TOP 10: Stuck-in-One-Spot Movies

This weekend at the movies, Sam Worthington will step out on a ledge, but it doesn't look like he's jumping. He's just going to stand there. Sounds compelling, right?

Well, whatever you think about Man on a Ledge, it's hard to deny the uniqueness of films that rely upon just one setting for 90-plus minutes, nor can you say the director doesn't have at least a little courage—even if things don't always work out.

To celebrate the release of Man on a Ledge, I'm looking back at ten other films that used their single settings to do something awesome. Not all the films are great, nor are they ranked in order of overall quality. They are just ten movies that share one thing in common—they find interesting ways to make the characters and viewers claustrophobic.

10.) Buried
This is actually a terrible movie. It's manipulative and really cruel, but it's hard to write a list like this without at least mentioning Buried. It's probably the most literal cinematic interpretation of "stuck in one spot" ever. From the moment the film begins to its awful conclusion, we're buried alive with Ryan Reynolds. It's not fun, but you'll definitely feel claustrophobic. [Review]

9.) Phone Booth
Here's another relatively recent film that's far from a masterpiece, but at least it sticks to its guns. Very early on, director Joel Schumaker puts Colin Farrell in a phone booth, and there he stays with the scope of Kiefer Sutherland's sniper rifle pointed right at him. Though better than Buried, the film is far from a masterpiece, but like Rodrigo Cortes' film, this one's biggest asset is the claustrophobic atmosphere if its setting.

8.) Murder on the Orient Express
The great Sidney Lumet directed this adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel, and it's a brilliant watch. A dozen or so people from different backgrounds ride a train. In their midst is a murderer, but who is it? Featuring an all-time great performance from Albert Finney as Inspector Poirot (who's a more refined version of Sherlock Holmes), the train itself drives much of the narrative and lends a real sense of foreboding to the proceedings. [Review]

7.) Panic Room
It's one of David Fincher's lesser efforts, for sure, but it's elevated by tremendous craftwork and direction. Jodie Foster and Kristin Stewart find their new brownstone the target of a home invasion, so they hole up in an impenetrable safe room—the very room the thieves need to get into. Kristin Stewart's character's severe asthma only makes us feel more uncomfortable about their predicament. [Review]

6.) The Thing
Surrounded by the unforgiving Antarctic wilderness, what hope does a guy have (even one as badass as Kurt Russell)? None. So he fights back against the shapeshifting monster killing off all his men. That's how frightening the landscape is in John Carpenter's horror classic.

5.) 12 Angry Men
Another Sidney Lumet film, this one taking place in a sweltering conference room. As Henry Fonda pleads his case, the rest of the men just stare out the window, trapped by decency, reason, and that horrible fucking room. [Review]

4.) 127 Hours
A Best Picture nominee from 2010 (and one of my favorite films of that year), Danny Boyle tells the story of Aron Rolston with incredible energy. But without that rock, there is no story. [Review]

3.) Groundhog Day
Going a little out-there with this choice. Bill Murray obviously isn't stuck in one place, but rather one day, and it's a hellish day. [Review]

2.) The Shining
Jack Torrance and the Overlook Hotel. It drove him mad, what with the cold and the blood and the little girls. More so than any other setting on the list, this one is alive and it's just sucking the life and the sanity out Jack Nicholson's character.

1.) The Exterminating Angel
No film in history has used the idea of being stuck somewhere in a more original way. Seriously, the balls on Bunuel to make this film—and more to the point, to not explain why his group of upper-class goons can't leave their dinner party—is insane and a stroke of genius. [Review]