Bored Panda contacted Paul to learn more about this hobby of his. Paul introduced himself as a big movie nerd and it's impossible not to notice it looking at these comparison pictures. The man revealed that ever since he was a young child, he has loved movies and horror movies in particular.
"I always thought how fascinating it would be if I could ever visit where they happened, the exact places I've seen on the television screen countless times. So in 2001, when I was driving from Kentucky to California, I decided to take a detour while driving through Texas and track down a location from one of my favorite films, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It turned out to be an experience I'll never forget and well worth the 200-mile detour. It was around 2009 that I started visiting movie locations more frequently. As for the 'Now' images, they're all my own. I've personally traveled to every one of the locations I've posted a comparison photo to. I'd say I've visited well over 1000 locations."
Paul continued, "I launched my website in 2011 but with new social media platforms constantly becoming available, you're always looking for new ways to present what you do to more people who may have the same interests. My friend Gina actually suggested that I should start an Instagram account and she helped me kickstart it."
Paul started visiting movie locations because they were something that had always intrigued him. "How neat would it be to stand in the exact same spot of one of your favorite scenes from one of your favorite movies you'd seen on the screen countless times? And since I couldn't be there when it was shot, I figured this was the next best thing."
When Paul started documenting the locations he visited on his website, it was primarily for the purpose to store them and be able to look back at them, similar to a scrapbook. The man never started posting with the intent of becoming famous or gaining mass recognition. "Almost everyone collects something, whether it be baseball cards, comic books, vinyl records, etc. I collect movie locations and for me, it's all about the memories. Since it's not a physical possession, documenting all of the locations I've visited and looking back at them whenever I feel the need allows me to instantly remember that particular moment in time when I was there and the experience I had. I like to say that I collect memories, not things."
They say you never forget your first and for Paul, the most memorable place he visited was the primary location from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) where the majority of the film was shot, in Round Rock, Texas.
"To this day it's still my favorite location I've visited, for a multitude of reasons. It being one of my favorite movies was certainly a huge factor. But also the fact that I visited it in 2001 (only a couple of years after the house had been moved) and the area was still very similar to how it was seen in the film. At the time, there still weren't many online sources showing where movies or television shows were filmed."
