Every filmmaker worth their salt knows that locations are as important for your film as the cast, art production, or music. Poorly chosen filming locations can destroy an otherwise decent movie. That’s why directors pay special attention every time they organize their movie set. There are even designated specialists whose sole responsibility is to scout appropriate film locations for each project.
Many directors are known for their special approach to selecting and setting up locations for filming scenes. One example is, of course, Wes Anderson, whose every film set is a colorful masterpiece in and of itself. But sometimes the story wins from being confined to just one location. If shot well, a movie where the entire action takes place within the boundaries of a limited space can be no less engaging and mind-bending.
How do you feel about films shot in one place? For this article, we collected movies filmed entirely or almost entirely in one location. How many have you already seen? Vote for the ones you found most captivating, and let us know in the comments about your favorite one-location movies.
#1 12 Angry Men – A Jury Room
1957 | 1 h 36 min | Directed by: Sidney Lumet | IMDB: 9.0/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley
What happens when twelve strangers come together in one room summoned by their civic duty? As jury members, they are here to decide the fate of a young man who is accused of killing his father, and they can’t go home until they come to a unanimous decision. A study of human nature and the justice system, this film hasn’t lost its captivating power until today.
Image source: amazon.com
#2 Moon – Space Station
2009 | 1h 37 m | Directed by: Duncan Jones | IMDB: 7.8/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Dominique McElligott
At the end of his three-year contract as the sole operator of a helium-3 mining station on the moon, Sam Bell suddenly realizes he is not the only person at the station. And is he even a person at all?
Image source: amazon.com
#3 Rope – Penthouse In Manhattan
1948 | 1 h 20 m | Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | IMDB: 7.9/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Cast: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger
Another one-location masterpiece from Hitchcock, this black comedy where two students try to prove that murder can be art is not only set in one place, it is also shot in just one take. The entirety of the 80 minutes of the film is what was shot in real time.
Image source: amazon.com
#4 Lifeboat – A Lifeboat
1944 | 1h 37 m | Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock | IMDB: 7.6/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Cast: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix
Leave it to Alfred Hitchcock to create a story that will keep you at the edge of your seat with its only location being as small as a lifeboat. When several British and American civilians and one German soldier find themselves struggling to survive after both their ships sank, tensions grow from the internal conflict as well as the external danger of dying at sea.
Image source: amazon.com
#5 Rear Window – Jimmy Stewart’s Living Room
1954 | 1 h 42 m | Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock | IMDB: 8.5/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly
When photographer Jeffries is stuck in a wheelchair with a broken leg, his only entertainment is watching his neighbors’ lives through the rear window of his apartment. One thing he didn’t expect to see was something that reeked of murder. This film is a masterclass on how to write and direct a murder mystery that not only takes place in one location but also is told through the eyes of an inactive observer, yet remains full of suspense.
Image source: amazon.com
#6 Alien – Spaceship
1979 | 1h 56 m | Directed by: Ridley Scott | IMDB: 8.5/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
One spaceship, seven people, one cat. But is that all there is on board the Nostromo? Stuck in the vacuum of outer space, the crew faces the worst nightmare of their lives, fighting against an alien with almost no way to escape.
Image source: amazon.com
#7 Clue – Hill House
1985 | 1h 37 m | Directed by: Jonathan Lynn | IMDB: 7.2/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
Cast: Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn
A classic Cluedo game comes to life for the characters of this film who all gather in a mansion, summoned by someone who knows one dark secret about each of them. As the mysterious host is killed, they all have to figure out who did it, or else everyone will fall victim.
Image source: amazon.com
#8 Dogville – The Chalk Outline Of A Town
2003 | 2 h 58 m | Directed by: Lars von Trier | IMDB: 8.0/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Paul Bettany
On the run from the mob, Grace arrives at Dogville, a place that offers her no support or protection. Her vulnerability is even more poignant here, as every street and every building in the town is just a chalk outline. The feeling of desperation this cinematic technique creates makes this film an incredible watch.
Image source: amazon.com
#9 Clerks – Convenience Store
1994 | 1h 32 m | Directed by: Kevin Smith | IMDB: 7.7/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Cast: Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti
The action rarely leaves the store where two lazy clerks do anything except their work: from discussing movies to troubling customers to playing hockey on the roof.
