John Carpenter's Reel Sites, Real Scary

We salute the former Bowling Green resident and ‘Master of Horror’ by sharing “Reel Sites, Real Scary: A John Carpenter Driving Tour.” While no movie scenes were filmed in Bowling Green, Carpenter did make numerous area references in a few of his flicks, using local street and community names like the fictitious Warren County- Smiths Grove Sanitarium from where Michael Myers escapes in Halloween.

Visitors can follow the “Reel Sites, Real Scary” tour to 17 different locations around town including the log cabin where Carpenter lived as a boy on Western Kentucky University’s campus. The tour is available here on our site or in a printed brochure format available at information centers around town. 

Other sites on the tour include Russellville Road, Chestnut Street, and the Capitol Arts Center, where Carpenter watched movies as a child.

If the driving tour inspires a Carpenter movie marathon, each reference in the brochure notes the exact time the quote is made and in which film. The brochure also includes a brief Carpenter biography and filmography.

Brochures are available at the Visitor Information Centers at I-65 exit 22 on Three Springs Road and I-65 exit 28 inside the National Corvette Museum lobby.