12 Angry Men (1957) For Sydney Lumet’s first film, this one’s a masterpiece. The entire film involves a jury deliberating over the guilt or innocence of a man on trial, and keeping all the action within the jury room, makes this film. The camera work is stellar, keeping everything tight and close, creating a sense of tension and claustrophobia. While the story itself does have it’s predictable twists and turns, it’s the atmosphere and thrilling nature of the narrative that makes this film one of the best.

Buried (2010) If you were to make a list of comedic actors that could carry a serious drama all by themselves, Ryan Reynolds wouldn’t make that list. After 2010’s Buried, however, he’ll never be misjudged again. Reynolds plays a truck driver in Iraq, who finds himself buried alive in a coffin, with no idea why. There are no cutaways, no action outside of what happens inside the box, and as you watch, you’re grow more and more claustrophobic and anxious for his fate. It’s surprising how well this film keeps your attention for over 90 minutes and the ending is everyone’s worst nightmare.

Carnage (2011) A lot of the best single setting films, are adaptations of stage productions, such as this one. Originally a Tony winning play called ‘The God of Carnage,’ this story has been brought to the screen by Roman Polanski. No stranger to chamber films, this black comedy deals with parents that get together to discuss a fight that their kids had on the playground. What starts as a civil conversation, eventually disintegrates into personal attacks, dark humour and misanthropy. An no one ever leaves the Manhattan apartment, except a hamster. Watch it to find out why.

Clerks (1994) This might be a divisive choice, but this debut film from Kevin Smith is what I put on when I’m bored on a Saturday afternoon and want to watch something. This started off his View Askewniverse and brought Jay and Silent Bob to the mainstream. Not bad for a film done in black and white (because it was cheaper), done on a shoestring budget, and shot at the convenience store that Smith worked at. There’s something about the DIY sensibility, crass humour and frank understanding of the zeitgeist of the slacker generation in the 90’s, this one is one hell of a cult classic. Fingers crossed for a Clerks 3.

Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) This one doesn’t take place in a room, per se, but it stays in one location for the entirety of the film. In this masterpiece, an aging actress and her assistant spend the film in seclusion in the Swiss Alps, as Maria, the older actress, prepares for her comeback. This one is full of meta psychodrama and is very contemplative and the endless sky and clouds, speak to the airiness and lack of substantiality that fame encompasses.

Coherence (2013) A middle class dinner party gets interrupted by a cosmic phenomena, Miller’s Comet, that causes the situation to devolve. In this debut film by James Ward Byrkit, he only had his house to film in, barely any money and barely a script and that uncertainty and lack of polish, makes this a compelling film. As the tale unfolds, as the comet passes by, the guests find an exact duplicate of their house, temporal paradoxes and alternate dimensions and versions of themselves, all ratcheting up the tension and unease. This film makes you think “what if I went this way, rather than that and took the next bus, how would my life be different.” There’s also a touching love story within all the cosmic complexity.

Pontypool (2008) Our first Canadian entry, this is an ultra low budget psychological thriller is a novel approach to the zombie thriller. The entire film takes place within a radio station, that becomes ground zero for the outbreak and and watching Stephen McHattie break the news of the pandemic and slowly realize how it’s being spread, makes the tension so thick and almost unbearable. This film is so compelling that you don’t even realize that the entire film takes place within an isolated radio booth, and director Bruce McDonald makes the absolute most of the location to tell his tale.

The Breakfast Club (1985) Of course this one has to be on the list. This is a seminal film on every list of top 80’s films and it’s the best example of a John Hughes picture. This is like an 80’s time capsule and everyone’s familiar with the characters and the themes that are still relevant and relatable. Plus the soundtrack is awesome, the dialogue is fantastic and hell, despite her characterization, Molly Ringwald was a babe.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009) Even though you can see the twist coming a mile away, this is a tour-de-force of what you can do with a tiny budget and a great story. This British thriller involves a brutal kidnapping and imprisonment of the titular Alice Creed, and the majority of time spent, is within an apartment with her and her kidnappers. This film was made for less than a million dollars and it goes to show that you don’t need money to make a visually slick and stylish film; you just need a good story.

Cube (1997) This is a pretty messed up film from Canadian director Vincenzo Natali, but man, I do love it! It’s a winning combo of high-concept and low budget, but the story behind it is pretty terrifying. In this film, a small group of strangers wake up in an elaborate prison maze made up of cubes, with traps, with no memory of how, or why, they’re there. Each cube is booby trapped and they need to learn to trust one another, but as the game goes on, they start to unravel. This one is a much watch if you have a soft spot for claustrophobic, psychological horror.

