When it comes to horror movies, there are all kinds of different subgenres out there for all kinds of fans. While there are all kinds of horror movies available that have monsters, and zombies and even aliens, there is one subgenre that makes audiences uncomfortable by making them watch a situation unfold that they definitely wouldn't want to be in themselves. Claustrophobic horror films are some of the hardest to watch, because it really does feel like the walls are closing in.
Check out the reactions from audiences to these types of horror movies. People will be shifting in their seats and looking away at different moments, and not because they're grossed out. People want to get away from the situation they're seeing, because they know how they would feel if they were there. It's a reaction that happens most in these claustrophobic horror flicks. When talking about these movies, there are a couple that are far too underrated.
1408
This movie, based on the Stephen King story by the same name, didn't get a lot of love in theaters mainly because it was hard to know what exactly to take from it. It's also likely that 1408 didn't get a lot of love because, as a Stephen King movie about a hotel, it probably invited to much comparison to The Shining. But this movie is plenty spooky and definitely gives off the claustrophobic vibe.
1408 puts Mike Enslin, played by John Cusack, into a hotel room that is famously haunted. Enslin is a famous debunker of supernatural stories, but this time, he's run into a room that appears to be pure evil. The claustrophobia is strongest when Enslin starts thinking that he's actually gotten out of room 1408, only to discover he hasn't gotten out at all. It should be pointed out this is one of those films where the walls actually start moving in at some point. 1408 might not have been a huge success, but it's worth watching.
Devil
Devil was officially released back in 2010, and it still stands up as one of the most underrated films in this genre. This is one of those flicks that's carried by names that audiences might not have on the tip of their tongues, but have managed to make careers as character actors, like Logan Marshall Green. Bokeem Woodbine might actually be the biggest star to be featured in this movie, but the entire cast of characters manages to play off each other quite well.
The main plot of this film surrounds a group of strangers trapped in an elevator that has become stuck. One by onem they start to have their true natures exposed — but one of them isn't what she seems, as they get killed off slowly. There's definitely something to be said with how the film manages to play with the audience's discomfort when it comes to the small cramped space of the elevator. This horror movie feeds off the characters' claustrophobia to great effect.
10 Cloverfield Lane
For quite a bit of the movie, 10 Cloverfield Lane is different from any of the other movies in this franchise. It's not hard to figure out why this movie is so good when it comes to the claustrophobic feel. Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up injured but healing in a bunker, where she's told by Howard (John Goodman's character) that the outside world is now a horrorscape. The bunker itself makes the audience plenty uncomfortable, but the fact that Howard won't the others inside leave certainly increases that value.
There is also the fact that Michelle doesn't really know if things are the way she's been told. She doesn't remember much of what happened that landed her in the bunker, and as her "savior" starts to seem more unhinged, she wonders if it's not all some sort of delusion. One of the most interesting parts of this film is that she does eventually escape, and when she gets outside, she desperately wants to get back underground. Cloverfield monsters have apparently overrun the earth, and she realizes she should have stayed in that small bunker all along.
Train to Busan
Train to Busan is a film that is mostly underrated because it's a Korean-language film that simply hasn't been enjoyed by enough people. It's a zombie movie that manages to turn the genre on its head by jamming everyone inside one of Korea's famous high-speed rail trains. As some sort of virus tears through the train, the survivors are forced to try to move from train car to train car.
It's not hard to figure out how Train to Busan manages to capitalize on the claustrophobic feel. For quite a while, there's nowhere to go but deeper into the train. And when people do get out, they soon find that the only really safe place to be is back on that train. This way there is no escape, even when it feels like there should be. The movie also isn't afraid to kill off characters whose deaths might be unexpected.
30 Days of Night
It takes some master movie making for a film to be out in the open for a good portion of its runtime, and still feel claustrophobic. That's how 30 Days of Night makes the audience feel. At first, this underrated vampire movie has the bloodsuckers slowly picking off townspeople and killing for food. Eventually, it feels like they're more killing for sport and enjoying themselves.
Eventually, the town is squeezed until they do have to hold up in smaller rooms as the vampires are still out there hunting and looking for prey. In that regard there are more than a few different ways where the flick makes the viewers feel as though they need to get up and walk out of the movie theater in order to shake off the heebie-jeebies from this horror movie.