Jamie Lee Curtis truly gave fans a treat by jumping back in the genre and giving us a worthy follow-up to the Myers saga, plus the return of Laurie Strode.
There are a LOT of photos, so please let the page load up and click on the arrows to see each set of pictures.
UPDATE: As 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the film, I took the opportunity to revisit all the filming locations, including the Paramour Estate and update this page. I also shot a new video for it, click below:
The first shot of the movie is front of this house at 4957 Melrose Hill Street in Los Angeles. The camera follows some kids down the street as Marion Chambers Whittington gets home.
Marion's house is located at 4946 Melrose Hill Street (although they claim it is Cypress Pond Road in the film). For visitors, you may be surprised that this house is on the edge of a cul de sac, she only drove about ten yards. You'll see a variation in the house painting scheme as this is a mixture of different visits.
Next door is Jimmy's house located at 4940 Melrose Hill Street
Jimmy decides to check out the house...
"But they did a real number on your office."
"I say we egg the house across the street."
"Jimmy!"
"In here, god dammit!"
"Michael Myers, yeah right."
We now move to the Paramour Estate, also known as the Canfield Moreno Estate. Built in 1923, the mansion has a long and unique history, but more recently has served as a location for many television and film productions. Horror fans will recognized this location two years later in Scream 3.
After the opening credits, we enter Laurie's nightmare on the ground floor, lingering momentarily at the stairway to the second floor. Then the camera floats down to the other end of the hallway.
The camera then enters the classroom, and over to Keri Tate's desk.
The clock that strikes midnight, signaling it's Halloween, was on this fireplace mantle.
The camera then spins towards a closet door. Although this is not a closet at all, but the entrance to the upper kitchen.
The opening shot of the school used CGI to make it appear as a much larger campus and on a hilltop. Special thanks to Mr. H from OHMB.net, a true master of finding Halloween locations, who found the gate location. This spot is tucked away in the Santa Monica Mountains, just north of Chatsworth, California, near the Deer Lake Highlands area. The easiest way to get there is to exit the 118 Freeway at exit 35 (DeSoto Avenue). From there, turn north on Browns Canyon Road about a mile and a half until you reach the gate location (coordinates: 34.286979, -118.591998).
Back at the Paramour Estate where we pan up to Keri Tate's house. This is the Corner Cottage on the estate. I was lucky enough to stay there two nights on a recent trip. It was definitely surreal to not only be staying at "Hillcrest Academy" but to be in the Tate house.
As the kids make their way to class, you can see Keri's cottage in the background. You will notice on the right side of the frame that the Gate House and Coach House are now walled in to ensure the privacy of guests. The stairs they take at the end of the shot lead right up to the main circle driveway of the mansion.
Keri watches them walk to school, although I'm not sure if the actual Corner Cottage exterior window was used for this particular shot...
...however, I can confirm that the reverse shot was indeed used from inside the Corner Cottage. For those curious, the interior of Keri's house was all a set. But don't let that stop you from staying here, the Corner Cottage was a fantastic place to stay and there are more photos of it at the end of this article.
Back at school, you can see the pool was completely covered up to make it appear as a courtyard. You may note the stairs behind John are no longer there and have been replaced with a spiral staircase obscured by the greenery.
The reverse shot is on the oppose site of the same building in the backyard. Movie magic at its best! The production built a false door in front of the large window to the ballroom.
The scene continues cleverly reversing shots to completely different places making it appear they are all in the same spot.
"We ditch Yosemite, it means we can have a Halloween party, just the four of us."
Back in 2013, I found the rest stop area. It took me a while to track down this one, but my perseverance and patience paid off. The rest stop entrance is the drive into Malibu Creek State Park at 1925 Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas, California.
Now the actual restroom used is tricky. There are a few restrooms in the area of this park, but none quite match up the exact building nor position as seen in the film. It's possible that they have been moved or some set decoration changes were made, but I'm unsure at this point. This restroom appears to be in the approximate spot based on the slope of the mountain and the highway seen in the background.
There is one restroom that matches the doors and bricks, but isn't in the location it appears in the movie.
For the reverse shot, you can see how mountains line up in the background.
Back at the Paramour Estate, the ballroom serves as the location for Keri Tate's speech about Yosemite.
Will and Keri work their way through this hallway, which is on the first floor next to the pool. They begin by a closed door (which leads to the staircase in the first nightmare scene) and walk toward's Keri's office.
As you can see, Norma's office is a bedroom at the estate.
They continue on through the doorway to Keri's office. The entryway looks about the same, but they have painted over the bricks one the wall portion.
"Can you just stop with Keri analysis, just once please. You can do it tomorrow all you want, but please, can I just have today off?"
The office is a living room are with a fantastic view of downtown Los Angeles on one side and the pool on the other.
