CAMDEN—Camden, with its picturesque small town and harbor, has been the backdrop to multiple films over the last several decades, including Stephen King's horror drama, Thinner, and the supernatural fantasy, Casper.

According to a September post in Reddit Maine, Camden got another spooky close-up in the psychological horror TV series From, which debuted September 22, 2024, and is streaming on Amazon. 

The IMDb logline describes From like this: "Unravel the mystery of a city in middle U.S.A. that imprisons everyone who enters. As the residents struggle to maintain a sense of normality and seek a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest."

IMDb notes that "The town set was built specifically for the series in North Beaver Bank, Nova Scotia;" however, eagle-eyed Maine residents spotted Camden in part of the scenes with one Redditer wryly noting, "The entire show is just one Mainer driving through Camden during tourist season."

The first episode is available for free on Amazon. 

According to IMDb: "The Matthews' family road trip takes a horrifying turn when they are detoured to a small town from which they cannot leave. When their family RV crashes, Sheriff Boyd Stevens and other residents rush to save them before the sun goes down."

From the first episode, fans of the show ruminated that it felt like something Stephen King dreamed up. In fact, King said of the show on X (formerly Twitter): "I just saw the first episode of FROM (Epix, premiering 2/20). I was absolutely riveted. True edge-of-your-seat stuff, believable and scary." 

Despite the cameo, people often ask why so many Maine-themed movies are filmed in Canada. This PenBay Pilot story explains that it all comes down to Maine's tax incentives, which have historically, been unattractive to filmmakers. 

According to the Maine Film Office, the state currently only offers a 10-to-12 percent wage rebate back to financiers for employees who work on a film in Maine, with an additional five percent tax credit for any production costs in Maine. In contrast, both Massachusetts and Canada (where many "Maine" films are shot) offer filmmakers a refundable tax credit of 25 percent of a production's qualified labor expenditures. Efforts to pass laws to boost Maine's film tax credits have met failure after failure at the legislative level. 

A 2023 Portland Press Herald story uncovered a damning report that Maine's tax incentives are "behind the times" and that the Maine Film Office "does not effectively administer the program."

The story further elaborated:  "According to a study by the Maine Film Association, the film production industry has directly brought $29.3 million to Maine’s economy and indirectly sparked $64.3 million in output."

That's not chump change. Maybe with the success of more shows like From the next time, Camden won't merely be a cameo in future films, but rather, the star. 

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penabypilot.com