Hospitals are already kind of unsettling places, even on an ordinary day. The long winding hallways, fluorescent lights, and medical equipment all make for an uncomfortable atmosphere. And because many of us only enter a hospital when extremely sick (or when visiting someone who is), we tend to associate them with dread and vulnerability. They are the perfect setting for a horror movie. Filmmakers have certainly figured this out. We’ve now seen everything from abandoned psychiatric facilities to regular local hospitals in horror films. These eight horror movies make particularly good use of their hospital settings.
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween II picks up immediately after the original movie Halloween, with an injured and shocked Laurie Strode being rushed to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. She is lucky to have survived Michael Myers’ killing spree, but she never quite feels safe in the hands of medical staff. She can’t shake the feeling that Michael might still be coming for her, and for good reason. Laurie’s intuition is spot on, and Michael soon makes his way to the hospital to continue what he started. The understaffed hospital with its drunk doctor and less-than-professional employees places Laurie in grave danger. It’s a perfect setting for Michael to wreak havoc.
The Exorcist III (1990)
The Exorcist III may not be as famous as the original, but it makes excellent use of a hospital setting. The movie follows Lieutenant William Kinderman as he investigates multiple gruesome murders that all seem connected to a serial killer. The odd part is that this serial killer has been dead for years. His investigation brings him to a psychiatric ward, where one particular patient looks an awful lot like Father Damien Karras, the priest from the original Exorcist. The hospital is the setting for the movie’s scariest scenes, including a hallway moment with a famous jump scare. It is a strange and dark horror movie, and its quiet and ominous hospital scenes are quite effective.
Grave Encounters (2011)
Grave Encounters is about a paranormal reality show. The crew decides to lock themselves inside a now-defunct psychiatric hospital overnight. At first, they eagerly search the building, hoping to capture something supernatural on camera. Eventually, the building starts changing and they realize escape isn’t possible. The hospital is almost like a monster itself, with hallways stretching as far as the eye can see. To add authenticity, filmmakers shot at the real Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, British Columbia, which was previously a psychiatric hospital. If wandering around an abandoned hospital at night sounds like fun to you, Grave Encounters might just change your mind.
The Void (2016)
In The Void, a police officer comes across an injured man and takes him to a local hospital staffed by a small group of doctors and nurses. Things become unhinged when hooded figures surround the building. Even worse, something more disturbing starts happening inside it. This movie quickly unravels into grotesque creatures, bizarre medical equipment, and nightmarish images. One of the best parts of this movie is that filmmakers used the small budget on practical effects instead of creating everything digitally. The hospital setting only adds to the grossness.
Gothika (2003)
Halle Berry stars in Gothika as psychiatrist Miranda Grey, who wakes up as a patient inside the psychiatric institution where she works. She is then told that she murdered her husband, though she has no memory of doing such a thing. As Miranda tries to get to the bottom of her nightmare situation, she realizes the hospital is hiding some very ugly, supernatural secrets. The movie’s gloomy hospital and institutional hallways feel really oppressive, giving Gothika a haunting atmosphere.
Unsane (2018)
Unsane follows a woman named Sawyer Valentini. She visits a counselor while struggling with the trauma of being stalked. After unknowingly signing some confusing paperwork, she is told that she is now involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility. As Sawyer questions her own perception of reality, things get even worse. She spots an employee that looks just like her stalker, a person she moved hundreds of miles away to escape. The movie is most notable for being shot entirely on an iPhone 7 Plus. This gives everything a bit of a distorted appearance that adds to the main character’s panic. Unsane taps into a specific fear: knowing something is very wrong while everyone around you thinks you’re crazy.
The Ward (2010)
The famous horror director John Carpenter shot The Ward. The film tells of a young woman named Kristen who is committed to a psychiatric hospital after setting fire to an abandoned farmhouse. Once inside, she meets other young female patients, but they start to disappear one by one. The truth eventually comes out, and it’s much stranger than your average haunted-hospital story. As the movie unfolds, we gradually understand why Kristen is really in the facility in the first place. Carpenter filmed most of the movie inside a closed-down section of an actual psychiatric hospital, which added to the spooky hospital vibes.
Fragile (2005)
Fragile takes place at a rundown children’s hospital that is preparing to close. When the movie opens, most of the patients have already been transferred somewhere else. Calista Flockhart plays Amy, a nurse who is hired to work during the final days of the hospital’s operation. The children admit to her that they are scared of something they refer to as the “Mechanical Girl.” She gradually realizes the stories might not be just overactive imaginations. Director Jaume Balagueró gave the hospital an old-fashioned Gothic atmosphere that suits the story nicely, making it feel more like a haunted mansion than a hospital