5 Nursing Home Horror Movies So Scary You Wish You Would Have Just Stayed Home
Nursing Homes, like high schools, are another excellent location for a horror movie.
Get old, you can't even cuss someone and have it bother 'em. Everything you do is either worthless or sadly amusing. Elvis, Bubba Ho-Tep
5 Nursing Home Horror Movies So Scary You Wish You Would Have Just Stayed Home
Nursing Homes, like high schools, are another excellent location for a horror movie. I’m surprised that this location isn’t used more often. Maybe it will because movies like X, Pearl, The Manor, and Old People are all recent movies that deal with aging. Growing old is scary to audiences today like mental institutions were scary to audiences during the 80s horror movies.
A nursing home is one of the locations of the horror movie I’m trying to assemble a team and raise finances for. The following films are funny and scary if nursing home horror is your jam.
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
Elvis Presley is a hard man for an actor to pull off. He was one of the most charismatic men who ever lived. Few actors have done a great job of portraying him; Austin Butler, Kurt Russell, and the wild choice in this film – Bruce Campbell, did a great job of portraying Elvis.
Bubba Ho-Tep is a movie that takes both a horrific and comedic look at changing times, aging, and facing death. People were shocked when they learned that Bruce Campbell was cast to play an elderly Elvis in Bubba Ho-Tep. But after people saw Campbell’s performance, they knew he was the best choice to play Elvis.
The film is about an elderly Elvis Presley who has changed his identity and lives in a nursing home. When the nursing home is attacked by an ancient Egyptian mummy (Bob Ivy), Elvis team up with a black man (Ossie Davis) who thinks he is John F. Kenndy to defeat the mummy.
Bubba Ho-Tep may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed it and got a big kick out of the film.
The Manor (2021)
Bubba Ho-Tep took a comedic approach to aging and death, but The Manor is all drama and horror. The movie is about after Judith Albright (Barbara Hershey) has a stroke, she moves into a nursing home and begins to expect things to be wrong. One of the first things I noticed about this movie is how hot Barbara Hershey is in the movie.
I know that may sound sexist, and maybe it is, but it is something I noticed. Barbara Hershey has aged well. What I got from the film is how much aging sucks and how most people, if given the choice of being old or young, would rather be young. What do you think? Would you rather be the age you are now or younger? Would you rather age gracefully, or would you like to be young all your life? If so, what age would you be? Let me know in the comments.
Old People (2022)
Old People may be the rawest and most brutal movie on the list. Whereas Bubba Ho-Tep and The Manor deal with aging, Old People deals with how old and young people hate each other. The old people hate how the young people neglect and abuse them, and the young people see the old people as a burden in their lives.
But where is the line between what is old and what is young? To a two-year-old, ten years old seems old, but to a ten-year-old, a twenty-year-old appears old. What about our souls or spirits? Does our soul or spirit have an age?
The movie Old People is about residents who break free from an abusive retirement home and go on a killing spree killing young people.
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Twilight Zone: The Movie is a remake of four classic episodes of The Twilight Zone series, with a famous director directing each episode. Each segment is like a mini-movie, and one of those segments, Kick The Can, is about a nursing home. Kick the Can was directed by Steven Spielberg when he was on top of his game.
Kick the Can is the most positive movie on this list and is a fantasy, even though Twilight Zone: The Movie is horror. I have read that many people don’t like the Kick the Can segment, but it may be my favorite part of the Twilight Zone movie. Kick the Can deals with how aging can make someone bitter, but everyone still has an inner child that wants to come out and play.
Late Phases (2014)
Late Phases other than Bubba Ho-Tep is the most popcorn movie on the list. You can sit back and enjoy it for what it is, a werewolf movie about a blind, aging war veteran and his dog.
The movie shows how the elderly are ignored and discarded as we watch an angry veteran take one last stand for his country against a werewolf beast.