Somefamous horror moviesare limited to a single location (what’s sometimes calleda bottle movie), but does that take away from the impact that film has? The answer is a resolute no. In some cases, the use of an isolated single setting enhances the tension and realism of the film. One location suggests that there is no escape for the characters or the audience. The limitation of a single location demands more effort on the filmmaker’s part to produce an entertaining movie that’s story-driven and psychologically unsettling.
Horrormovies that take place in a single location take terrifying to the next level because there is no separation between us and that scary, scary place. Here are just some of the best horror movies primarily set in one location.
Updated August 10, 2025: This article has been updated with additional content and information about some of the greatest horror movies set in one place.
15Annabelle: Creation (2017)
Annabelle: Creation
A more recent homage to single-location horror movies is the 2017 filmAnnabelle: Creation. The movie is a prequel to 2014’sAnnabelleand provides an explanation of Annabelle’s origins. After a dollmaker and his wife lose their daughter Annabelle to an accident, they open an orphanage at their old, creepy house several years later. One of the orphans mistakenly releases a demon from a locked closet, leaving all the residents at risk in the orphanage with nowhere to run.
Creepy Dolls & Houses Never Go Out of Style
Another example of evil things confined to one space that targets anyone in their path, this film continues the terror ofThe Conjuringuniverse.Annabelle: Creationhas seen positive reviews and raked in over $306 million throughout its run, with most critics agreeing that dolls and rural houses are always creepy and that the origin story was a worthy installment in the hair-raising franchise.Stream onMax.
14Pandorum (2009)
Although the reviews on this film are mixed, the 2009 filmPandorumis an excellent example of horror taking place in a constructed area. The movie follows a man who wakes up on a spaceship after several years of being unconscious in space and realizes quickly that someone else on the ship has woken up too. That someone is suffering from a real condition called Pandorum, a space-related disorder that causes psychosis.
Audiences Will Squirm While Stranded in Space
This man who is experiencing Pandorum seeks to destroy and brutally dismember the other passengers of the ship. Gradually, all the passengers wake up and find that there’s no escape when you’re trapped in space. Despite its lackluster response from critics,Pandorumis still sure to leave audiences squirming with anxiety.Stream onPluto.
13Hush (2016)
Another isolated setting that’s just as effective.Hushis a Netflix original film starring Kate Siegel anddirected by Mike Flanagan, both known forThe Haunting of Hill HouseandMidnight Mass, and follows a deaf writer who lives alone in the woods. The movie is particularly intense because Siegel’s character Maddie cannot hear when a masked intruder begins to stalk her.
Mike Flanagan’s Heart-Racing Horror Hit
When she does eventually realize that a deranged killer is playingcat and mousewith her, she is confined to hiding and planning her dangerous escape in her small, remote cabin.Hushfeels grounding because Maddie often sees the killer waiting outside her windows, suggesting that she is caught in one place, and the fact that she can’t rely on her hearing in order to know where her assailant is will leave audiences on the edge of their seats.Stream onShudder.
12You’re Next (2013)
You’re Next
Another isolated cabin and another terrified family. In the phenomenal horror filmYou’re Next, a woman and her partner visit her parents only to be picked off one after the other by a group of dirty masked killers. Like Maddie inHush, the woman, Talia, defends herself in one place as she is trapped alone in the isolated family cabin. However, Talia is quite the badass, something the killers didn’t expect.
A Fun & Refreshing Fan-Favorite
The slasher’s director, Adam Wingard, told screenwriter Simon Barrett that he wanted to do a home invasion movie because they are the “only films that truly scare him.” The intriguing original flick combines screwball comedy with mystery and horror, but the feeling of isolation still lurks in the background, and it’s not surprising thatYou’re Nexthas since gone on to amass a devoted cult following.Rent/Buy onApple TV+.
11Presence (2025)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Presence is a dramatic horror movie following a family that moves into a new suburban house only to grow increasingly certain they are not alone.
The latest horror sensation taking Hollywood by storm is Steven Soderbergh’s supernatural thrillerPresence, which takes the haunted house premise and gives it a much-needed modernization. The prominent director sets the chilling film in a suburban home, where Rebecca and Chris (Lucy Liu & Chris Sullivan) and their two children move to in hopes of starting fresh after a tragedy. However, the already fractured family quickly begin to believe they are not alone in their newly-purchased residence.
Soderbergh’s Refreshing Take on Haunted House Tales
Presenceis entirely shot in the first-person perspective, with Soderbergh getting up close and intimate with his small-but-mighty cast members. The story is told from the point-of-view of the seemingly trapped entity watching the struggling family while they become more and more uneasy in their new home. Soderbergh was partially inspired to create the supernatural hit after watching theparanormal reality seriesCelebrity Ghost Stories,wanting to provide a unique and unexplored approach to the tried-and-true horror genre trope.Presencedebuted in theaters on August 21, 2025.