Image source: amazon.com
#10 127 Hours – Bluejohn Canyon
2010 | 1h 34 m | Directed by: Danny Boyle | IMDB: 7.5/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Cast: James Franco
Canyoneer Aron Ralston embarks on a hike without telling anyone of his plans. When he gets stuck between the mountain and a boulder that trapped his right arm, Aron has no hope for help to come. He has only so much time to free himself before he dies of dehydration and hunger. The chilling tension intensifies as the viewers remember that this film is based on a true story.
Image source: amazon.com
#11 My Dinner With Andre – A Restaurant Table
1981 | 1h 41 m | Directed by: Louis Malle | IMDB: 7.7/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Cast: André Gregory, Wallace Shawn
What can two old friends talk about when they meet up for dinner? Everything and nothing. One of the finest examples of minimalism in visual arts, this film will surprise you with its rich intellectual content, despite being seemingly devoid of any action.
Image source: amazon.com
#12 Phone Booth – Phone Booth
2002 | 1h 21 m | Directed by: Joel Schumacher | IMDB: 7.1/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Cast: Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie Holms
How exciting can it be watching a man inside a phone booth for the runtime of a feature film? As the protagonist is threatened by a sniper who will shoot him on the spot if he leaves the said booth, his past will come back to haunt him.
Image source: amazon.com
#13 Cube – Tightly Confined Elevator
1997 | 1h 30 m | Directed by: Vincenzo Natali | IMDB: 7.1/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 64%
Cast: Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlett
Escape rooms are fun when you are there with friends and know that someone’s waiting outside to bring you out if you don’t solve the puzzle. But when you find yourself in a cube-shaped room with several strangers and each unsolved puzzle will result in death, it stops being a game and turns into survival.
Image source: amazon.com
#14 The Breakfast Club – A High School Library
1985 | 1h 37 m | Directed by: John Hughes | IMDB: 7.8/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Cast: Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall
Five teenagers of very different social positions, interests, and characters are put together in the school library to serve detention. Over the course of one Saturday, they will confront each other and their own struggles. As the main action doesn’t go outside the school building and only lasts one day, it becomes more focused and impactful in delivering the message.
Image source: amazon.com
#15 Dog Day Afternoon – Brooklyn Bank
1975 | 2h 5 m| Directed by: Sidney Lumet | IMDB: 8.0/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Cast: Al Pacino, John Cazale
The events of this film took place in real life several years before it was made. After two bank robbers fail to do their job and find themselves surrounded in the building, they take the bank employees hostage to try and bail out of the situation.
Image source: amazon.com
#16 Locke – Moving Car
2013 | 1h 25 m | Directed by: Steven Knight | IMDB: 7.1/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Cast: Tom Hardy, Olivia Colman, Tom Holland
A film completely set inside a moving car, it doesn’t offer any exciting chase scenes or action-movie-style plot twists. Yet, it keeps you deeply invested, rooting for the protagonist, all thanks to expert storytelling and Tom Hardy’s exceptional acting.
Image source: amazon.com
#17 Exam – An Exam Room
2009 | 1h 40 m | Directed by: Stuart Hazeldine | IMDB: 6.8/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 62%
Cast: Colin Salmon, Chris Carey, Jimi Mistry
A ticking clock is a sure mechanism to create tension. When this mechanism works within a closed space, with most of the participants not even knowing what they are racing against, the scale of the resulting chaos is difficult to predict. This is exactly what happens to the job candidates who come for an exam and realize that their exam papers are blank.
Image source: amazon.com
#18 10 Cloverfield Lane – An Underground Bunker
2016 | 1h 34 m | Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg | IMDB: 7.2/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr.
Two people are stuck in an underground bunker with a third person who claims to have saved them from an alien attack. But the more they interact with their supposed rescuer, the more they start suspecting that the real situation is different. Despite being a sequel, the story manages to keep you in suspense till the very end.
Image source: amazon.com
#19 Wait Until Dark – Apartment
1967 | 1h 48 m | Directed by: Terence Young | IMDB: 7.7/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
Three thugs break into an apartment believing that a doll stuffed with heroin is hidden somewhere within its walls. The blind woman who lives in the apartment has to outsmart them to prevent the drugs from falling into the wrong hands as well as to save her own life.
Image source: amazon.com
#20 1408 – Hotel Room
2007 | 1h 44 m | Directed by: Mikael Håfström | IMDB: 6.8/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Cast: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson
When a fiction writer who specializes in debunking supernatural stories is warned against entering room 1408 in the NYC Dolphin Hotel, he takes it as a challenge and does exactly the opposite, exposing himself to the horror that lives inside. This being a Stephen King adaptation, you can only imagine what blood-freezing scares lie ahead.