Back at the main gate and guard shack. (As we are now beginning to repeat some locations, I will put up a movie quote unless there is something to remark about a particular spot.)
"Round melon? What?! Now why you want to label it like food?"
The town of Summer Glen is featured in the next few scenes. Keri Tate drives up on Main Street in La Puente, California. (This is not too far from the phone booth scene in the original Halloween.)
She parks in front of the store at 15818 Main Street.
She continues to down the sidewalk, distracted by some trick or treaters on the other side of the street before she is startled by some kids in front of her.
She stops at 15814 Main Street to look at some jewelry when she is surprised by Will.
A few years ago, I tracked down the location of the restaurant, which is now a hobby store, located at 15819 Main Street in La Puente. Because of the counter, I couldn't get a good matching screenshot, but it gives you an idea.
"I'll have another glass of chardonnay please."
John and Charlie have a little off campus lunch. The liquor store (which for a while was a Halloween store!) is located at 15834 Main Street in La Puente.
"You're not allowed to have a little off-campus lunch, John." Keri and John argue outside the barber shop (now beauty salon) at 15826 Main Street in La Puente.
"What do you think you can do, just wander around town?"
"Mister Sandman, bring me a dream..."
We return to Hillcrest Academy. In this shot, you can see the curve of the road leading up to the gate.
"Ronnie! Where in the hell is he?"
"Hey, Ronnie!"
"Eyes up, Ronnie."
Back at the estate, the camera moves in on Molly washing dishes. As you can see, the production built a special entryway in front of the far left window for an upcoming scene.
This is the lower kitchen. Although there is a real dumbwaiter here (on the right side), the production built a false wall to in front of the last window to accommodate the filming of a prop dumbwaiter. You may also notice that the sinks were taken out and replaced with a wood countertop.
The door behind her is closed in the scene, but in the current picture, you can see this leads to the side kitchen.
The other door does indeed lead to the actual basement!
In an amazingly real route, this hall is right off the lower kitchen. Molly turns the corner and up a small step to the basement hallways with the pipes on the ceiling.
They cheat here as Molly comes around the same corner she went around in the last shot. The hallways goes all the way to the boiler room, but they put up a fake wall and window to make it look like it stopped there.
We are back in the classroom, which we first saw in the nightmare scene, except this time the desk is by the fireplace.
In reality, the window by Molly looks out over the back patio and basement entrance. Her point-of-view was shot somewhere else that I couldn't identify on the property. However, I did find this door on the property that looks like they may have used or replicated for the shot.
The door behind John was the closet door from the nightmare sequence and in reality, leads to the upper kitchen.
As class is dismissed, you can see out into the lower hallway of the mansion.
"Go pack quick!" The fireplace was the same one from the nightmare sequence with the clock striking midnight.
John and Molly walk down the lower hallway, with the classroom directly behind them and the pool just out the windows on the right.
The students start boarding the buses in the circular driveway by the main door.
The film continues by the pool area as the camera moves in closer to Keri's office.
"Mrs. Cheney, can I call you right back?"
Keri runs from the pool area down these steps towards the main circular drive.
The buses pull around the Gate House on the left side towards the Corner Cottage. To the right and just out of camera range is the main gate to the estate.
One of my favorite scenes is between Jamie Lee and her mother, two icons in their last scene together.
"We've all had bad things happen to us."
"Oh, Miss Tate. Happy Halloween!" This shot is bittersweet for me. I love seeing her get into her "Psycho" car with the matching license plate. And as the soundtrack briefly drops in the "Psycho" music, the Hollywood legend drives off into the sunset.
Back at the gate, where the buses leave for Yosemite. For the shot where Michael starts up the car and drives past the buses, I wasn't able to get to the exact spot as that particular road doesn't have too many options to park, but I put a shot to show how the mountains line up in the background.
...and back at the same location as Michael pulls up to the gate.
Keri packs up her office for the night. Unfortunately, most of my shots were during the day, so it was difficult to balance the bright exteriors with the dark interiors.
In a surprisingly real move, she actually exits the same door from the previous shot. She walks through the courtyard-covered pool before leaving campus.
We are back in front the Corner Cottage as Keri comes home for the night. As you can see, there are a lot less tress and plants than appeared in the original film.
Her point-of-view shot is accurate as she sees Michael walking down the road towards her. I included several shots at different times of day to show it looks. As you may remember from the earlier scene where the kids walk to school, the wall on the left was created sometime since the filming.
"What are you doing?"
I am not 100% positive on the location of the girls' dorm room, but it appears to likely be the bedroom above Norma's office based on the angled ceiling.
The kids sneak into the basement through this back window. Directly to the left is the lower level kitchen.
They come through the window and into what is now the laundry room at the estate.
