Sure, the Seven-inspired police procedural elements were interesting enough, but the real meat of the film was the banter between two desperate men fighting against a simple yet horrific situation as they tried to escape a desolate bathroom.
The Saw franchise is now mostly known as the progenitor of the so-called “torture porn” sub-genre, but even hardcore horror fans often forget that the first film in the series was a tightly constructed thriller that relied on the hopeless terror of captivity to scare audiences. The film also contains some of the best use of a single location in genre cinema, proving that solid performances and a good story can make up for a lack of big-budget sets (though I still adore the flick’s bafflingly over-the-top finale).
I can still vividly remember the audience’s gasps during the third act of 10 Cloverfield Lane, which made the experience some of the most fun I’ve ever had in a theater. That’s why Dan Trachtenberg’s unexpected spin-off to 2008’s Found Footage kaiju thriller is so compelling, using John Goodman’s down-to-earth charms to keep audiences on their toes as it spins a claustrophobic story about apocalyptic paranoia. While the commonly cited “Stockholm Syndrome” is largely contested by the scientific community due to the inherent difficulty of conducting repeatable studies about a condition related to kidnappings, there’s no doubt that fictional abductions are more interesting when the kidnapper is a charismatic figure.
Not only is this one of the most memorable slashers of the 2000s, nearly gluing audiences to their seats as it forces them to watch a master thief attempt to out-maneuver a trap-setting serial killer, but it also makes the masked antagonist even scarier by suggesting that being killed off early is better than the alternative.Īnd if you enjoy this one, don’t forget to pray to whatever celestial power you believe in so that Dunstan’s long delayed The Collected might finally see the light of day! Marcus Dunstan’s The Collector shows up in last place due to the experience being more about avoiding capture by the titular killer rather than dealing directly with the horrors of captivity, but I think that the story’s cat-&-mouse thrills and chilling finale are more than enough to earn the film a spot on this list.
We’ll also be limiting entries to one movie per franchise so things don’t get too repetitive.ĭon’t forget to comment below with your own favorites if you think we missed any important captivity-based thrillers.
That’s why sinister abductions have been at the heart of so many creepy horror flicks over the years, and with Scott Derrickson’s recent The Black Phonedelivering on its thrilling premise of a boy attempting to escape the clutches of a child-kidnapping murderer, we’ve come up with this list of 6 of the best captivity-based horror movies – just in case you’re in the mood for some more confined scares.Īs usual, this list is based on personal opinion, but we’ll try to only include pictures that deal with kidnappings and wrongful incarceration as their main themes, so no horror movies that happen to feature creepy abductions but don’t really use that idea as their main source of scares. From maniacal super-fans to methodical serial killers, being kidnapped and then kept alive at the mercy of a ruthless antagonist is one of the most terrifying fears imaginable precisely because of how plausible it is.
The horror genre may be associated with gruesome kills and threats from beyond the grave, but I’d argue that some of the most effective scary movies deal with realistic fates worse than death.