot
The latest reimagining of the classic monster follows a journalist whose daughter mysteriously disappears in Egypt, only to return years later transformed by an ancient evil. Rather than retreading the action-adventure route, director Lee Cronin brings the mythology firmly into horror territory with a story rooted in family trauma and the supernatural.
Location We’d Rather Not Visit After Dark
While the story begins with a disappearance in Egypt, much of The Mummy was filmed in Ireland and Spain, with locations around Powerscourt Estate, Ardmore Studios, and Almería doubling for Egyptian settings. Streets, plazas, and historic buildings in southern Spain were transformed into ancient-world backdrops, while Ireland provided the film’s more domestic and unsettling environments.
Send Help
Director
Sam Raimi
Cast
Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang
Plot
After a plane crash leaves them stranded on a deserted island, two co-workers must work together to survive. But as resources dwindle and tensions rise, their fight for survival becomes just as dangerous as the island itself.
Location We’d Rather Not Visit After Dark
While Send Help takes place on a remote tropical island, the film was shot in Queensland, Australia, using its lush coastline, dense rainforest, and secluded beaches. The idyllic setting is a far cry from the haunted houses usually associated with horror, but that’s precisely what makes it unsettling. One minute, it looks like the perfect vacation destination; the next, it’s a place where help isn’t coming.
Ice Cream Man
Director
Eli Roth
Cast
Ari Millen, Benjamin Byron Davis, Karen Cliche, Dylan Hawco, Sarah Abbott
Plot
Eli Roth’s latest horror film follows a mysterious ice cream vendor whose frozen treats transform children into violent killers. What starts as a seemingly ordinary summer quickly descends into chaos as an idyllic community finds itself under attack from its own kids.
Location We’d Rather Not Visit After Dark
Set in the fictional coastal town of Bayleen Bay, Ice Cream Man turns a picture-perfect small-town setting into something far more sinister. Filmed in Newfoundland, Canada, the movie makes use of colorful neighborhoods, quiet residential streets, and seaside communities that initially feel straight out of a postcard. That’s exactly what makes the horror work – the more wholesome the setting looks, the more unsettling it becomes when everything starts to unravel.
They Will Kill You
Director
Kirill Sokolov
Cast
Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, Patricia Arquette, Tom Felton, Heather Graham
Plot
After answering an ad for a housekeeping job, a woman takes work inside a mysterious New York City apartment building. As residents continue to disappear, she uncovers disturbing secrets suggesting something far more sinister lurks behind the building’s walls.
Location We’d Rather Not Visit After Dark
Set almost entirely within a towering New York City high-rise known as The Virgil, They Will Kill You turns luxury city living into a nightmare. The film leans into the claustrophobic side of urban life, where hundreds of people can live under the same roof without really knowing their neighbors. Between hidden corridors, locked apartments, and rumors of a satanic cult, this is one New York address we’d happily avoid after sunset.
Insidious: Out of the Further
Director
Jacob Chase
Cast
Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Lin Shaye
Plot
The sixth installment in the Insidious franchise returns audiences to The Further, the terrifying spirit realm that exists beyond the world of the living. As new supernatural forces emerge, a fresh group of characters finds themselves confronting entities that should never have been disturbed.
Location We’d Rather Not Visit After Dark
Unlike most entries on this list, Insidious: Out of the Further isn’t centered around a real-world destination. Instead, it takes place largely within The Further, the franchise’s eerie alternate dimension filled with shadowy corridors, abandoned spaces, and supernatural entities. Filmed in Los Angeles, the movie combines practical sets and visual effects to expand the nightmarish realm, creating a location that feels both familiar and completely disconnected from reality. For horror fans, it’s easily one of 2026’s most unsettling destinations.
