Jumping from planet to planet, sprawling landscapes and vistas, and world tours from one exotic location to another. These have become all too regular locales in some of our favorite movies. Through robust settings, audiences are taken on wild and over-the-top stories. On the flip side of that comes a much more intimate, condensed, and often claustrophobic viewing experience. A filmmaker will take one, two, or a whole group of characters and make a singular location the focal point of the story. The room not only becomes a setting within a movie, but a living, breathing character itself. This can create some of the best cinema out there. So let’s take a look at the top ten movies set (primarily) in one room, and rank em'.
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10 Buried (2010)
Warner Bros. Pictures
This little-known Ryan Reynolds film from 2010 brings home one of the most commonly-feared situations ever, being buried alive. Buried tells the story of a truck driver working in Iraq, who after being attacked, finds himself buried alive inside a coffin with just a cell phone and a lighter. In a world where action movies take us on worldwide adventures with elaborate set pieces, Buried proves that sometimes all you need for tension and action is an 84x28 inch area, a man, a phone, and a lighter.
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9 Phone Booth (2002)
20th Century Fox
Phone booths are a dying breed; a thing of the past. However, in 2002’s Phone Booth, the setting became the focal point for action and terror. Colin Farrell’s character of Stu Shepard finds himself held hostage in the call box by Kiefer Sutherland’s antagonist known only as “The Caller”. Much like an upcoming entry on this list, The Caller wants to play a game and test Stu to admit his infidelity to his wife, or suffer the consequences. The suspense is ramped up as the movie progresses, and the audience becomes as unsure of The Caller’s next move as Stu is. Taking a small space such as a phone booth and placing it in the much larger surroundings of a big city gives the audience big time thrills in a tight-knit setting. Throughouly entertaining, Phone Booth ranks as one of Collin Farrell’s best movies.
8 The Breakfast Club (1985)
Universal Pictures
Being one of the best entries featuring members of the brat pack from the ’80s, The Breakfast Club remains one of the top coming of age films in cinema history, thoughtfully examining teen realness. A common solution for groups of people who do not get along is to get them into a room to talk it out and find the common ground that exists between the two of them. Never has that been truer than in The Breakfast Club. One fateful Saturday School brings together a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Secluded primarily in the library together, this group clashing classmates find that it is far too easy to judge a book by its cover as they bond through shared experiences, traumas, and dreams. This seclusion helps to bring the audience closer to the characters as the characters grow closer to one another.
7 1408 (2007)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
1408, the live action retelling of Stephen King’s 1999 short story, features John Cusack as the main protagonist, Mike Enslin. Mike quickly finds himself trapped in the haunted hotel room, 1408, located at The Dolphin Hotel in New York City. As Mike begins to experience horrifying visions audiences are left to believe whether room 1408 is truly haunted or whether Mike’s sanity is dwindling. The one room, one location setting in horror movies is used quite commonly as it taps into our own fears of claustrophobia, isolation, and loneliness. 1408 uses it’s centralized location as a haunting device to force Mike Enslin to confront the death of his daughter and disarray of his life, and it does it masterfully.
6 Rope (1948)
Warner Bros. Pictures
The master of horror, Alfred Hitchcock, has a keen intellect for producing top tier drama and tension that confides his main characters to one room. Rope tells the story of two college students exploring the ultimate social experiment of trying to commit what they deem to be “the perfect crime”. Supposedly inspired by conversations with their former housemaster, Rupert Cadell, played by the incomparable Jimmy Stewart, Brandon and Phillip strangle a former classmate, hide his body in an antique wooden chest, and then throw a dinner party. Guests include the victim’s father, aunt, and fiancé, furthering the madness of the murder’s social experiment. Hitchcock uses the one apartment setting to great affect; with every movement of the party-goers, the audience is on the edge of their seats wondering if the crime will be uncovered.
