9 Captivating Movies Set in a Single Location

Locke

Tom Hardy spends the entirety of Locke in a car on the motorway, speaking to his loved ones on the phone. Although his wife and sons are waiting for him to get home to watch a football match, and he has the biggest job of his career the following day, he decides to drive to London, where his pregnant mistress has gone into premature labor. Hardy’s typically brilliant performance ensures the movie is consistently engaging; Locke plays like a one-man show immortalized on film.

Tom Hardy driving in Locke

Bodies Bodies Bodies

While a group of friends wait out a hurricane in a lavish mansion, the power goes out and a chilling whodunit ensues. Directed by Halina Reijn, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a tense and incisive satire of modern-day youth culture, lit mostly by the flashlights on the characters’ phones. The star-studded ensemble is anchored by Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, and a standout Rachel Sennott, leading to a beautifully ironic, totally unexpected twist ending.

The cast of Bodies Bodies Bodies covered in blood

Assault On Precinct 13

In a contemporary urban setting, a courageous cop and a dangerous inmate reluctantly team up to protect a police precinct from a ruthless gun-toting gang. Assault on Precinct 13 introduced audiences to Carpenter’s true cinematic grit, with uncompromising violence and exhilarating pacing. The emotional core of the film is the unlikely friendship that blossoms between its two mismatched heroes.

A cop with a rifle in Assault on Precinct 13

Clerks

Kevin Smith’s low-budget black-and-white debut feature, Clerks, chronicles a typical day in the lives of curmudgeonly clerk Dante and his loudmouthed best friend Randal. Shot at the convenience store where Smith worked, the film captures the everyday frustrations of working a dead-end job, quickly becoming a cult classic.

Dante and Randal in the Quick Stop in Clerks

Misery

Misery sees famous author Paul Sheldon being held captive by a psychotic superfan, Annie Wilkes. Director Rob Reiner draws the audience into the claustrophobic imprisonment, with compelling performances by James Caan and Kathy Bates, the latter earning a rare Oscar win for a horror film with her haunting, iconic performance as Annie.

Kathy Bates with a sledgehammer in Misery

The Breakfast Club

In John Hughes’ teen comedy classic, a group of kids are stuck in Saturday detention, leading to a deconstruction of high school movie archetypes. The five kids in detention open up and realize there’s more to them than their labels suggest, and they have a lot more in common than it initially seems.

The kids sit in the library in The Breakfast Club

Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller masterpiece sees an adventurous photographer confined to his apartment with a broken leg. To conquer the boredom, he starts spying on his neighbors and begins to suspect that the man across the courtyard is a murderer. Hitchcock uses the single-location confinement to enhance the suspense, trapping the protagonist in a gripping narrative.

Jeff (James Stewart) holding a camera while peeping at the neighbors in Rear Window

Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Tarantino’s directorial debut focuses on the aftermath of a failed jewelry store robbery, relying on Tarantino’s signature dialogue and non-linear storytelling. The film keeps the audience hooked with its intense character dynamics and the mystery of uncovering the undercover cop among the crew.

The cast of Reservoir Dogs in suits and sunglasses

Wait Until Dark

In this nail-biting thriller, Audrey Hepburn plays a blind woman who unwittingly brings a drug stash home, leading to a tense home invasion by gangsters. Director Terence Young creates a gripping atmosphere, using the protagonist’s lack of sight to intensify the audience’s experience.

Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman holding a match in Wait Until Dark

12 Angry Men

Adapted from Reginald Rose’s teleplay, 12 Angry Men revolves around 12 jurors attempting to determine the fate of a teenager accused of murder. Director Sidney Lumet and the star-studded cast make the emotional rollercoaster of serving on a jury a timeless gem that still holds up today.

The cast gathered together in 12 Angry Men