The setting is so important to horror films, there are countless examples of a narrative built entirely around the space they take place in. From a small-town farm to the depths of the cosmos, scary stories can happen anywhere a person could dare to dream.
Camp Crystal Lake, Elm Street, the Overlook Hotel, some iconic horror film locations still bring chills to the spine decades after their introduction to the public. Jaws is said to have ruined the beach for many, Psycho is said to have ruined the shower, countless other films claim to do the same for their chosen spooky setting.
Cube
This 1997 sci-fi horror film takes place in one of the most fascinatingly unique locations imagined on film. The eponymous Cube is an intricate futuristic superstructure with impossibly complex properties and abilities. The first film in the trilogy, and its 2002 sequel Cube 2: Hypercube, center around a group of apparently random strangers who find themselves trapped in the impossible box. Cube features some truly groundbreaking science fiction concepts, all while revealing vanishingly little about the context for the events.
The film has a strong cult following that has theorized heavily about what's going on, but it's that ambiguity that makes the film smarter. Not only is Cube bravely committed to the deeply unnerving setting, but it's also created a brilliant setting to anchor itself to. The entire series is worth checking out, but the one that started it all is also the one that most effectively centered the real main draw of the series; the eponymous setting.
Rope
Alfred Hitchcock famously crafted four films often described as "limited settings," the most famous of which is probably Rear Window. The most skin-crawling, unnerving, and horrific of the series is almost certainly Rope. Released in 1948, Rope is the second limited-setting film of Hitchcock's catalog, but it breaks the standard rules of filmmaking in several fascinating ways. The film was filmed entirely on a single set, designed after a New York City high-rise apartment. Hitchcock filmed the entire movie in long choreographed takes, each shot was ten minutes because that was the number of film cameras could hold at the time.
The plot concerns a pair of intellectuals who murder an old classmate and hide his body in a large chest. They then hold a dinner party, convinced that their superior intelligence will keep them from being caught, even when the victim's loved ones are in the room with the body. This film is intense and emotionally draining, built almost entirely around heart-pounding conversations and stomach-turning reveals. Rope is a film so experimental that anyone with an interest in filmmaking owes it to themselves to give it a glance, and so clever that most will find it irresistible.
[Rec]
This 2007 Spanish horror film was a revelation in the much-maligned found-footage genre. Spawning three solid sequels that are well worth checking out, and an American remake that ruined everything, Rec is a straightforward thrill ride. Set in a Barcelona apartment complex amid a mysterious disease outbreak, the film is shot from the perspective of a news reporter trapped inside.
As the unexplained virus spreads, its victims become slavering monsters with the unstoppable desire to bite others. This is a found-footage zombie movie, which are two trends that were novel at the time and have since become a bit trite. Rec is one of the best-executed films in the genre, and its claustrophobic setting and mysterious events keep its audience on the edge of their seats the entire runtime.
Buried
Director Rodrigo Cortés cited Hitchcock's Rope as an inspiration for this nightmare, but in some ways, this film is even more ambitious. The entirety of this 95-minute film takes place inside a coffin buried in six feet of desert sand. Ryan Reynolds stars as an American civilian working in Iraq who wakes up in the aforementioned box after an altercation with a terrorist. Every moment of Buried is a high-tension crisis.
There is never a moment of rest, oxygen is running low, the situation is constantly getting worse, and Reynolds sells every moment of panic and desperation. The other characters present reach Reynolds over the phone, but every back and forth has the impact of a fight scene. This is a masterful performance for the movie star best known now for Deadpool, but best known then for romantic comedies like The Proposal. Buried is not a film for the faint of heart, it's a thorough examination of the primal fear of the title.
Green Room
Though the opening scenes of this film depict the outside world, once the plot starts, the claustrophobia kicks in. Director Jeremy Saulnier, who also created the spectacular Blue Ruin, was obsessed with the idea of a horror film set in the titular green room. What he came up with was one of the most visceral horror experiences of the decade. The plot centers around an up-and-coming punk rock band who take a lucrative gig at a remote bar, only to find it swarming with Nazis.
After reluctantly performing for the fascist crowd, the band enters the green room to make a hurried exit but discovers bar staff members in the process of covering up a murder. The band finds themselves locked in and forced to battle waves of enraged Nazis for their lives, and the confrontations contain some of the most powerful on-screen violence in a modern film. Green Room is a powerful film with some outstanding performances, including a landmark starring role for the late Anton Yelchin. This film deserves more attention, but it isn't for the faint of heart.