From misty marshes and eerie ruins to shadowy churchyards and Victorian streetscapes, Kent’s landscape has set the scene for a number of horror films and series.
As Halloween approaches, Dee Lukasik takes a look at the terrifying tales brought to life across the county…
The former Granada Cinema, Maidstone became the scene of the final alien confrontation in Channel 4’s They Came from Somewhere Else (1984)
In 1984, Channel 4 shot its horror comedy They Came from Somewhere Else, directed by John Stroud, transforming Allington in Maidstone into a suburban nightmare.
The quiet streets and the Mid Kent Shopping Centre became a besieged housing estate overrun by aliens and zombies, while the former Old Granada Cinema in Maidstone town centre set the stage for the final, chaotic showdown.
Another director who appreciated the Kentish scenery was Nicholas Mallett, who filmed one of the scariest episodes of BBC’s Doctor Who – The Curse of Fenric (1989).
The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) arrive at a Second World War military base where the ancient evil Fenric awakens, turning soldiers into vampiric haemovores.
St Laurence Church in Hawkhurst starred as St Judd’s Church, the main setting for the Doctor’s battle against Fenric.
St Laurence Church in Hawkhurst appeared in Doctor Who – The Curse of Fenric
Roses Farm, also in Hawkhurst, was Mrs Hardaker’s cottage, where evacuee girls were attacked.
Lillesden Manor, later known as Bedgebury Lower School, stood in for the secret laboratory under the church used for interior experiments and code-breaking scenes.
For many years, darkness seemed to abandon the county, only to return in 2012 when Tony Dow filmed Hunderby, starring Alexandra Roach as Helene and Alex Macqueen as Edmund, a comic Gothic pastiche following a shipwreck survivor who marries a widower with disturbing secrets.
Botany Bay in Broadstairs was the site of Helene’s shipwreck, where she drifts ashore pale and dazed among the chalk cliffs.
Moments later, Edmund finds her and proposes. The pale cliffs and open sea add an eerie stillness to what should be a romantic moment.
Botany Bay, Broadstairs became the eerie setting for shipwreck and proposal scenes in Hunderby and later the final scene of The Baby
The title house and gardens were filmed at St Clere Estate in Sevenoaks.
The Historic Dockyard Chatham and Fort Amherst were used to portray the coastal village, dock exteriors, tunnels and outdoor shots.
Two years later, Kentish woodland became a wildlife trap where a team of researchers discovered a deadly creature in Camera Trap (2014), directed by Alex Verner and starring Mark Bonnar, Ross Marquand, and Ana Ularu.
The Wildwood Trust in Canterbury, a native-species wildlife park set in 40 acres of ancient woodland, doubled as the central Asian forest, including night-vision and chase scenes.
Even the resident deer appeared in the film.
The Wildwood Trust near Canterbury played host to filming for Camera Trap (2014)
In 2015, Colin Teague decided that Kent could perfectly inspire the transformation of the grandson of Dr Jekyll, played by Tom Bateman, into the cruel and horrifying Mr Hyde in Jekyll and Hyde.
Rochester Guildhall Museum became Dr Jekyll’s first London hotel while a local optician on Rochester High Street stood in for the exterior of the Empire Music Hall.
The Historic Dockyard Chatham convincingly portrayed the streets of Victorian London and the offices of the secretive Tenebrae organisation.
The tunnels in Fort Amherst, also in Chatham, were where Jekyll discovers the Incubus.
Dr Jekyll’s friend Maggie, played by Niamh Walsh, lived in a country house at Kingshill Farmhouse on the Isle of Sheppey.
Filming for Jekyll and Hyde in Rochester High Street
Jekyll’s visit turns into a confrontation when a dangerous creature known as The Cutter attacks.
Elmley Nature Reserve was the location for their final battle sequence.
The Historic Dockyard Chatham, was also featured in Victor Frankenstein, inspired by Mary Shelley’s gothic novel and starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy, which was released in 2015.
Kent provides the setting for interior hospital shots and street scenes for the dark twist on the classic tale of Frankenstein, told from the point of view of Igor who befriends radical young scientist Victor Von Frankenstein.
In 2016, the calm countryside around Ashford and Sevenoaks became the setting for House of Salem, written and directed by James Crow and starring Jessica Arterton, Jack Brett Anderson and Liam Kelly.
James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe in Victor Frankenstein. Picture:PA Photo/Twentieth Century Fox/Alex Bailey
A group of kidnappers of a young boy named Josh take refuge in what they believe is a safe house, only to discover they have been drawn into a ritual of human sacrifice that has claimed lives for more than a century.
Evegate Manor near Ashford served as the boy’s home, while Sole Street House, also in Ashford, became the main haunted mansion.
Around Dryhill Local Nature Reserve in Sevenoaks, the woodland added a sense of isolation as the characters tried to escape the evil that refused to let them go.
A year later, the colonial-style Home Farm near Selling, with its white weatherboarded exterior, was transformed into a morgue.
In The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2017), directed by André Øvredal and starring Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch as a coroner father and son, the mysterious body of an unidentified young woman hides horrifying secrets.
