I wrote the last chapter of my Pacific Northwest movies and shows in 2018. With the amount of filming done in this area, these blogs could go on for a long time. I’m sticking however to shows and movies I’ve watched. For me, these are about immersing myself in the atmospheric environments these shows create. Part of the story, another character almost, is the weather and locations themselves. The forests, the ocean, mountains, fog and rain. They direct the characters wardrobe and even personality. I hope you enjoy chapter III of Movies and Shows filmed in the Pacific Northewest.
I will link the previous chapters to this series at the end of this blog.
The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina
(Filmed in and around Vancouver British Columbia)
I never missed an episode of Sabrina The Teenage Witch back in the 90’s. Living in an old Victorian mansion with 2 witch aunts and a black cat who talks? what a dream! My black cat Salem carries his name in honour of this show. I love what Netflix has done with the new adventures of Sabrina Spellman.
As her 16th birthday nears, Sabrina must choose between the witch world of her family and the human world of her friends.
It looks like Season 3 is already in the works. Can’t wait!
Many forest scene are filmed in Belcarra Regional Park (A favourite hiking spot of mine)
Sabrina’s Baxter Highschool is actually Lord Strathcona Elementary on East Pender Street in Vancouver
The Edge
(Filmed in Golden and Yoho National Park as well as Banff Ab)
A lodge in the Alaskan wilderness, a plane crash in the middle of vast forest; home to a man eating grizzly. What could possibly go wrong? The year is 1997. A model invites her billionaire, much older husband to come with her on a photo shoot to Alaska. But when their plane crashes in the middle of nowhere, a strong mind game erupts between the clever husband and the jealous young photographer (who may be having an affair with his wife) as they try to get back to civilization.
I love a good wilderness adventure.
Nancy Drew
(Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver plays the town of Horseshoe Bay, Maine)
I grew up reading the Nancy Drew books with my sisters. I have always been a fan of the mystery genre. I would run as fast as I could everyday after school so as not to miss a minute of Scooby Doo. When I saw the commercial for the Nancy Drew series, I immediately set up my PVR to record every episode.
The series opens with the sudden and tragic death of Drew’s mother, causing her to suspend her sleuthing until she can get her life back on track and restart her college education. Before long though her detective skills are needed again when she finds herself at the center of a socialite’s murder, and under suspicion from the police no less.
Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver
Portlandia
(Filmed in Portland Oregon)
No matter if you’re from Portland, Seattle or Vancouver, based on the hilarious skits on this show, it seems we’re very much alike. From our love of microbreweries, certified organic produce, summer outdoor movies or having a home based jewelry making biz. Portlandia chronicles the lives of various offbeat fictional characters in Portland, Oregon. I see myself or people I know in so many of their skits which makes it so funny.
Northern Exposure
(Filmed in Roslyn Washington)
I recently heard they are trying to get the original cast together to make a reboot of this show. This and Men in Trees are the reason I’ve not only done road trips and visited many small towns along the PNW but why I like looking at real estate. I never know when I might find that perfect cozy little town to retire to.
Joel Fleishman is fresh out of medical college in NYC. Failing to read the fine print in his scholarship conditions, he finds he has no choice but to move to the remote and somewhat eccentric town of Cicely, in the wilds of Alaska. At first he has difficulty adjusting but before long finds himself enjoying the rural life more than he’d expected to.
Harpers Island
(Filmed mainly on Bowen Island off the coast of Vancouver)
I was attracted to the banner advertising this show. A dark sky, a lighthouse and a group of young men and woman trapped on an island with a serial killer on the loose. I binged watched all 13 episodes of this series in days. Sadly it never seemed to have been created with a second season in mind (spoiler alert) given every character gets slaughtered.
A group of family and friends travel to a secluded island off the coast of Seattle for a wedding. Seven years prior, a string of gruesome murders have yet to be solved. Although the guests arrive on the island in the spirit of celebration and love, they don’t know they’ve also come to die. As the wedding festivities begin, friendships are tested and secrets exposed as a murderer claims victims, one by one, transforming the wedding week of fun into a terrifying struggle for survival.
The Hunted
(Filmed in The Olympic National Forest and Oregon)
This movie got terrible reviews when it came out but there’s something thrilling about 80’s and 90’s action movies. They just don’t make them like that anymore haha. I still love Rambo: First Blood and I think it’s why I liked this movie, in fact it was compared to the filmed as a “rehash of Rambo”by critics. I’ll watch anything with Benicio Del Toro or Tommy Lee Jones anyway.
Aided by the FBI, a retired combat-trainer (Tommy Lee Jones) searches for a former student (Benicio Del Toro) who is killing civilians in Oregon.
Snow Falling On Cedars
(Filmed in Greenwood BC and Port Townsend Washington)
During our trip to Rossland BC last year, I made sure we stopped in Greenwood. I just had to see it and take some photos being in was one of the locations this beautiful story was filmed in. I’ve been to Port Townsend Wa many time as well but didn’t know it was one of the movie locations until later.
It’s 1954. A local fisherman is on trial for murdering another fisherman. The story starts on the very first day of the trial, when the prosecution opens its case. The court hears testimony from sheriff Art Moran, the coroner who examined the victims body, and the victim’s mother. Through this testimony, the prosecution advances a theory that the murder was premeditated, and over a land dispute between two families dating back to before World War II. Ishmael Chambers, a local newspaper reporter with close past ties to the murderers’ wife, Hatsue, is there reporting and watching Hatsue, his first love.
(Below. Greenwood BC – by Jennifer Pedraza Richardson)
Little Woman
(Filmed in Victoria BC including Hatley and Craigdarroch Castles)
I include this film in my Christmas movie marathon every December. I shared it with my husband this year. He’d never watched it before. I don’t think he was as enamoured with the story as I am.
Louisa May Alcott’s autobiographical account of her life with her three sisters in Concord, Massachusetts in the 1860s. With their father fighting in the American Civil War, sisters Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth are at home with their mother, a very outspoken women for her time. The story tells of how the sisters grow up, find love and find their place in the world.
When I lived in Victoria, I loved taking anyone who came to visit me to Craigdarroch Castle. At Christmas they have choirs and musicians playing carols. It’s a magical place.
Wild
(Filmed mainly in Crater Lake and Bend Oregon with scenes shot in Washington State and Northern California)
My mother introduced me to this book. I would love to do a hike like this. A dream would be the Pacific Westcoast trail on Vancouver Island. The circumstances and motives under which Cheryl Stayed made her trek across the Pacific Crest Trail however are very different to mine.
With the dissolution of her marriage, the death of her mother and after years of reckless, destructive behaviour, Cheryl makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience and driven only by sheer determination, she hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone.
To read the first and second chapters of my Movies & Shows Filmed in the PNW click here:
Chapter 1 https://thebellwitchmanor.com/2018/03/10/movies-shows-filmed-in-the-pacific-northwest/
Thanks for joining me today.
Until next time.
Love,
Jennifer
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