Back in 2016, Carl Rodrigue and a friend set out on a 17-day road trip across North America to visit the filming locations of some of the horror genre’s most iconic films. Capturing over 2,000 photos, they documented their trip with the release of the 2017 video “The Road Trip Project.” Three years later, Rodrigue is back with “The Road Trip Project – Part II” featuring filming locations from 15 more horror films.
Over the span of 24 days, the two set out on a journey across North America that spanned over 11,000 miles and captured images of some of the locations used in the genre films In the Mouth of Madness, Children of the Corn, The Shining, The Birds, Phantasm, Raising Cain, Duel, Carrie, Psycho, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, The Entity, The Town that Dreaded Sundown, The Last House on the Left, and Let’s Scare Jessica to Death.
In a series of anecdotes and comments shared by Rodrigue in an email, perhaps the most interesting is how many of these locations have gone untouched over time. Whiting, IL, which was used in Children of the Corn still has a pole in the middle of the street, and though condemned the house used in the film still stands.
The same could be said for Bodega Bay, CA where much of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds was filmed. While some locations like The Tides restaurant have gotten a modern facelift, most of the locations look almost identical to what they looked like in the original film. According to Rodrigue you can also come across Hitchcock memorabilia at various locations in the area, though it’s not likely as prominent as it was in the past.
Rodrigue was also surprised to discover that the car dealership from Psycho is still a car dealership 60 years later, though now it appears to only sell BMW.
While the latest installment of “The Road Trip Project” shares a number of exciting locations, these are actually only a portion of what the two captured during their trip. While visiting the Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Grand Café, the two lost a significant number of photos when a cell phone was dropped in the cafe parking lot and ultimately run over by a car before being recovered. Notably, additional images from the film Burnt Offerings as well as locations from Salem’s Lot were lost.
While there are no immediate plans, Rodrigue and his friend are hoping to make a final third trip to capture additional filming locations in the future making their way down the east coast traveling from Quebec to Florida and back hitting as many filming location as the can along the way. Additionally, Rodrigue shared that he has enough material to make more than 50 videos covering other locations as well as non-genre films. You can catch them all when they are released on the rebranded Moon Film Filming Locations channel on YouTube.
