Human creativity knows no bounds and there is no better way of demonstrating that than trying to build a well-crafted story in a one-room setting. Although movies draw audiences with gripping action sequences, vibrant setpieces and amazing practical effects, a complex plot and fascinating characters do wonders in keeping viewers hooked – even though the actors never leave the room they’re in.
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While you may think staying in one place feels boring, these films have overcome that challenge to tell some of the best stories ever told on screen. As such, here are some of the best movies set in one room.
10
Devil
2010
An underrated horror film, Devil blends both suspenseful terror and divine retribution. The film centres largely on a group of five people stuck in a lift. However, things spiral fast as each of them starts dying one by one, seemingly killed by a mysterious force.
While everyone else tries to get them out, the lift’s occupants quickly turn on each other while trying to narrow down who is responsible. The movie dives into themes of sin and redemption and expertly uses its setting and its characters efficiently to tell a well-rounded story.
9
Exam
2009
From start to finish, 2009’s Exam takes place in an examination room, where eight of their brightest candidates compete for a coveted job in one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world. But it isn’t your run-of-the-mill exam, as the candidates are forced to find the exam question and answer it within a specific timeframe.
Although there aren’t any high stakes like life and death, we can feel how much getting this job matters to the candidates involved—how life-changing it would be. All the actors work seamlessly together, showcasing how the characters’ initial teamwork slowly degenerates into mistrust and paranoia.
8
Circle
2015
In this interesting spin on both sci-fi and the death game genre, Circle sees 50 people awaken to find themselves stuck in a room with one another. Unable to leave else they are killed, they soon realise that they’ll be killed randomly anyway by the machine after every two-minute interval unless they vote for someone to die.
Circle ramps up the tension to the max, and sows unease in both the characters and the audience with every blaring sound of the alarm as the machine counts down every second until it kills. Brilliantly acted from beginning to end, Circle keeps your eyes glued to the screen, as alliances form and fall until only one remains standing.
7
Phone Booth
2002
One of the most intense films ever made, Phone Booth, brings a malicious twist to holding someone hostage. The movie stars Colin Firth and Kiefer Sutherland, both of whom performed their lives – especially Sutherland, who is mostly featured in the film as a voice through the receiver.
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The story follows Stuart Shepard, a smarmy publicist who’s been taking advantage of and having an affair with an aspiring actress. He’s been using a phone booth to contact his mistress rather than using his cellphone, but then he receives a sinister call from an unknown person, who begins to terrorise him unless he confesses his affair.
6
Saw
2004
Saw not only established filmmaker James Wan as a horror icon, but it also serves as the launch pad for one of the most famous horror franchises of the 21st century.
The movie is one of gritty, brutal survival, as two men awake to find themselves in a grimy bathroom, chained to opposite ends of the room with a corpse between them. Told largely through the lens of the two prisoners, the movie gradually builds suspense and mounting horror in its audience, as the two men piece together what brought them there, desperately trying to survive the Jigsaw Killer’s deadly traps.
5
Buried
2010
Buried takes the one-room setting to a whole new level, with its main character suffering the indignity of being trapped in a coffin miles underground. Ryan Reynolds plays the beleaguered Paul Conroy, who works in Iraq and was buried alive by a group of terrorists.
With nothing but several objects, including a cell phone and a lighter, Paul has a limited amount of time to be rescued before he suffocates. Ryan Reynolds’ spectacular performance carried this movie, one that keeps you guessing about how unpredictable it was, with a twist ending that sucker-punches you in the gut.
4
The Hateful Eight
2015
One of Quentin Tarantino’s finest works, The Hateful Eight takes place in the latter half of the 1800s not long after the American Civil War. Its star-studded cast ranges from Kurt Russell and Samuel L. Jackson to Jennifer Leigh and Channing Tatum, along with a well-paced narrative, excellent characterisations, and top-notch dialogue.
In The Hateful Eight, none of the characters are stand-up citizens or underdogs you cheer for – in fact, they’re people you hope you’d never meet in real life. Due to a blizzard, eight unseemly characters are stuck in a lodge, where tension is rife due to split loyalties wrought by the civil war. Unapologetic in its violence, The Hateful Eight is a treasure trove of twists and turns, one that’ll make its nearly 3-hour runtime breeze on by.
3
Dial M For Murder
1954
Alfred Hitchcock seems to be a master at creating films around one-room settings, and Dial M For Murder is a perfect example of that. The characters are believable and realistic, with relatable, even understandable motivations as to why they did what they did.
The movie’s premise follows Tony Wendice, an ex-professional tennis player who plans to murder his wife for having an affair with crime author Halliday. Tony initially ropes in an old classmate, Swann, to kill his wife for him, but things go topsy-turvy when Swann ends up being the one killed. Now with the police involved, we see the cunning Tony twist things in his favour to get the outcome he’d always wanted, but he walks a thin line between discovery and getting away with murder.
2
Rear Window
1954
Rear Window follows the success of Dial M For Murder, and takes place entirely in an apartment complex, specifically our main character L.B. Jeffries’ flat. After breaking his leg, photographer Jeffries is stuck in his flat and has developed a tendency to spy on his neighbours. However, he begins to suspect one of them, Mr Thorwald, had murdered his wife.
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Rear Window stands out due to its excellent camerawork, creative plot, and exploration of the themes of loneliness and paranoia. The film does a fantastic job of planting subtle clues while playing with the audience’s suspicions about whether Jeffries was correct or simply giving in to his delusions due to his boredom from being chair-bound.
1
12 Angry Men
1957
12 Angry Men is a surefire classic, a dialogue-driven masterpiece that doubles as a detective story. The majority of the film takes place inside a room in the courthouse, where 12 jurors gather to discuss the outcome of a murder case they’d just heard, of an impoverished teen accused of killing his father.
Although 11 of the men agree that the teen is guilty, one man, Juror No. 8, stands alone in his belief that the boy could be innocent. The entirety of the film sees No. 8 insist on revisiting every single fact of the case, and slowly but surely, what was once a concrete conclusion grows shakier and shakier. Henry Fonda (father of the legendary Jane Fonda) steals the spotlight as No. 8 in this well-paced, stellarly acted film that’ll have you rooted to your seat.
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