List of films set in West Virginia

Last updated

This list includes movies/shows that either take place or were made, in West Virginia or the surrounding area:

Contents

Films

  indicates major film award recognition

1940-1969

TitleDirectorReleaseLocationNote
Stage Struck Allan Dwan 1925 New Martinsville, West Virginia
The Millerson Case George Archainbaud 1947 Jefferson County, West Virginia
Roseanna McCoy Irving Reis & Nicholas Ray 1949
The Night of the Hunter Charles Laughton 1955 Moundsville, West Virginia [1] [2]
Shenandoah Andrew V. McLaglen 1965 Hardy County, West Virginia
Holy Ghost People Peter Adair 1967Scrabble Creek, West Virginia
Teen-Age Strangler Ben Parker1968 Huntington, West Virginia
The Rain People Francis Ford Coppola 1969 Fairmont, West Virginia

1970-1989

TitleDirectorReleaseLocationNote
Fools' Parade Andrew V. McLaglen 1971 Moundsville, West Virginia
No Drums, No Bugles Clyde Ware 1972
The Gravy Train Jack Starrett 1974
The Deer Hunter Michael Cimino 1978 Weirton, West Virginia 1979 Academy Awards Best Picture Winner [1] [2] [3]
Reckless James Foley 1983 Weirton, West Virginia
Superman III Richard Lester 1983 [4]
Pudd'nhead Wilson Alan Bridges 1984 Hampshire County, West Virginia
Sweet Dreams Karel Reisz 1985 Monroe County, West Virginia
A Killing Affair David Saperstein 1986 Logan County, West Virginia
Act of Vengeance John Mackenzie 1986 Charleston, West Virginia
Matewan John Sayles 1986 Mingo County, West Virginia [1] [5] [4] [3]
Chillers Daniel Boyd 1986 Kanawha County, West Virginia
Big Business Jim Abrahams 1988 Fayette County, West Virginia
Rain Man Barry Levinson December 16, 1988 Huntington, West Virginia 1989 Academy Awards Best Picture. One of the individuals Dustin Hoffman based his character, Raymond Babbitt, on, Joseph Sullivan, lived in Huntington, West Virginia. [6] One of the film's premieres was later held in Huntington. [7]
Strangest Dreams: Invasion of the Space Preachers Daniel Boyd 1989 Kanawha County, West Virginia

1990-2009

TitleDirectorReleaseLocationNote
The Turning L.A. Puopolo1992 Nemours, West Virginia
The Silence of the Lambs Jonathan Demme 1991 Clay County, West Virginia 1992 Academy Awards Best Picture [1] [8] [9]
Sommersby Jon Amiel 1993 Snowshoe, West Virginia [3]
Off and Running Ed Bianchi 1991
The Bodyguard Mick Jackson 1992 Morgantown, West Virginia [5]
Lassie Daniel Petrie 1994 Summers County, West Virginia [3]
Primal Fear Gregory Hoblit 1996 McDowell County, West Virginia [1]
My Fellow Americans Peter Segal 1996 Charleston, West Virginia
Whatever Susan Skoog 1998 Wheeling, West Virginia
Patch Adams Tom Shadyac 1998 Pocahontas County, West Virginia [2] [5]
October Sky Joe Johnston 1999 Coalwood, West Virginia [2] [5] [4]
Road Trip Todd Phillips 2000 Morgantown, West Virginia
Ashes to Glory Deborah NovakNovember 18, 2000 Huntington, West Virginia
A Beautiful Mind Ron Howard 2001 Bluefield, West Virginia 2002 Academy Awards Best Picture [2] [10] [5]
The Mothman Prophecies Mark Pellington 2002 Point Pleasant, West Virginia [5] [8] [4] [9]
Gods and Generals Ronald F. Maxwell 2003 Harper's Ferry, West Virginia [10] [5]
Wrong Turn Rob Schmidt 2003 Huntington, West Virginia [8] [4]
Burning Annie Van FlesherOctober 9, 2003 Huntington, West Virginia [11]
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! Robert Luketic 2004 Putnam County, West Virginia [2] [5] [3]
Super Size Me Morgan Spurlock 2004 Beckley, West Virginia [1]
Dark Harvest Paul Moore2004 Huntington, West Virginia [11]
Bubble Steven Soderbergh 2005 Parkersburg, West Virginia
The Devil and Daniel Johnston Jeff Feuerzeig 2005 [1]
Dear Wendy Thomas Vinterberg2005 Charleston, West Virginia
The Descent Neil Marshall 2005
We Are Marshall McG 2006 Huntington, West Virginia [10] [5] [4] [3]
Header Archibald Flancranstin2006
Salvage Joshua Crook & Jeffrey Crook2006 Parkersburg, West Virginia [8]
Silent Hill Christophe Gans 2006Silent Hill, West Virginia [9] [4]
Two Tickets to Paradise D.B. Sweeney 2006 Charleston, West Virginia
Live Free or Die Hard Len Wiseman 2007
The Rock-afire Explosion Brett Whitcomb2008 Barboursville, West Virginia [12] [13]
Timber Falls Tony Giglio 2007 Kanawha County, West Virginia
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End Joe Lynch 2007 Fayette County, West Virginia
The X-Files: I Want to Believe Chris Carter 2008 [9]
XIII: The Conspiracy Duane Clark 2008
Blood Creek Joel Schumacher 2009 Morgantown, West Virginia
Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead Declan O'Brien 2009 Clay County, West Virginia
Still Bill Damani Baker & Alex Vlack2009 Raleigh County, West Virginia [1] [5]