5 Misery (1990)
Columbia Pictures
One of the best horror films of the ’90s, Misery is the tale of an obsessed fan who kidnaps her favorite author under the pretense of nursing him back to health after a car accident leaves him with horribly injured legs. The bulk of the story takes place as Paul Sheldon, played by James Caan, is confided to his captors spare bedroom, Annie WIlkes, played by Kathy Bates. As he rewrites his latest novel at the behest of Annie due to her dissatisfaction with his killing her favorite character, Misery, we see Sheldon’s sanity slowly deteriorate as he begins to question whether he will ever make it out of this house alive. Annie Wilkes has the dangerous combination of love and obsession fueling her motives throughout the film. Isolated in Annie’s house in the middle of nowhere, the audience feels the dread and terror sink in as Caan and Bates weave horrifyingly brilliant performances with masterful storytelling by director Rob Reiner.
4 Saw (2004)
Lionsgate Films
Director James Wan’s mainstream directorial debut, Saw was the first and perhaps finest entry into what became known as the “torture porn” genre. Saw pits our two fateful main characters, Dr. Lawrence Gordon and Adam Faulkner-Stanheight against one another in a series of games designed to test their sanity and willingness for pain. Their backstories of lies and deceit are played out through flashbacks, leading up to their capture and subsequent imprisonment, chained up in a bathroom with a corpse in the middle of the room. Not to mention, it features one of the best twists and one of the greatest final scenes in horror movie history. Saw was really the first movie of its kind to feature such brutality played out in such a claustrophobic environment. It very well may have been the last movie of its kind to garner praise for being more than just a blood-filled spectacle for 90 minutes.
3 Rear Window (1954)
Another Hitchcock film? You know it. He is the master of horror and suspense, after all. We all know the feeling of looking out our window at a neighbors house and wondering what might be going on inside. Rear Window takes that thought to new levels as our main character, Jeff, is confined to his wheelchair and finds entertainment and comfort at watching the lives of his neighbors through his, you guessed it, rear window. Jeff’s newfound hobby quickly becomes a nightmare as he is convinced he has witnessed a murder. The audience is left wondering if Jeff’s accusation is true or if he simply has a case of cabin fever from the confinement to the one-room setting.
2 Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Miramax Films
Next on the list is one of the most popular movies to ever premier at the Sundance Film Festival. In classic Tarantino fashion, Reservoir Dogs bounces back and forth from the past to the present and utilizes the nonlinear storytelling that has come to represent the directors style over the years. For the most part, however, the film takes place inside a warehouse with Mr. White and an injured Mr. Orange, two members of a group of criminals who set out to commit a diamond heist. As the crime plays out in flashbacks, White and Orange continue to hide out in the warehouse where various scenes play out with fellow thieves Mr. Blonde and Mr. Pink.
With Mr. Orange eventually confessing to be an undercover policeman and fellow officers closing in on the warehouse, the film ends with a barrage of gunfire as all characters are presumed dead when the credits roll. Tarantino creates great intrigue and mystery as our two main characters are hiding out in the warehouse for the majority of the movie and the audience are left guessing if Mr. White will discover Mr. Orange’s secret and what will be the fate of these men when the law finally catches up to them.
1 12 Angry Men (1957)
United Artists
A truly great film is all about its characters and story. One of the most renowned films of all time, 12 Angry Men, takes place entirely within a jury deliberation room, and yet tensions could not be higher between the jury members from start to finish. Much like one of the earlier entries on the list, The Breakfast Club, 12 Angry Men is also about a group of people trying to find common ground while deciding the fate of an 18-year-old accused of stabbing his abusive father to death. As the all-male jury attempts to come to a conclusive verdict, their own personalities, past traumas, and opinions come to light, influencing what should otherwise be an impartial jury. Through deep and meaningful dialogue that would make Quentin Tarantino jealous, our story unfolds brilliantly because of the one-room setting and task charged to these men. An isolated drama, 12 Angry Men is just as relevant today as it was in 1957.
