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Stephen King’s ‘It’ : Oshawa’s Haunted House Set Brings Media Attention, What It Says About Plot

By Dustin Kemp
Published on: 18:57 PST, Jul 31, 2016

Durham Region News reports that a new filming location for the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s It has been chosen: Oshawa, a small city in Ontario. A new structure is being built in the city’s downtown, and King fans, as well as horror movie lovers, will be delighted to hear the Oshawa residents’ testimonies of how delightfully creepy it is.

Those following the film adaptation of the classic Stephen King horror/coming-of-age story will already know that the first town the film took over for a few weeks and, in doing so, put on the pop culture grid was Port Hope, also in Ontario. The Inquisitr covered multiple aspects of the Port Hope filming, including an overview of what the filming locations used may have meant about the movie’s plot or, more recently, analysis of actual reports about the filming.

Apparently, the next town to have the Stephen King-flavored media spotlight shown on it has been selected. Oshawa, located in southern Ontario, is already becoming fascinated with the Hollywood set pieces being constructed in their city.

In fact, members of the film’s crew say the new sets have been attracting a steady stream of onlookers who are thrilled to get a glimpse of movie magic in the works, especially when the project to which it is related is something as exciting as a Stephen King adaptation.

Out of all the structures being erected in Oshawa for the filming, one of them literally and figuratively stands above all the rest: the large haunted house that is being built in a vacant lot at the end of a dead end.

The house, a wooden, two-storied, soot-colored monstrosity, gives off a feeling of despair and foreboding even in the daytime, notes the report — sounds like Stephen King himself would be proud.

The foundation is still being painted, but a look at the structure’s front, which has already been dressed up with peeling paint and boarded windows, gives onlookers the chills that a Stephen King set piece should.

Sean O’Donoghue, one of the carpenters working on the house, says that he is amazed at the care taken by the set designers to make the wood used for the construction look old and decrepit, despite the fact that it is actually fresh, sturdy material.

“It’s actually brand new siding they made look like this,” O’Donoghue said. “They power wash it, then burn it with torches, then power wash it again.”

Sean continued that he was impressed with how perfectly the filmmakers were capturing the essence of Stephen King’s work with the set.

“That’s how you make a haunted house.”

Over a week ago, The Oshawa Express noted the beginnings of the construction, but, at the time, they had no idea what was being built or what it would represent in the context of Stephen King’s iconic 1986 horror story.

Now that the house is nearly completed, Stephen King fans can take a very good guess at what location it will portray: 29 Neibolt Street, a house that Stephen King describes as “run-down and abandoned” in It.

[DISCLAIMER: Spoilers for Stephen King’s It beyond this point.]

29 Neibolt Street is the setting for one of the most terrifying scenes from Stephen King’s original work — ask a few King fans what scenes from It scared them the most, and you are sure to hear the scene mentioned. In the scene, Eddie Kaspbrak encounters the titular monster in the form of a homeless man addled with leprosy. Eddie runs away, but Bill Denbrough and Richie Tozier return later to face the monster, at which point it takes the form of a werewolf.

The scenes at 29 Neibolt, while iconic, did not appear in the 1990 TV miniseries adaptation of It, so many Stephen King fans will be overjoyed to hear that they will be appearing this time around.

The presence of the scene implied by the haunted house also goes further in confirming something that many reports about the film have already speculated: that it will be a much more faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s 1,138-page tome than past attempts have been.

29 Neibolt may be almost completed, but many more developments concerning the production of Stephen King’s It are sure to pop up from Oshawa in the coming days — especially after August 10, when filming is set to begin. Keep checking The Inquisitr for more news as it comes!

[Photo by Nathanx1/Getty Images]

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