Best Small Town Movies & TV Shows

Stranger Things

When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.

Stars: Caleb McLaughlin Charlie Heaton David Harbour Finn Wolfhard Gaten Matarazzo Joe Keery Millie Bobby Brown Natalia Dyer Sadie Sink Winona Ryder

Unravel the mystery of a nightmarish town in middle America that traps all those who enter. As the unwilling residents fight to keep a sense of normalcy and search for a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest – including the terrifying creatures that come out when the sun goes down.

Stars: Catalina Sandino Moreno Eion Bailey Elizabeth Moy Hannah Cheramy Harold Perrineau Pegah Ghafoori Simon Webster

Stranger Things: Tales from ’85

Welcome back to Hawkins in the stark winter of 1985, where the original characters must fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town.

Stars: Benjamin Plessala Braxton Quinney Brett Gipson Brooklyn Davey Norstedt Elisha Williams Jeremy Jordan Jolie Hoang-Rappaport Luca Diaz Odessa A'zion

Virgin River

After seeing an ad for a midwife, a recently divorced big-city nurse moves to the redwood forests of California, where she meets an intriguing man.

Stars: Alexandra Breckenridge Benjamin Hollingsworth Colin Lawrence Lauren Hammersley Martin Henderson

Wayward

A small-town cop suspects that the local school for troubled teens — and its dangerously charismatic founder — may not be all it seems.

Stars: Alyvia Alyn Lind Mae Martin Sarah Gadon Sydney Topliffe Toni Collette Tricia Black

Sleepy Hollow

Ichabod Crane is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding fathers.

Stars: Janina Gavankar Jeremy Davies Jerry MacKinnon Lyndie Greenwood Oona Yaffe Rachel Melvin Tom Mison

IT: Welcome to Derry

Prequel to IT beginning in 1960s also covering origins of Pennywise the Clown.

Stars: Bill Skarsgård Chris Chalk James Remar Jovan Adepo Stephen Rider Taylour Paige

True Blood

Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed overnight from legendary monsters to fellow citizens. And while humans have been safely removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures "coming out of the coffin." Religious leaders, government officials, and vampire fundamentalists around the world have chosen their sides. But in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out.

Stars: Adina Porter Alexander Skarsgård Anna Paquin Carrie Preston Chris Bauer Nelsan Ellis Rutina Wesley Ryan Kwanten Sam Trammell Stephen Moyer

Weapons

When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

Run time: 129m Tagline: Last night at 2:17 AM, every child from Mrs. Gandy's class woke up, got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the front door, walked into the dark ...and they never came back. Release: 2025-08-04

Stars: Alden Ehrenreich Amy Madigan Austin Abrams Benedict Wong Callie Schuttera Cary Christopher Josh Brolin Julia Garner Toby Huss Whitmer Thomas

Twin Peaks

The body of Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul.

Stars: Kyle MacLachlan

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

When single mom Callie and her two kids Trevor and Phoebe arrive in a small Oklahoma town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.

Run time: 124m Tagline: Discover the past. Save the future. Release: 2021-11-18

Stars: Bill Murray Bokeem Woodbine Carrie Coon Celeste O'Connor Dan Aykroyd Ernie Hudson Finn Wolfhard Logan Kim Mckenna Grace Paul Rudd

Scream

A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.

Run time: 112m Tagline: Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far. Solving this mystery is going to be murder. Release: 1996-12-20

Stars: Courteney Cox David Arquette Jamie Kennedy Joseph Whipp Liev Schreiber Matthew Lillard Neve Campbell Rose McGowan Skeet Ulrich W. Earl Brown

The Black Phone

Finney Blake, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.

Run time: 103m Tagline: Never talk to strangers. Release: 2022-06-16

Stars: E. Roger Mitchell Ethan Hawke J. Gaven Wilde James Ransone Jeremy Davies Madeleine McGraw Mason Thames Miguel Mora Rebecca Clarke Troy Rudeseal

Gilmore Girls

Set in the charming town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, the series follows the captivating lives of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, a mother/daughter pair who have a relationship most people only dream of.

Stars: Alexis Bledel Keiko Agena Kelly Bishop Lauren Graham Liza Weil Matt Czuchry Melissa McCarthy Scott Patterson Sean Gunn Yanic Truesdale