Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later

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 the page.

2525649_0.jpg

As my original post for Halloween: H20 was over 1600 pictures and took a long time to load, I am offering THREE options to check out the locations for the movie:

1) Go through the movie scene-by-scene by clicking here.

2) Check out the full page of locations here, but be warned, there are over 1600 photos so it will take a while to load, be patient!

3) Or below is the summary of the major locations and scenes in the film. You can click on any of the pictures or links for more pictures and detailed information:

 

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 to the home of Marion Chambers Whittington at 4946 Melrose Hill Street (although they claim it is Cypress Pond Road in the film).  

Next door is Jimmy's house located at 4940 Melrose Hill Street

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 to a classroom and Keri's desk before the clock strikes midnight and the camera spins towards a closet door.

The opening shot of the school used CGI to make it appear as a much larger campus and on a hilltop.   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 the exterior shot, however, I can confirm that the reverse shot was indeed used from inside the Corner Cottage. 

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.

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.

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. As you can see, Norma's office is a bedroom as they continue on through the doorway to Keri's office. 

"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, continues to down the sidewalk, and 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.  "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."  

"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.

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 other door does indeed lead to the actual basement!

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.

"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?" 

One of my favorite scenes is between Jamie Lee and her mother, two icons in their last scene together.

Back at the gate,  where the buses leave for Yosemite and Michael pulls up...

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.

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 and into what is now the laundry room.

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.

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.

While I would like to think they used the same door, there are enough variations that it was likely a different one.

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.

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.

John and Molly take the same route through the lower kitchen...

...spotting a lot of blood on the floor and following it...

...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...

We are now on the opposite side of the mansion as they run up from the gardens...

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 keys!

H20 1145.jpg

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.

"Who was that?"  The group makes their way up the stairs to the second level.

"My brother."  Keri and Will put the kids in the closet near the end of this side hallway.

They accidentally shoot Ronnie when they see him at the end of this hallway...

A great callback to Halloween II.

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. 

They continue down the main driveway where the main gate is hidden by a fake wall. 

The car is parked in front of the Corner Cottage.

As Keri speeds away, she makes a quick 90-degree turn onto the street. You can see they put up another fake wall to obscure the neighboring houses.

We are back 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!"

We switch back to the Paramour Estate in front of the Corner Cottage for this iconic scene... 

"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.

Thanks to Paul H., the location for the finale was 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! 

 

I also put together some locations for behind-the- scenes photos....

 

Click on the image below for a link to a map of filming locations for the entire series: