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Parking Lots in the Movies: Halloween Horror Edition

  • Cars Explained
  • Renee Martin
  • 5 minutes

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Dark, dimly lit, cavernous – parking garages get a bad rep in the movies. They’re often presented as the perfect setting for the perfect crime! With Halloween around the corner, we thought we’d do a round-up of the scariest horror movie scenes set in parking lots or garages. This is the first in a series of posts exploring iconic movie scenes set in parking lots – so keep an eye out for more!

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Ever walked through an empty parking lot and wondered how eerily creepy it seemed? How about walking through a quiet parking garage at night and feeling a chill crawl down your spine? Well, you’re not the first or the last to be feeling that – and it’s an emotion that horror movie makers have tapped into with great effect! Movies have exploited this trope more than enough by having parking lots as the setting for some pretty unsettling scenes.

parking garage sign

Check out our Halloween list of horror movies that have pivotal scenes based in, surrounding, or at a parking lot.

1. Scream (1996): Ghostface’s parking garage kill 

Though this scene isn’t set at a commercial garage, it would be blasphemy to not mention it in our list of top scary scenes in a parking garage! Scream reinvented the slasher genre in the 1990s by introducing the masked killer known as Ghostface, who went about terrorizing hapless young adults in a sleepy town. In this scene, Ghostface surprises one of the girls – Tatum – in the garage at a house party. However, she assumes it is one of her drunk buddies pulling a prank on her and dismisses it – to her misfortune. Sadly, she soon realizes the masked man’s more….deadly intentions.

The only thing that tops the horror is the dark humor before she meets her untimely demise. “What movie is this from – I Spit on Your Garage?” she smirks, before pouting, “Please don’t kill me, Mr. Ghostface… I wanna be in the sequel!

2. P2 (2007): Kidnapping in an underground garage

Rachel Nichols lived all of our worst nightmares in this low-budget horror flick that put the parking garage front and center. In P2, a pretty and successful businesswoman finds herself trapped in an underground parking garage level – the eponymous Parking Level 2. However, that’s only the start of her troubles, as she is kidnapped by a psychotic parking attendant obsessed with her. Though psychotic stalkers aren’t new to on-screen portrayals, it’s interesting to see one who uses a labyrinthine parking garage to trap his victim.

3. Scream 4 (2011): Ghostface strikes again

You know a horror franchise is iconic when you have two scenes from it in a best-of list! Scream 4 upgraded its slashes and gashes for the 2010s by making Ghostface a social media savvy killer. The film also served as a satirical commentary on internet fame and the perils of excessive social media attention. One of the best callbacks to the original film is in this scene, where Ghostface calls his intended victim and taunts her in his unmistakable drawl. “It sounds like you’re in a parking garage….a dark and deserted parking garage!” he says icily, before coming out of the shadows to pursue her.

4. Happy Death Day (2017): Baby-faced killer in pursuit

Happy Death Day artfully combines the horror of the Scream franchise with the dark comedy of Groundhog Day. In it, a college student is murdered by a masked ‘babyface’ killer but finds herself reliving the same day over and over again. The interesting premise is only heightened by the audience’s suspense about how the killer is going to murder her each time. In this scene, she flees from the killer into a parking garage and hotwires a car to make her escape – but for how long?

5. The Invisible Man (2020): Cat-and-mouse game in a parking lot

You know what’s worse than fleeing from a killer? Realizing that you can’t see him coming!

This 2020 adaptation of H.G. Wells’ iconic story re-imagines the Invisible Man as a wealthy inventor who uses an invisibility suit to fake his death. However, he’s not done – he then uses it to torment his ex-girlfriend. Besides having the jump scares and gory kills of a horror movie, it also delves into horror of a different kind – toxic relationships,  gaslighting, and the twisted ways people try to control the people they supposedly ‘love.’ In this scene, Elizabeth Moss’s character faces off against her unseen assailant in a parking lot in the pouring rain. It’s the kind of cat-and-mouse situation made 100 times more unnerving by the fact that the villain is invisible!

Not all parking lots are dangerous – most of them are some of the safest places you can find! With paved lots, well-lit spaces, and excellent service, you can find top-rated garages in your city through the Way.com parking app! Pre-book a spot by using Way.com’s extensive network of parking garages, and you can get amazing discounts in just a few swipes.


Read more blogs on affordable airport parking, the best insurance for your car, and top-rated car washes near you.


 

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