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The original was posted on /r/movies by /u/LundgrensFrontKick on 2023-08-03 16:54:36+00:00.
Original Title: When it comes to A24 horror films, the movies that take place in higher elevations make the most money (on average). Also, the most elevated A24 horror film is Hereditary, because it mostly takes place in Park City, Utah, which is 7,000 feet (2,134 meters) above sea level
Quick Notes
- Spoilers for Hereditary (2018)
- I’m fully aware that this data is dumb
- Green Room and The Blackcoat’s Daughter are my favorite A24 horror films.
The idea for this dumb data article came to me while watching The Shining (1980). As Jack and his family are driving through Colorado (average altitude of 6,800 feet) I started thinking about movies like Devil, The Devil’s Pass, Evil Dead Rise, and Blood Red Sky - movies that take place in skyscrapers, airplanes or a high-altitude location. Basically, movies that take place in an elevated location. The idea made me laugh because of the recent debate about “Elevated Horror,” a divisive term that describes horror movies that avoid jump-scares/gore/blood explosions and instead rely on allegories or emotionally complex stories that psychologically affect viewers. In other words, Jason X (which is beautiful) is not an Elevated Horror film - despite it taking place in space.
The one company that kept coming up while researching elevated horror was A24, the beautiful movie production company (I’m a proud AAA24 member) that has been distributing excellent films since 2013. Because of all the press coverage that made A24 the face of elevated horror, I decided to see which A24 horror film is the most elevated - by altitude. Yes, it’s a dumb idea, but it makes me laugh and I learned a lot about being above sea level. .
Here’s a list of the movies that will be competing, and maps showing where they take place.
- Enemy (2014)
- Under the Skin (2014)
- Tusk (2014)
- Life After Beth (2014)
- Into the Forest (2015)
- Dark Places (2015)
- Green Room (2016)
- The Monster (2016)
- The Witch (2016)
- Krisha (2016)
- The Lighthouse (2017)
- The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
- The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2017)
- It Comes at Night (2017)
- A Ghost Story (2017)
- Hereditary (2018)
- Slice (2018)
- In Fabric (2019)
- Midsommar (2019)
- Climax (2019)
- The Hole in the Ground (2019)
- Lamb (2021)
- Saint Maud (2021)
- False Positive (2021)
- X (2022)
- Pearl (2022)
- Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
- Men (2022)
- Talk to Me (2023)
*Beau is Afraid was filmed in Montreal, but it takes place in a fictional world so I didn’t include it on the map.
Quick Notes
- The Monster was filmed in Ottawa but it seems to take place in Any Town USA. I scoured the film for a location, but I couldn’t find where it takes place. The license plates are never seen and nobody is like “We’re stuck in Hudson, Florida!” Because of this, I placed it in Ottawa.
- It Comes at Night was filmed in upstate New York, and the location is left vague (the license plates are no help). Because of this I placed it in New York.
- Tusk was filmed in North Carolina, but it takes place in Manitoba. Thus, I counted the setting and not the filming location. Same for Midsommar.
- I left out High Life because it takes place in space. Too easy.
- When it comes to elevated horror, movies like Get Out, The Babadook, It Follows, and Black Swan were also mentioned numerous times. However, they take place in low-ish altitudes so I left them out to make sure this dumb data article didn’t spiral out of control.
- I pulled the maps from here, here, and here
The Winner!
- Hereditary (2018) - Takes place in Park City, Utah - Elevation 7,000 feet
- Midsommar (2019) - Takes place in Hälsingland, Sweden - Elevation 2,201 feet
What makes me really happy is that the most elevated films are Hereditary (#1) and Midsommar (#2). Ari Aster directed both of them and they are also the two highest grossing A24 horror films. It’s pretty great that the highest grossing A24 horror films are also the most elevated. Hereditary takes place in Park City, Utah, which has an elevation of 7,000 feet, Ari Aster’s film about a very patient cult who want to snag some hell money, also features a character being elevated into a treehouse and there’s a spooky scene that takes place in an attic. The film is also heavy thematically on grief, depression, and family trauma which fit in nicely with the elevated horror folks. It also features a head getting obliterated (Highest part of the body), which should sit nicely for the people who like horror films that feature head obliteration.
Fun Data
Elevation Facts
- 0-250 Feet - 81.1 Tomatometer average and a $7.4 million average at the worldwide box office
- 250 - 500 Feet - 71.8% Tomatometer average and a $5.3 million box office average
- 500+ Feet - 69.4% Tomatometer average and a $28.9 million average
- I love that the less elevated films have a higher critical average. The Lighthouse, X, Pearl, and Saint Maud helped this category a lot.
Honorable Mentions
- Lamb (2021) takes place in Akureyri Iceland (56m / 184 feet) and filmed in a valley about an hour away from the town center, Lamb gets extra points for having the main characters’ home be placed in a valley that is surrounded by mountains and occasionally we see the characters hiking in the hills and climbing up steep inclines. So, while it doesn’t have the highest altitude it does feature loads of high places. An added bonus is that the bedrooms are on the second floor.
- Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) features some solid mountain shots as the core duo drive to the mansion. However, the mansion where they shot is only somewhere around 330 height in elevation.
- Into the Forest (2015) takes place somewhere in the pacific northwest. It doesn’t give me a lot to work with, so I referenced the book in which the setting is in Northern California. The movie was filmed in Canada…
- A Ghost Story (2017) features some solid skyscraper work
- The Lighthouse (2017) features a 70-foot lighthouse that was built for the movie
- Life After Beth features some solid mountain hiking
- The Witch has Anya Taylor Joy floating in the air (and baby goo)
My 10 favorite A24 moments that feature characters in an elevated position
- Green Room - The Ain’t Rights performing “Nazi Punks” is an all-timer moment.
- The Witch - Thomasin floating in the air is a great visual
- Under the Skin - Scarjo watching the beach scene from a bluff is a solid moment
- Hereditary - I love a good treehouse bit
- The Blackcoat’s Daughter - There’s some legit second floor action
- Tusk - Watching Allison throw fish down to Walrus Wallace hits hard.
- Midsommar - Turning 72 isn’t always a great thing
- X - It’s cheating, but I love the overhead shot of the alligator.
- Climax - it’s only one step, but I dig the DJ shenanigans during the first dance
- Life After Beth - The final hiking scene
If you’re bored and want to listen to some podcast episodes about the movies mentioned in this data article check out the Movies, Films and Flix podcast (it’s everywhere). I’ve talked about Green Room, Tusk, and The Blackcoat’s Daughter,
Make sure to check out my other Reddit data posts if you like this one!
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