Sevenoaks featured in Hunderby (2012) and House of Salem (2016)
Discovered in the basement of a house where an entire family was murdered, the woman’s body shows no sign of trauma yet appears perfectly preserved.
As the two men work into the night, they uncover the terrifying truth behind her death.
The same Home Farm returned soon after in Slumber (2017), directed by Jonathan Hopkins.
It stars Maggie Q as Alice Arnolds, a sleep doctor who helps a family tormented by night terrors.
She soon discovers their fear is caused by a demon that attacks them in their sleep.
The Powerhub building in St Peter’s Street, Maidstone. Picture: Google
That same year, the Powerhub in Maidstone, a vast industrial complex by the River Medway, and the Northfleet Industrial Estate became secret laboratories for The Rizen (2017), written and directed by Matt Mitchell and starring Sally Phillips, Julian Rhind-Tutt, and Tom Goodman-Hill.
Set in 1955 at the height of the Cold War, NATO scientists conduct occult experiments in underground bunkers to create super-soldiers.
The Manor Way Business Park in Swanscombe served as the main production base, while the Old Town Hall in Gravesend appeared as the grand academy where the results of the experiments are revealed.
The story continued in The Rizen: Possession (2020), returning to Kent’s industrial landscapes.
In 2020, Sky’s psychological folk-horror series The Third Day brought Jude Law to Kent as Sam, a father who travels to a remote island off the British coast to grieve his lost son.
Jude Law in Sky’s new thriller series The Third Day, which was part-filmed on Sheppey. Picture: SkyFilming for The Third Day took place around Harty
After rescuing a young girl from suicide, he begins to uncover the island’s sinister secrets, ruled by people devoted to strange rituals.
In one of the early scenes, filmed in the deep forest of Bedgebury, Sam finds the girl hanging from a tree and saves her, unaware that this act will bind him to the island’s mystery.
The marshes of Grain Coastal Park, the fields around Harty on Sheppey, and the wind-bitten edges of Shellness Beach and Walpole Bay became fragments of his nightmare.
Later episodes follow Helen, played by Naomie Harris, a mother searching for her missing daughters who finds herself drawn into the same ritualistic world that once consumed Sam.
Producer Adrian Sturges, who grew up in north Kent, said: “When we were looking for locations for The Third Day we needed something really distinctive and eerie and recced all over Sheppey loved the locations there. We had a great experience filming on the Isle.”
Shellness Beach on Sheppey was used in The Third Day (2020) Picture: Explore Kent
Sleep troubles returned to Kent with The Last Rite (2021), written and directed by Leroy Kincaide, starring Bethan Waller as Lucy and Johnny Fleming as her boyfriend Ben.
Lucy, a medical student, suffers from sleep paralysis and falls prey to a demonic force, while a priest struggling with his faith tries to save her.
This independent film was shot entirely in Kent, transforming familiar places into haunted ground.
A house in Barming, near Maidstone, became Lucy’s home.
Her doctor’s office was filmed in Maidstone, where the Wildwood Restaurant also doubled as The Cuban Bar and its bathroom.
Eastwell Manor, near Ashford doubled as the Chancellor’s office in The Last Rite (2021)
Another location featured in the film is Teston Bridge Country Park, where Lucy meets Father Roberts for the first time.
The priest’s church was St Peter and St Paul’s in Aylesford, filmed both inside and out.
Other scenes were shot in Lenham and Eastwell Manor Hotel in Ashford.
In The Baby (2022), directed by Stacey Gregg and starring Michelle de Swarte as Natasha, a woman’s life collapses when a mysterious baby with violent powers literally falls from the sky into her arms.
Natasha doesn’t want the child – but the child wants her.
Crews filming for The Baby outside Nell’s Cafe, Gravesend
Part horror, part dark comedy, the series explores control, motherhood and fear.
The countryside around Shoreham became the setting for Jupiter’s House, a rural commune where Natasha’s mother lives.
The Acacia Sports Hall in Dartford was used for the bonfire scenes, and a beach hut built at St Andrews Lakes in Halling served as Natasha’s retreat.
Nell’s Cafe in Gravesend also became a focal point for filming of the HBO series, with the roadside diner featuring just 10 seconds in.
At Botany Bay in Broadstairs, the story ends with the baby crawling out of the sea.
Debra Lamb appears in The Witches of the Sands. Picture: Tony MardenThe Witches of the Sands was filmed at a range of locations across east Kent, including Reculver Towers. Picture: Tony Mardon
In 2023, The Witches of the Sands, directed by Tony Mardon, brought horror back to Kent’s coast.
The film follows Tony, played by Tony Mardon, a struggling B-movie director trying to complete his masterpiece. As his mind begins to fracture, the world of his film merges with reality, unleashing violence and chaos both on set and in his life.
Described by its makers as a “post-modern, folk-horror, south-eastern gothic B-movie,” it features a cast drawn from cult British horror cinema.
Filming took place at the ruins of Reculver, which became the setting for ritual scenes, and at the harbour and Playhouse Theatre in Whitstable, where Tony’s descent blurs between fiction and madness.
Additional scenes were shot in the streets of Faversham and in a flat in Aylesham, used for the director’s home and writing sequences.