If your are an urban photographer or an urban explorer, and are looking for some movies, documentaries or TV series about urban exploration, here is a list that I made.
I didn’t watch all of them, but some are good, some are, less good… (Check on Imdb first) It can give you an idea about what urban exploration is, or make you smile and remember an abandoned asylum you explored, think about thrills you got when you visited an old abandoned house… or even encountered a ghost or monster, or faced some paranormal activity ^^
Please do not hesitate to suggest some movies, documentaries or tv series about urban exploration, you watched, in the comment section.
Movies related or about urban exploration:
C.H.U.D. (1984)
A strange series of murders in New York City seems to point toward the existence of a race of mutant cannibals living under the streets.
Breeders (1986)
The Manhattan General Hospital has admitted a string of young women who have been attacked by something from another world. The victims begin arising in a trance and leaving the hospital by an underground passage.
Mimic (1997)
An entomologist genetically created an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a virulent disease. Three years later, the insects are out to destroy their only predator, mankind.
Session 9 (2001)
Four people working in a company in the building are required to remove asbestos in an abandoned asylum for fifteen years. But the place is haunted.
The film takes place in and around the Danvers State Mental Hospital in Danvers, Massachusetts (USA). The building was partially demolished five years after the film was made.
No debes estar aquí (2002)
Thrill-seekers / urban explorers are facing mysterious deaths after an Internet messenger lures them together, by exploring forbidden places.
Rose Red (2002)
A group of people with psychic powers are invited to spend a night in the haunted house of Rose Red in Seattle, to wake up it.
Creep (2004)
Independent British horror film, Creep is about a woman locked in overnight on the London Underground. She finds herself being stalked by a hideously deformed killer living in the sewers below.
Silent Hill (2006)
A woman goes in search for her daughter who has disappeared, within the confines of a strange, desolate town called Silent Hill. The movie is based on the Silent Hill video game.
I Am Legend (2007)
Three years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into blood-thirsty monsters, the sole survivor is trying to find a cure, in a deserted New York City.
Outpost (2007)
In war-torn Eastern Europe, a group of mercenaries discover a long-hidden secret in an abandoned WWII bunker and find themselves fighting for their lives.
Psycho Ward (2007)
A group of urban explorers get more than they thought, when the visit the site of an abandoned mental hospital and discover it’s hiding a terrifying secret.
Grave Encounters (2011)
The production crew of a ghost hunting reality show, locks themselves inside an abandoned mental hospital that’s supposedly haunted.
And the sequel Grave Encounters 2 (2012) .
Urban Explorer (Aka The Depraved) (2011)
Four young urban explorers from around the Wolrd, meet up in Berlin via internet to explore the maze of escape tunnels and subterranean fortifications under the city. Guided by a local urban explorer who leads them in this illegal tour, through a labyrinth of tunnels, sewers and catacombs, and a special bunker.
Underground (2011)
A group of friends fight for their lives against the lethal and ravenous creatures in underground bunkers of a military base.
The Tunnel (2011)
A journalist and her crew investigate on a government cover-up story, which leads them to an underground network of abandoned tunnels, beneath the city of Sydney.
Chernobyl Diaries (2012)
Six tourists hire an extreme tour guide who takes them into the abandoned city of Pripyat, the former home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor.
Greystone Park (2012)
Greystone Park is a found footage horror film about filmmakers who went in October 2009, into an abandoned psychiatric hospital to explore the apparently haunted institution, and known for its radical treatment of patients with mental illness.
As Above, So Below (2014)
As Above, So Below is a found footage horror film about a team of urban explorers lead by a young archaeologist, who ventures into the catacombs that lie beneath the streets of Paris, hoping to find the fabled Philosopher’s Stone.
The Pyramid (2014)
An archaeological team attempts to unlock the secrets of a lost pyramid only to find themselves chased by an terrifying creature.
Chrysalis (2014)
Two survivors of a deadly infection that laid waste to humanity 25 years ago, fight off the remnants of the infected.
Kingdom Come (2014)
A group of strangers wake up in an abandoned hospital to find themselves stalked by a supernatural force with sinister intentions.
The Infiltrators (Announced)
Documentaries about urban exploration:
The Degrees of Difference (2006)
The documentary guides us through disparate Toronto buildings, some inhabited, others abandoned, in a seemingly impossible pursuit to unite the dissimilar.
Urban Explorers: Into The Darkness (2007)
A brillant documentary about abandoned places and urban explorers around the world.
Urban Explorers: Quests for Myth, Mystery and Meaning (2009)
A 30-minute video introducing the practice of urban exploration. Constructed as a video article for the journal Geography Compass, the article uses footage from the author’s own explorations in California, Las Vegas and London.
Urban Exploration (2010)
Urban Exploration is short Documentary Film about young people who gain access to forbidden places for the rush of the taboo and the prize of photographic proof.
Undercity: New York City Urban Exploration (2011)
Steve Duncan, urban historian and photographer, tries to peel back the layers of a city to see what’s underneath, from the tops of bridges to the depths of sewer tunnels.
Reportage Envoyé Spécial: Les Nouveaux Explorateurs (2011)
The team of Envoyé Spécial followed Urbex.Me for 5 days in a trip to Belgium.
A Darker Shade of Wight (2012)
A Darker Shade of Wight tells the tale of the decay and collapse of the tourist industry of this little island off the south coast of England
No Trespassing: The Art of Urban Exploration (2013)
Enter the subculture of Urban Exploration. Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints.
Urbex (2014)
Urbex (short for urban exploration) documentary explores,over the course of five years in three different states, not only the ruins of our forgotten past, but an art form and culture populated by a diverse group of artists.
Here is one of my articles containing some of these documentaries about urban exploration: Urban Photography – Urban Exploration
Some of my urban explorations: Abandoned Places
TV Series related or about urban exploration:
Weird Travels (2001 – 2006) Some episodes
Weird Travels goal is to investigate and uncover some of the biggest mysteries in the world. The series features anything from paranormal-related to things out of the ordinary by traveling the globe to discover the truth on these subjects.
Urban Explorers (2005)
Television show on The Discovery Channel, five episodes hosted by the urban explorer Steve Duncan, from New York.
Cities of the Underworld (2007 – 2009)
American documentary television series that explores the subterranean environment and culture beneath various civilizations.
Man VS Wild : “Urban Survivor” (Poland, Shipyard Gdynia – Season 4 Episode 10) (2010)
A survival television series, hosted by Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel. The episode documents his efforts to survive and find a way back to civilization.
Abandoned (2011 – 2012)
Jay Chaikin, owner of “Reclaimed Relics”, travels around America with his team, exploring abandoned buildings for relics of America’s history that they can refurbish and sell.
I am not personnally very enthusiast about this one, as it can give some ideas to those who explore abandoned places and take what they find inside. This show sounds to me “Take only what you can sell, leave only what you can’t”, but still, some places they venture in are great.
Off Limits (2011 – 2013)
American reality television series that features “untold stories and secrets” of America’s most iconic cities as host Don Wildman ventures and sometimes trespasses through unexplored areas.
Unforgettable: “Maps and Legends” (Season 2, Episode 7) (2013)
American police procedural drama television series, a former police detective Carrie Wells with an unusually detailed and photographic memory (named hyperthymesia), reluctantly joins the New York City Police Department’s Queens homicide unit.
Please do not hesitate to suggest some movies, documentaries or tv series about urban exploration, you watched, in the comment section.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Urban exploration can be dangerous and illegal, so please be careful if you visit those abandoned places. We do not encourage you to explore them, but if you do, please respect those old places.
You enter at your own risks!
