The house in the remake is indeed located in wisconsin. Silver lake to be exact. i live about 15 minutes away. it is conveniently located right in between chicago and milwauke. my guess as to why they picked this location is because the lake is open and probably made filming easier. they did a great job renovating to make it look authentic. another guess would be the set up in the backyard is very close to the original property, boathouse and all.