When it comes to horror movies, subgenres proliferate like zombies. You’ve got slashers, found footage, body horror, psychological horror, and folk horror movies, to name just a few.
There are also a handful of movies that this horror-loving business reporter would classify as “retail horror.” These are movies with a prominent retail setting such as a supermarket, mall, or department store, with plots that actually make use of those locations’ unique qualities.
Some of the most famous films in the beloved/maligned genre fall under this category, and each of them tells us a little something about the history and evolution of the retail industry. So just in time for the spooky season, here is Retail Brew’s guided tour through retail horror.
Supermarkets from hell: Intruder (1989) is a classic example of retail horror. Set in an independently owned grocery store on the night its workers learn their boss has decided to sell the business, this late-’80s slasher is part hang-out movie, part goopy special effects reel featuring some of the gnarliest kills you’ve ever seen with a box crusher, a receipt spindle, and a meat hook. Director Scott Spiegel said the movie was inspired by his time working in a store outside Detroit, but it was actually shot in Bell, California. One blogger who investigates cult movie locations found that the address is currently occupied by Atlantic Center Mini Mall, a 20,909-square-foot retail center containing a gun shop, a religious book store, and a urologist. However, the property sold last year for $4.2 million, and there are plans to bring in a national tenant. Whether that’s a new grocery store remains to be seen.
The location for a more recent supermarket-set film, The Mist (2007), based on a short story by Stephen King, brings the plot of its predecessor to life. The cosmic horror film about a strange mist that blankets a town and carries in insect-like monsters, was shot at an independently owned grocery store in Vivian, Louisiana, called Tom’s Market that closed in 2016 after 19 years in business. The location remains empty, per Google Maps, and national chains such as Dollar General, SuperValu, and Walmart are now arguably the biggest grocers in town.
- Independent-grocery stores have struggled in recent years, as higher costs squeeze their already thin margins, forcing some rural locations to close shop. Yet they still make up a sizable share for the grocery business. A 2021 study from the National Grocers Association found that independent grocers generated 33% of US food sales.
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Mall rats: Dawn of the Dead (1978) and its 2004 remake are arguably the most well-known examples of retail horror, being set for much of their runtime in giant, abandoned malls, while zombie hordes gather outside. The original was filmed at Monroeville Mall outside Pittsburgh, which remains in operation today, despite the well-documented decline of the American mall, thanks in part to a multi-million-dollar renovation in 2015. The Sherman Oaks Galleria, the shooting location of Chopping Mall (1986), a low-budget horror-satire about robot security guards run amok, is also still open—though a slightly altered form. A portion of the open-air mall remains, but large sections of the original complex have been given over to offices.
The mall featured in the Dawn of the Dead remake experienced a similar fate. While sections of the original mall have been demolished since the film was shot there, the address remains a commercial center, and there are plans to further develop the property.
- That’s not a bad track record for movie malls, all things considered, given that the majority of malls are expected to close over the next decade, per a Capital One study—even as some major operators say the format has recently made a comeback.
Haunted department stores: Like department stores themselves, this retail horror flick is on the classier side. In Fabric (2018), about a haunted red dress, was shot at the former location of the iconic Allders department store in Croydon, England. The store shut down in 2013 after nearly 150 years in operation, due to financial struggles going back to the 1970s.