10 Movies Set In One Room To Watch While You’re Isolating

If cinema is a machine for empathy, then in these trying times we should turn to very specific films that relate to our very specific situation. What are the best films set entirely in one room? Filmmakers often place restrictions on themselves in order to best serve a story — filming entirely in one take or limiting ways they can move a camera or frame a shot.

Films set in one room pose an interesting challenge, as there first has to be a reason why the characters never leave and the story has to be engaging enough to hold our attention. As the whole world finds itself stuck inside, here are 10 great films guaranteed to hold your attention whilst never taking the action outside.

10 Rear Window (1954)

Apparently bored with being the master of thriller films, Alfred Hitchcock decided to outdo himself with Rear Window: could he pull off a film about a man confined to a wheelchair, unable to leave his apartment? Of course, he could. While Hitchock actually built a full working set of an apartment complex, the camera never actually leaves the room of the central character.

As he spies on his neighbors, suspicious that some terrible crime is being committed, the camera only follows what he can see out his window. The audience is left guessing until the end, only able to piece together the mystery from the smallest incidental moments.

9 Devil (2010)

No matter how claustrophobic you are, scenes where characters are stuck in a lift always have a way of getting under your skin. Devil, written by M. Night Shyamalan, takes this to the next level by stretching out one of these scenes to a feature-length film.

To make matters worse, it soon becomes clear that one of the characters stuck in the lift may be possessed by the devil. This is a very tense horror film where characters are stuck with a creature inside a room that is far too small to hide in.

8 Carnage (2011)

Neither a horror film or a thriller, Carnage, based on a play, follows two sets of parents as they try to resolve an issue, the only problem is the characters have no interest in working together. Even though the issue they’re resolving (a fight between their children) is quite simple, everything gets blown out of proportion as egos and morals start to clash.

This is a well-written potboiler that is, at times, hilarious and unexpected and will have the audience screaming to be let go, as they won’t want to spend another second in the company of these awful people.

7 The Guilty (2018)

Scandinavian crime flicks have seen their Golden Age in recent years, but this small Danish thriller manages to breathe fresh new life into the subgenre. Set entirely in an emergency response call center, it follows Asger as he receives a strange call from a woman being kidnapped.

In a race against the clock, Asger does all he can from the confines of his desk to rescue her. It’s strength really lies in its writing and performances and it has to with all the ‘action’ taking place entirely over phone calls. While small, it will keep you gripped to the end.

6 Free Fire (2016)

Ben Wheatley directs this stylish thriller with an all-star cast (including Brie Larson and Armie Hammer) about an arms deal gone wrong. Set entirely in one warehouse, a group of criminals trade insults and bullets with one another, often only a few feet apart.

Just as Mad Max: Fury Road brought color back into action films, Wheatley wanted to bring back a real sense of pain to the thriller genre. Choosing to set the whole film in one room, Wheatley could have had real fun making bullets bounce off walls and forcing his characters into close-quarters combat. The sound design will have you ducking and squirming.

5 Rope (1948)

Another Hitchcock film on the list and this time the maestro wasn’t just satisfied with setting his film in one room, he made it in one shot, as well. Two upper-class college men kill a man in their house just before a dinner party. They’ve invited their old teacher and have a bet that he won’t be able to discover what they’ve done.

Taking place all in real-time, it makes for an exciting thriller as the audience knows everything that’s going on and can only hope that the characters on-screen figure everything out.

4 Locke (2013)

This may hold the record for the smallest thriller every made. While not technically a room, this film deserves mention because it manages to deliver tense drama, while being set entirely in a car. Tom Hardy plays Locke, a businessman who is traveling somewhere. From his car, he makes a number of phone calls and it soon becomes clear that he’s juggling both a business crisis and an affair.

Similarly to The Guilty, all the ‘action’ takes place on the phone, but the excellent script makes each conversation feel like a matter of life or death.

3 12 Angry Men (1957)

This is a cinematic classic. A jury must decide whether they find a young man guilty of murder. At first, the evidence seems to be stacked against him, but while everyone has decided, one man starts to question everything.

As new evidence comes to light, tensions begin to rise as the jury becomes more and more split over what to do. An almost perfect film to watch while the world is in isolation, this drama is note-perfect and the cast is excellent — watch it if you haven’t already.

2 Buried (2010)

Pushing the one-room film to the limit, Ryan Reynolds stars as a US truck driver in Iraq who wakes up to find himself buried alive in a coffin. With only a cigarette lighter and phone running out of both signal and battery, he must try and find a way to escape.

One of the most claustrophobic films you’ll ever see, the film will have you holding your breath as Reynolds struggles to escape. All the while the walls seem to be closing as sand, dust, and creatures begin to creep their way into the coffin.

1 Coherence (2013)

Underseen and underrated, Coherence is an excellent sci-fi thriller set entirely around a dinner table. When a group of friends gathers for a small party, a comet passes overhead. At first, it causes phones to crack and then the power goes out. As the party head outside to investigate what’s going on, they see something they never expected: themselves. A freak event has caused reality to split itself into infinite parallels.

The group has to work together, but as panic rises, it becomes clear that some of the people in the room may not be who they claim to be.