We'll take a slight detour now for Keri's house. While the exterior of the Corner Cottage was definitely used, the interior was a set. It seems they used actual dimensions of the house and windows when building it, but that's about it. I've provided pictures to show what it really looks like inside. As well as comparisons to the front door in the movie vs. real life.
We are now in the side kitchen on the lower level. Charlie and Sarah get their snacks together and head off to the basement...
...taking the same route through the basement hall as they do in other scenes.
Next we have an establishing shot of the Corner Cottage. I've provided various photos from different times of the day for reference.
While I would like to think they used the same door, there are enough variations that it was likely a different one, but I've included a few photos for comparison.
A quick establishing shot of the main door to the mansion.
Sarah looks for Charlie in the lower kitchen, as seen in an earlier scene with Molly.
Here is our first look at the upper kitchen, where a fake dumbwaiter was also constructed about two-thirds down the counter, as you can match up by the drawers. (And I refuse to post any screenshot of that horrible CGI'd mask!)
Meanwhile, Sarah wanders through the side kitchen...
...spotting a shadow outside this window.
"Okay Charlie, no sex kinks till I've eaten."
Back to the upper kitchen where Sarah has a fatal encounter with Michael.
The dumbwaiter crash alerts John and Molly from the basement...
John and Molly take the same route through the lower kitchen...
...spotting a lot of blood on the floor and following it...
...to the side kitchen....
...leading them to this doorway.
In reality, the pantry is another room, but the production built shelves to make it appear as a long storage closet.
"Who is that?!" John and Molly see Michael for the first time. If you look through the window behind them, you can see the area where they will be trapped in the gate a few scenes later.
Following a real route through the basement and out the laundry room window...
...back out the the side of the house and into the back yard of the estate.
We move to the opposite side of the estate as the two run up steps from the gardens.
The path has been cleaned up a bit since filming but the rocks and some trees are still recognizable.
They continue down the path and up another set of stairs towards the mansion.
John and Molly run from the side of the house to a side patio. The existing gate was used, but moved into an extended entryway created for the film.
The window/door on the left is where the pantry room was located.
The keys!
Not a single door with a circle window to be found on the estate....
The bottom of these stairs is next to the upper kitchen.
Keri locks the kids in a closet as they “try to live” ...
... then accidentally shoot Ronny at the end of the hall.
She runs to a closet, which in real life is a door to another bedroom.
Although the paint scheme and décor has changed, the mirrored doors in this hallway have remained the same.
They run down stairs next to the pool, but the steps have been replaced by a spiral staircase currently obscured by shrubbery. (The last shot is not mine, but a vintage photograph I found on the internet that shows the original stairs.)
They continue down the main driveway where the main gate is hidden by a fake wall.
The beginning of the final confrontation takes place at the gate in Chatsworth.
"I want you to drive down the street to the Becker's, it's a mile down the road. Tell them to call an ambulance and get the police. Do as i say now!"
...but switches back to the Paramour Estate in front of the Corner Cottage.
"Michael!!!!"
Keri enters the estate through the main door...
...and down the hallway, briefly pausing in front of the classroom...
As she continues down the hall, Michael shows off amazing arm strength as he lowers himself from an overhead pipe.
Keri runs into the ballroom which has now transformed into the cafeteria.
Michael drops the ax into the floor here...
Michael follows Keri into the ballroom....
Keri hides under the tables.... and yes, you got to nerd out while you are there, of course!
Keri stabs Michael with a flag pole before retreating out the side door...
The stairwell is in the basement of the mansion leading up to another back room.
We move back to the upper kitchen where Keri pulls out a drawer of knives...
The knife hits this kitchen door, which leads to the classroom, not another hallway...
Michael exits the kitchen but is transported to the second-floor hallway where exits the doorway that served as the closet earlier.
Keri attacks Michael and sends him toppling over the right balcony, even though he lands underneath the left balcony.
Twenty years later and she still drops the knife...
Keri goes back down the side stairs in the basement.
Keri emerges back into the cafeteria and is interrupted before she can finally kill Michael (and avoid Halloween: Resurrection).
The last scene at the estate takes place in the main circular drive.
"Load him in!"
The van speeds down the main driveway and past the actual main gate, hidden by a fake wall.
Keri leaves the school from the gate location to finally end her nightmare.
At the time of publication, I had not tracked down the exact spots of the final scenes, but though it appeared to be in the Santa Susana/Sage Park area. Thanks to Paul H., we think the spot has been found in Sage Ranch Park on the North American Cut Off Road.
Horrors Hallowed Grounds creator Sean Clark was able to join me and nerd out on location at Hillcrest Academy!
Here are a few props I own from the movie - photos that were on Dr. Loomis' wall during the opening credits.
And here are a few of the cast and crew I have met from the film over the years.
For fans wanting to make the trek to locations, I keep a map updated with all known Halloween locations, click the pic below!