10Train to Busan (2016)
Train to Busan
The now-classic 2016 horror action filmTrain to Busan, directed by Yeon Sang-ho, asks you to forget about isolated cabins and think about being trapped on a zombie-infested train. The movie follows a distant father and his daughter as he tries to deliver her home to her mother. As he attempts to bond with his estranged daughter, the man makes the horrific discovery that passengers are becoming infected with a violent, mysterious disease one by one. He must protect himself and his daughter within the space of a train.
A Heart-Racing Thrill Ride for Audiences
While the movie may be a bit more expansive than other more claustrophobic horror films listed here,Train to Busanstill asks what you would do when you have nowhere to run. Would you have enough intelligence and will power, with limited places to hide? Due to the overwhelmingly positive fan reaction for the adrenaline-pumping movie, an anime prequel, Seoul Station, was released. Then there was the standalone sequel, 2020’sPeninsula,while an American adaptation is currently in the works.Stream onThe Roku Channel.
910 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
10 Cloverfield Lane
The second installment in theexhilaratingCloverfieldfranchise, the 2016 sci-fi horror hit10 Cloverfield Lanefocuses on a young woman who after being involved in a car accident awakens to discover she has been chained in an underground bunker and that the world as she knows it is completely gone. The disoriented and stunned Michelle learns that Earth’s air has been poisoned and is therefore uninhabitable, forcing her to hesitantly trust her mysterious “savior” and his younger construction assistant.
A Taut & Thrilling Spiritual Successor
Featuring the talents of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, and John Gallagher Jr., the filming of10 Cloverfield Lanemirrored the horror flick’s isolating energy asWinstead called ita “really contained film. It’s just three actors, in the whole thing.” The spiritual successor to the 2008 original currently holds a dazzling 90% Rotten Tomatoes score and has been lauded for its tense pacing, top-notch cast performances, and gripping suspense that is sure to keep audiences entranced from beginning to end.Stream onPrime Video.
8The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
The Cabin in the Woods
Drew Goddard made his directorial debut and reunited with frequent collaborator Joss Whedon to create the 2012 horror extravaganzaThe Cabin in the Woods, which brilliantly blends all the many common clichés and tropes used in the gory genre while providing atongue-in-cheek critiqueat the same time, with Whedon declaring it “loving hate letter.” In the wonderfully over-the-top horror comedy, a group of college students head to a remote cabin to let loose and have fun, only to be targeted by an array of deadly monsters.
Goddard & Whedon’s Biting Horror Commentary
The talented duo wanted to revitalize the slasher genre and speak out against “the devolution of the horror movie into torture porn and into a long series of sadistic comeuppances”, as the unsuspecting group of students are secretly being manipulated by two technicians in an underground facility, sending endless creatures after the unsuspecting kids.Cabin in the Woodsprovides a refreshing take on all things horror and is the perfect choice for audiences who want something a little more off-kilter for their gruesome film needs.Rent/Buy onPrime Video.
23 Unpredictable Horror Movies to Watch If You Loved The Cabin in the Woods
For those thrilled by seriously unpredictable plot twists in horror, like those in The Cabin in the Woods, these movies are sure to shock.
7Misery (1990)
One of the best movies to represent this chilling subgenre is Rob Reiner’sfilm adaptation of Stephen King’s novel,Misery. The film tells the story of a famous author, Paul Sheldon, who crashes his car in an isolated area during a snowstorm. Injured and helpless, Paul is rescued by an obsessive fan, Annie, who aims to keep Paul stuck at her house no matter what the cost.
An Isolating Experience Behind-the-Scenes
Paul is psychologically and physically tortured by Annie. Because of his injuries, he is confined to a bed and to Annie’s isolated house. As the audience, we feel isolated and scared of him. Because of Paul’s condition and the single setting, the cast ofMiseryfelt particularly isolated too.According to Today, Kathy Bates (who won an Academy Award for her role as the unhinged Annie), said that “[the cast] was so excited when they got to go to the dining room,” which shows just how claustrophobic it must have been filming in that rustic house.Rent/Buy onPrime Video.
6Pontypool (2008)
InPontypool, legendary cult film actor Stephen McHattie gives the performance of a lifetime as a radio DJ slowly learning from call-ins that a strange, violent outbreak is occurring in the world around him. Isolated in his studio with his technical assistant and his station manager in the middle of a bad snowstorm, the shock jock soon uses his job to help people in town and figure out what the hell is going on.
A Rare Combination of Intellect & Entertainment
Bruce McDonald’s film is extremely fun, largely thanks to the wonderful performances and the verbose script, but it’s also very thoughtful and clever. The film, based on Tony Burgess’Pontypool Changes Everything, is a postmodern horror about linguistics, posing the disturbing question: what if language was a virus?Stream on AMC+ or Shudder.
