Bronson Canyon, or Bronson Caves, is a section of Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California that has become famous as a filming location for a large number of movies and TV shows, especially westerns, horror and science fiction, from the early days of motion pictures to the present. Its craggy and remote-looking setting, but easily accessible location, has made it a prime choice for filmmakers, particularly of low-budget films, who want to place scenes in a lonely wilderness. Many of Roger Corman’s productions utilised the canyon location.
In 1903, the Union Rock Company founded a quarry, originally named Brush Canyon. The quarry ceased operation in the late 1920s, leaving the caves behind. The caves became known as the Bronson Caves after a nearby street, giving the area its more popular name of Bronson Canyon.
Scenes of the main cave entrance are normally filmed in a manner that shows the entrance at an angle. This is because the cave is actually a very short tunnel through the hill, with the rear opening easily visible in a direct shot. The most well known appearance of the tunnel entrance is likely as the entrance to the Batcave in the Batman television series of the 1960s.
Selected list of films that used Bronson Canyon as a location:
White Zombie (1932)
The Vampire Bat (1933)
The Monster and the Ape (1945 serial)
Superman (1948 serial)
Unknown World (1951)
Robot Monster (1953)
The Snow Creature (1954)
Killers from Space (1954)
King Dinosaur (1955)
The Day the World Ended (1955)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Man Beast (1956)
It Conquered the World (1956)
Night of the Blood Beast (1957)
The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
The Cyclops (1957)
I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)
Earth vs. the Spider (1958)
Monster from Green Hell (1958)
The Bride and the Beast (1958)
The Return of Dracula (1958)
Teenage Caveman (1958)
Monster from Green Hell (1958)
Invisible Invaders (1959)
The Cosmic Man (1959)
Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
The Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960)
Eegah (1962)
Invasion of the Star Creatures (1962)
They Saved Hitler’s Brain (Madmen of Mandoras) (1963)
The Human Duplicators (1965)
The Mighty Gorga (1969)
One Million AC/DC (1969)
Dracula, The Dirty Old Man (1969)
Equinox (1970)
Octaman (1971)
Flesh Gordon (1974)
Help Me… I’m Possessed (1976)
Deathsport (1978)
Don’t Go Near the Park (1979)
The Return (1980)
Screamers (1981 – additional New World footage added to 1979 Italian movie Isle of the Fishmen)
Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn (1983)
Gayracula (1983)
Dreamscape (1984)
The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984)
Demonwarp (1988)
The Nest (1988)
The Phantom Empire (1988)
Lobster Man from Mars (1989)
Shadowzone (1990)
Army of Darkness (1992)
Screamers (1995)
The Wasp Woman (1995, remake)
Sometimes They Come Back… Again (1996)
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001)
Cabin Fever (2002)
Fangs (2002)
The Scorpion King (2002)
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004)
Vampire Blvd. (2004)
The Naked Monster (2005)
Abominable (2006)
Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2010)
Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (2010)
The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (2012)
Return of the Killer Shrews (2012)
