Every week at SiftPop.com, we challenge our writers to come up with their favorite answer to a movie-related prompt tied to a recent release. This week, with the release of Trap, we’re discussing some of our favorite single locations in movies! Let us know your favorites @SiftPop!
What is the perfect way to create a pressure cooker of tension in a film? Trap 12 men in one room and make them all agree on one thing. That is darn near impossible. But it is the stage for the classic courtroom drama, 12 Angry Men. Legendary filmmaker Sidney Lumet created one of the most perfect films in the history of cinema back in 1957 with this clashing of wills. What seems to be an open-and-shut case for a young man from a bad neighborhood gets turned completely upside down by one man. That one man happens to be portrayed by American cinema hero and moral idol, Henry Fonda. Juror #7 is a man who will not throw away a young man’s life without some serious thought. That is the catalyst for a drama shrouded in tension and enriched with themes of fatherhood, ageism, and racism. This ensemble is one of the best put together, with 12 actors all bringing their A-game. The likes of Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden, and Ed Begley are some strong standouts. Lumet is also able to create a film stuck in one room so cinematic that it is close to being unbelievable. 12 Angry Men is the pinnacle of filmmaking and stands as the prototype for so many films that came after. (Shane Conto)
Hill House… A domicile so scary it “frightened” a car, and with enough secret passages and darkened hallways to allow six murders to occur without the culprit(s) being caught in flagrante delicto. You might think with the convoluted series of events and witty banter being flung back and forth by a phenomenal cast that includes Madeline Kahn, Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Martin Mull, and Leslie Ann Warren, the set dressing and physical location would be almost inconsequential. You’d be wrong. The interiors of this isolated murder mansion are every bit as intricate and ornate as I imagined they would be while playing the Clue board game as a child. In fact, if you’d asked a 12-year-old me, to describe her dream house, it would definitely have included a full complement of gargoyles, a billiard room, mahogany walls, guard dogs, an extensive library, and a couple of crystal chandeliers… basically everything but the homicidal party guests. The plush furnishings, gold leaf table service, intricately carved woodwork, marble entryway, polished parquet, leaded glass work, and the plethora of paintings and antiques of this estate drip in opulence funded by the ill-gotten gains of a devious blackmailer. The shadows of the stairways and corridors pair with the deceptively secret passages to make this remote relic the perfect location for a delightfully different dark house mystery. After what is easily dozens of viewings, I’m still discovering new details every time. Did you spot the green piano, stuffed hyena, or portraits of assassinated politicians? (Patrice Downing)
When dealing with single-location movies, you can sometimes strike a tenuous balance. They are intrinsically built as a base for performance to allow the actors to, as the kids say, cook. Sometimes that can lead to a frustrating movie-watching experience. The characters overstay their welcome in a certain environment, the movie can feel too long, the plot can stagnate. However, when pulled off, they can be electric, causing a built in electricity that hums through the movie’s runtime. Such was my experience in watching The Outfit for the first time. The Outfit is set almost entirely within an English tailor’s shop, a collection of three rooms, with a couple exterior shots for fun. The shop organically becomes a character within the telling of the movie, adding to the mystery of Mark Rylance’s lead performance. It sets a stage for the actors to move, enhancing the tension and adding to the questions of who is actually controlling the room in any given situation. The design of the set feels worked in, as a place people would actually frequent during the course of their days. Beautifully lit and staged, it’s a perfect setting for a crime drama/thriller. The actors fill the space well, tight enough quarters to add to the shifty energy, while being diverse enough to accommodate multiple plot elements. Isn’t art fun? What was likely an initial financial decision created a beautiful backdrop for an incredibly fun film. (Nash Doll)
I feel like “master of horror” is a bit of a misleading nickname for Alfred Hitchcock, because “master of tension” would fit him much more. Rear Window is the perfect example of that, as it’s because of his razor-sharp direction he manages to make the maximum out of one neighborhood and one apartment where James Stewart is stuck. And when he witnesses what he believes to be a murder, it’s up to him and the beautiful Grace Kelly to get to the bottom of it. I rewatched this movie not that long ago while introducing it to my girlfriend, and two things became clear. First, it’s impossible not to fall in love with Kelly; she is stunning and has such a strong presence — it is no wonder she became a real-life queen. Second, this thriller still works. The mystery, camera work, and how Hitchcock makes the entire neighborhood into this third character so easily is brilliant. We follow the lives of a few other people, and we are forced to fill in the blanks of what we can see happening in their lives at the time. And then, there is the tension you can cut with a knife. Rear Window must be in the conversation for one of the best thrillers of all time, and the fact it all takes place in one location is just a cherry on the top of this beautifully tense cake. (Luke Burian)
Long before modern times, where the oner has become fetishized, the master of suspense pulled off a fittingly masterful example of how to execute the one-shot mirage with Rope. The film follows a pair of students (John Dall, Farley Granger) who, after killing a classmate in their apartment, try to pull off hosting a dinner party with the body hidden on site. Director Alfred Hitchcock knows how to use the limited setting, particularly when paired with the illusion of having everything take place in real time by stitching the film to make it appear to be done in one shot, in a way that heightens the tension and feeling of paranoia. In lesser hands, the single location can feel cheap or like a cheat, but when used to its utmost potential can provide stunning results. (Jake Bourgeois)