Exam (2009) This single location in this film, is a windowless room where candidates for a job at a mysterious multinational company in a dystopic future, are vying for a job. They’ve got 80 minutes to answer one simple question, with 3 rules to follow. Everything takes place in realtime and you see the sanity and rationality of the candidates dissolve until one is left standing. This one is pretty twisted.

Funny Games (1998) This film, the original, takes the shocking and graphic brutality of a horror film and creates a home invasion like no other, one where the fourth wall is broken down and the viewer becomes culpable in the brutality that follows. While a German family is vacationing, they are met with two overly friendly men, Peter and Paul, who soon turn the idyllic vacation into a nightmare of torture and survival.

Hard Candy (2005) If you haven’t seen this one, you really should. This is Ellen Page’s breakout role and it turns the story of Red Riding Hood on it’s head, into a feminist parable. Page plays a girl who lures a supposed pedophile, and enacts her vigilante revenge on him. This film, directed by David Slade, turns the table on the torture porn subgenere and makes this film into a gleeful story of revenge and suspense, worthy of Hitchcock.

It’s a Disaster (2012) What do you do when you’re at a dinner party (funny how a lot of these films involve a dinner party), and the world starts ending outside? This film stars David Cross and Julia Styles, who carry this darkly comedic drama through post-apocalyptic tropes and cliches, and provide a commentary on relationships, contemporary life and conflicts, all while staying within the dining room. The humour is subtle, and the drama is moderate, but the characters are so well-defined that you’ll be enraptured by the story that’s unfolding on the screen before you.

127 Hours (2011) Despite the subject matter, this is a beautiful and poetic film. The story of the actual survival of Aaron Ralston, who had to cut off his arm to escape after being pinned by a boulder, this picture does a great job of distilling Aarons experiences and personality, as flashbacks and hallucinations to further characterize the hero. Meanwhile, we haven’t really left the canyon where he’s trapped. It takes a skilled filmmaker to tell such an all-encompassing tale, through one location. This one should be on every top 10 list.

Locke (2013) If you ever wondered if Tom Hardy could ever carry a film by himself, wonder no more. Hardy spends the entirety of the film driving in his car, dealing with a pregnant girlfriend, angry wife and managing a lucrative construction project. On top of that, he also has an imaginary conversation with his deadbeat dad in the backseat. Hardy is the only person in this film, while everyone else is a voice on the phone, and that creates such a close, yet narratively rich story, that you don’t really need anything outside of the car. It’s brilliant how well this film encapsulates how much of our world we carry with us, wherever we go.

REC (2007) REC is truly a marvel. It’s a found footage, real time, zombie thriller from Spain, and and right off the bat, it should be lauded for being a properly terrifying modern horror film. It relies not on jump scares, but on raising the tension gradually and exuding a sense of menace until the ending. The entire film is contained within an apartment building, and it uses the found footage effect to great success as it’s more about what you don’t see, than what you do. This one is a must watch, if you appreciate a good scare.

Rope (1948) Based off of a play, this Alfred Hitchcock play is notable for two reasons; for being self-contained in one room and for also being presented in one fluid, continuous take, in real time. The tension and suspense in this film is palpable (and what else would you expect from Hitchcock?), and it involves two men who murder a man and hide the body in their apartment, while having a dinner party. Through the dinner, they antagonize their guests, and drop hints until their teacher, played by Jimmy Stewart, begins to get suspicious. This one is such a treat to watch.

Wait Until Dark (1967) Another film based off of a stage play, ‘Wait Until Dark’ involves Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman, besieged by 3 robbers who are looking for a doll filled with heroin. Former Bond director Terence Young brings a cinematic feel to the single location, and the use of lighting and and sound creates a nail-biter of a film. For this role Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Oscar, she’s that good.

Sleuth (1972) Based on a play by the same name, Sleuth stars cinematic legends Michael Caine and Sir Laurence Olivier, as two men that perpetuate an insurance scam, that involves a fake robbery. As it slowly grows out of control due to intrigue and betrayal, you see both characters start to fall apart. With a lot of misdirection and clever tricks, this film keeps you guessing until the very end, and doesn’t need to resort to cutaways to tell the story; the actors to a marvellous job themselves.