2010-Present

TitleDirectorReleaseLocationNote
Unstoppable Tony Scott 2010 Benwood, West Virginia [5]
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil Eli Craig 2010 Huntington, West Virginia [9]
Mothman Sheldon Wilson 2010 Point Pleasant, West Virginia
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia Julien Nitzberg 2010 Boone County, West Virginia
The Last Mountain Bill Haney2011 [1]
Super 8 J. J. Abrams 2011 Wheeling, West Virginia & Weirton, West Virginia [2] [5] [9] [3]
Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings Declan O'Brien 2011 Fayette County, West Virginia
Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines Declan O'Brien 2012 Morgantown, West Virginia
Memory Lane Shawn Holmes2012 Wheeling, West Virginia
A Single Shot David M. Rosenthal 2013
Oxyana Sean Dunne2013 Wyoming County, West Virginia
Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies Cody Knotts2013 Parkersburg, West Virginia [9]
The Hunted Josh Stewart 2013 [4] [9]
Out of the Furnace Scott Cooper 2013 Moundsville, West Virginia
A Christmas Tree Miracle JW Myers2013 Wheeling, West Virginia
Child of God James Franco 2013 Greenbrier County, West Virginia [3]
Little Accidents Sara Colangelo 2014 Huntington, West Virginia [5]
Surviving Cliffside Jon Matthews2014 Alum Creek, West Virginia
Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort Valeri Milev 2014 Kanawha County, West Virginia
American Ultra Nima Nourizadeh 2015
Z for Zachariah Craig Zobel2015 Welch, West Virginia
Hidden Figures Theodore Melfi 2016 White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia [10] [5]
Don't Let the Devil In Courtney Fathom Sell2016
The Mothman of Point Pleasant Seth Breedlove 2017 Point Pleasant, West Virginia
The Glass Castle Destin Daniel Cretton 2017 Welch, West Virginia [5]
Logan Lucky Steven Soderbergh 2017 Boone County, West Virginia [5]
Heroin(e) Elaine McMillion Sheldon September 3, 2017 Huntington, West Virginia [14]
Heroin Town Dan ChildOctober 8, 2017 Huntington, West Virginia [11] [10]
Feast of the Seven Fishes Robert Tinnell 2018 Fairmont, West Virginia
Dark Waters Todd Haynes 2019 Parkersburg, West Virginia
The Devil All the Time Antonio Campos 2020Coal Creek, West Virginia [9]
The Big Ugly Scott Wiper 2020 [15]
Wrong Turn Mike P. Nelson2021 Pocahontas County, West Virginia
King Coal Elaine McMillion Sheldon 2023
T-130 Samuel Felinton January 25, 2024 Huntington, West Virginia [16]

See also

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "7 films you didn't know were made in or about WV". West Virginia Tourism. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "8 Places You Recognize From West Virginia That Showed Up In Famous Movies". Only In West Virginia. September 23, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Price, Rachel (March 22, 2015). "13 Movies And TV Shows You Might Not Have Known Were In West Virginia". Only In West Virginia. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "West Virginia on the Silver Screen: A Movie Watchlist". Visit Southern West Virginia. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  6. "Joseph's Story". Autism Services Center. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  7. Johnson, Shauna. "85 years of the Keith-Albee Theatre". WV Metro News. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Johnson, Rachel (October 31, 2018). "Horror movies of West Virginia". The Daily Athenaeum. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Klein, Shayla (September 27, 2021). "12 spooky movies filmed or set in West Virginia". WBOY . Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "These 5 Must-See Movies About Famous West Virginians Will Challenge And Inspire". Only In West Virginia. April 14, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 Houvouras, Anghus (2023). "Movies Made In Huntington". Huntington Quarterly. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  12. Matheson, Whitney (November 13, 2009). "'Rock-afire Explosion': Best movie I've seen all year. Really". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 16, 2009.
  13. "And The Animatronic Band Played On: The Troubled Afterlife Of The Rock-afire Explosion". dcist. April 22, 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  14. Montagne, Renee (March 4, 2018). "'Heroin(e)': The Women Fighting Addiction In Appalachia". NPR . Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  15. "The Big Ugly - Rotten Tomotoes". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 6, 2025.
  16. Ellison, Hunter (Jan 4, 2024). "Huntington High Graduates Excel in W.Va. Film Industry". WSAZ. Retrieved October 12, 2024.