Image source: amazon.com
#21 Snowpiercer – A Futuristic Train
2013 | 1h 46 m | Directed by: Bong Joon Ho | IMDB: 7.1/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Cast: Chris Evans, Song Kang Ho, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt
After the world froze over, a handful of survivors continue living aboard a train that never stops. But even here, wealth and social class are the main driving factors for a lot of things. Following the uprising of the lower class, led by a young man named Curtis, the story deals with the issues of climate change and class… never once leaving the train.
Image source: amazon.com
#22 The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant – Bedroom Of Petra’s Apartment
1972 | 2 h 4 m | Directed by: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | IMDB: 7.6/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Cast: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygula, Irm Hermann
Confined to the space of the protagonist’s bedroom, the film unravels her relationships with men as well as with the women who are there with her in the bedroom.
Image source: amazon.com
#23 Sleuth – Large Country Manor House
1972 | 2h 18 m | Directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | IMDB: 8.0/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Michael Cane
A crime fiction writer and a businessman try to outsmart each other to settle the score, but in this deadly game of cat and mouse that is mainly confined to the writer’s mansion, there are no winners.
Image source: amazon.com
#24 Die Hard – Hotel
1988 | 2h 12 m | Directed by: John McTiernan | IMDB: 8.2/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman
New York cop John McClane finds himself in Nakatomi Plaza during his wife’s corporate Christmas party. It is on the same very day that a group of terrorists decide to take over the building. In his mission to save everyone, McClane is alone, but now he’s got a machine gun… ho ho ho!
Image source: amazon.com
#25 Four Rooms – Fictional Hotel Mon Signor
1995 | 1h 38 m | Directed by: Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino | IMDB: 6.7/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 13%
Cast: Tim Roth, Antonio Banderas, Jennifer Beals
Four rooms, four different tenants, four separate stories. One hotel and one bellboy during an unusually eventful night. But are those stories really not connected?
Image source: amazon.com
#26 Buried – A Wooden Coffin
2010 | 1h 35 m | Directed by: Rodrigo Cortés | IMDB: 7.0/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 87%
Cast: Ryan Reynolds
This film is definitely not for those suffering from claustrophobia, as its only location is the inside of a coffin underground, while its only character is an American civilian buried alive in the desert of Iraq with only so much time to rescue himself.
Image source: amazon.com
#27 Lord Of The Flies – A Desert Island
1963 | 1h 32 m | Directed by: Peter Brook | IMDB: 6.4/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 57%
Cast: James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards, Tom Gaman
Unlike many other stories that tell the tale of well-structured, utopian societies built after a catastrophe, this film, based on the novel of the same name, unravels a more unappealing — and probably more realistic — story of what would happen if a group of young boys were stranded on a deserted island, trying to survive until help arrives.
Image source: amazon.com
#28 Panic Room – A New York Brownstone
2002 | 1h 42 m | directed by: David Fincher | IMDB: 6.8/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Cast: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker
As burglars break into their house to take something that belonged to the previous owner, a mother and daughter take shelter in the panic room. Caught between the violent men and the daughter’s diabetic seizure, they need to figure out a way to survive in a room that has no other connection to the outside world.
Image source: amazon.com
#29 Grand Hotel – Grand Hotel
1932 | 1h 52 m | Directed by: Edmund Goulding | IMDB: 7.3/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 87%
Cast: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford
Whoever said hotels are not exciting has definitely never looked beyond the facade. With gambling, theft, and murder all taking place within its walls, the Grand Hotel definitely exceeds the label of “exciting.”
Image source: amazon.com
#30 Almanac Of Fall – Claustrophobic Apartment
1984 | 1h 59 m | Directed by: Béla Tarr | IMDB: 7.2/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Cast: Hédy Temessy, Erika Bodnár
Five inhabitants of a gloomy, claustrophobia-inducing apartment go about their lackluster lives, trying and failing to relate to each other, living through their darkest secrets and fears.
Image source: amazon.com
#31 Pontypool – Radio Station
2008 | 1h 36 m | Directed by: Bruce McDonald | IMDB: 6.5/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
Cast: Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly
As an audio virus hits Canada, people get infected by hearing certain words in English, turning into zombies. Trapped inside a radio station, several people have to figure out how to survive.
Image source: amazon.com
#32 The Invitation – A Dinner Party
2015 | 1 h 40 m | Directed by: Karyn Kusama | IMDB: 6.6/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Cast: Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, Michael Huisman
A game night and some personal grudges, all the elements for a perfect disaster stuck in one place where people could but won’t leave. No one has to be there, but everyone is too polite to break the evening. And then suddenly even that choice is taken from them.
