The Hoosierist: Local Horror Films

[froodle]

Q: I’m having a horror-themed Halloween movie party. Are there any Indiana-based films or TV shows I can include?

A: For a state that looks like an elaborate Children of the Corn backdrop, the pickings are slim. On the movie front, there’s An American Crime, a retelling of the loathsome Sylvia Likens murder that, honestly, sounds like an awful party flick. Happily, the small screen offers better options, including the NBC series Eerie, Indiana, which ran for only 19 episodes in the early ’90s, but earned a substantial cult following. Then there’s the gold standard of Hoosier horror, Netflix’s Stranger Things. Set in the fictional Indiana town of Hawkins, it’s basically a salute to ’80s horror-movie tropes, with monsters in rubber suits, scary government agents, and a group of plucky grade-schoolers on bicycles. The show’s second season comes out this month, so heat up some pizza rolls and call your friends.