Small Spaces, Big Fears: Claustrophobic Horror

They define claustrophobia has the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces, which often leads to a panic attack. It’s the fear of restriction and the fear of suffocation, yet for directors looking to make their horror film scarier, what better than to keep everything in one central place – with no way out.

Perhaps this might be the most basic exercise for a director, yet results can vary. The simple trick of any horror film is to scare you, but results differ from person to person, movie to movie, yet if that film can tap into your amaygala, which is a temporal lobe in your brain, which is needed for the conditioning of fear, or the creation of a fight-or-flight response, then their film has a shot at creating big fears and big returns.

Killer Film examines this in Small Spaces, Big Fears: Claustrophobic Horror.

Perhaps the first, best example of claustrophobic horror is in 1968′s Night of the Living Dead, but everyone associates it with the fore-fathering of the zombie genre, as they should. But as you should recall, the majority of the action, the tension, and the fear all happens because the characters are faced dealing with the unknown threat all in a little old farmhouse. George A. Romero keeps it all in three key places: the living room, the basement, and the upstairs.  Of course, the characters rarely go upstairs, especially since Barbara finds a rotting skeleton and Ben covers it up. Why? We won’t go back up there, at least until the end, when Ben accidentally dies. By covering up the corpse, it subconsciously clears our minds (well, Barbara’s at least) from the fear.

Night of the Living Dead, by its low budget nature, needed to keep everything simple and contained, but it also unknowingly created a scary, claustrophobic horror film that’s rarely duplicated today, especially in the zombie genre where everything is faster paced, and more action-oriented. 

For a similar effect on an audience, Roman Polanski kept 1965′s Repulsion (three years prior to Romero) in just an apartment, as we tragically witness how a small space – and one basket case of a character – can go completely mad. The black-and-white cinematography only aids the tension, the stuffiness of the apartment, creating maximum tension. Polanski also films mostly in mid-range and in close-up which not only makes us edgy, but highlights the isolation of the character. Would someone please open up a window here, I need some fresh air.

As great as those films are, and we cannot forget about other classics like The Thing, The Shining, Alien, and Premature Burial, modern filmmakers are creating some of the genre’s scariest movies. Modern claustrophobic horror movies sort of begins with Misery in 1990, but let’s just a few years closer to us, with 1997′s Cube. Violent, twisty, inventive, this low-budget favorite maximizes its idea with the simple location, and that taps into our fear of being left with no way out. The repetitive nature of the film aids the claustrophobia.

If that film’s slow-paced structure doesn’t do it for you, then go see these three: [REC] (and its sequel), The Descent, and Paranormal Activity. All three feature slow build-up, with maximum payoff. I recall my theatrical experience of 2005′s The Descent, in where the guys screamed louder than the women, making the dimly lit, small spaced caves, a place few would venture. It has a crushing experience, and to this day, just might be the scariest film dealing with small spaces. [REC] and [REC] 2 are for the action-minded, thanks to the fast-paced zombies, yet where the hell are you going to run too? You’re trapped. This has made these films extremely popular, and they’ve even been remade in the Quarantine series.

Outside of The Exorcist or Halloween, claustrophobic horror films might be the genre’s scariest exercises when done right. With a slasher, you can outrun them. With a werewolf, you can shoot them. With a giant mutated lizard, you can nuke it. But if you in a tight space, a small room, and a shadow lurks, a noise is made, or something is descending upon you, there’s no – way – out.

Thoughts?

Jon Peters

I love film. That is all.

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