Image source: amazon.com
#33 Brink Of Life – Hospital
1958 | 1h 24 m | Directed by: Ingmar Bergman | IMDB: 7.3/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 50%
Cast: Eva Dahlbeck, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson
They say the experience of motherhood makes you rethink lots of things. Three pregnant women in a hospital ward come to understand this personally as they re-evaluate their lives.
Image source: amazon.com
#34 Le Trou – Green Lake
1960 | 2h 12 m | Directed by: Jacques Becker | IMDB: 8.5/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Cast: Michel Constantin, Marc Michel, Jean Keraudy
Four inmates try to escape prison. As they decide to include the new inmate in the plan, things come to a halt, with distrust and tension growing by the minute.
Image source: amazon.com
#35 Death And The Maiden – Home
1994 | 1h 43 m | Directed by: Roman Polanski | IMDB: 7.2/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson
When her husband brings a stranger home on a stormy night, Paulina is certain this is the man who held her captive and brutalized her for weeks back during the old regime. As fate would have it, the electricity is cut off in the house, and now the stranger has to prove his innocence to the enraged woman.
Image source: amazon.com
#36 [REC] – Building
2007 | 1h 18 m | Directed by: Jaume Balagueró | IMDB: 7.4/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Cast: Manuela Velasco, Ferrán Terraza
A reporter and her cameraman follow a group of firefighters into a building where an unusual infection was found, causing the residents to be quarantined. The film is presented as found footage from the reporter’s camera.
Image source: amazon.com
#37 It’s A Disaster – A Suburban House
2012 | 1h 28 m | Directed by: Todd Berger | IMDB: 6.4/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Cast: Rachel Boston, David Cross, America Ferrera
Four couples gather in a suburban house for a regular brunch when a catastrophic disaster strikes the US. Unable to leave the house, they try to survive, but secrets they kept from each other and tense relationships start surfacing.
Image source: amazon.com
#38 The Cat And The Canary – Old, Dark House
1927 | 1h 22 m | Directed by: Paul Leni | IMDB: 7.1/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Cast: Laura La Plante, Forrest Stanley, Creighton Hale
As a woman discovers she might come into considerable money, she also discovers all the threats it involves: from spending a night in a decaying mansion to being chased by a serial killer.
Image source: amazon.com
#39 Deterrence – Snowbound Diner
1999 | 1h 44 m | Directed by: Rod Lurie | IMDB: 6.4/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 46%
Cast: Kevin Pollak, Timothy Hutton, Sheryl Lee Ralph
As the president of the United States arrives in Colorado for his election campaign, an unexpected blizzard traps him in a random diner. At the same time, he learns that Iraq has invaded Kuwait. With no possibility of leaving the diner, the president now has to take care of the international conflict as well as confront those present at the diner.
Image source: imdb.com
#40 Tape – Motel Room
2001 | 1h 26 m | Directed by: Richard Linklater | IMDB: 7.2/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 77%
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Robert Shaun Leonard
Three people come together in a motel room to resolve the grudges they have been carrying since high school. The entire film was shot on location in real-time.
Image source: imdb.com
#41 Right At Your Door – House
2006 | 1h 30 m | Directed by: Chris Gorak | IMDB: 6.1 | Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
Cast: Mary McCormack, Rory Cochrane
As a radiological threat looms over Los Angeles, Brad seals his house off before his wife Lexi comes home. The drama unfolds when Lexi returns and is not allowed in, while more and more information about the virus is being introduced, leading to unexpected outcomes.
Image source: amazon.com
#42 Shirin – Movie Theatre
2008 | 1h 32 m | Directed by: Abbas Kiarostami | IMDB: 6.7/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Hedieh Tehrani, Golshifteh Farahani
One French and over a hundred Iranian actresses watch a film depicting the legend of Khosrow and Shirin. It focuses on the emotional response of the audience and the theme of female self-sacrifice.
Image source: imdb.com
#43 Lebanon – Hostile Territory
2009 | 1h 30 m | Directed by: Samuel Maoz | IMDB: 6.9/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Cast: Oshri Cohen, Itay Tiran
This story is told through the gunsight of a tank, inside which a group of Israeli soldiers experience war during the 1982 Lebanon conflict. Director Samuel Maoz based the script on his own experience as an army conscript.
Image source: amazon.com
Follow Us
