While it might not always look like it, houses are pretty easy to escape in the horror genre. It often takes a lot of creative (and sometimes not-so-creative) writing to keep characters trapped there. Towering apartments and other similar buildings, on the other hand, pose a whole different set of problems whenever the need to flee is urgent and fraught with danger.
Simply coexisting with others in apartments, co-ops, condos, hotels, and other similar high-rises can lead to tension or conflicts, but external harms are also to blame for the terror found throughout these locations. Once the threat is made, getting out can prove difficult.
Still hankering for more high-rise horror after watching They Will Kill You? Then be sure to add these ten movies to your watchlist.
Somebody’s Watching Me! (1978)
A month after John Carpenter scared moviegoers with Halloween, his made-for-TV thriller, Somebody’s Watching Me!, first aired. This cat-and-mouse story shares some surface-level similarities with Michael Myers’ first outing, although there’s something more realistically terrifying about the scenario and the antagonist in Carpenter’s telefilm. Here, Lauren Hutton and Adrienne Barbeau suspect a man in the apartment building across the way is a stalker and a murderer. Unfortunately for them, they’re right. For a similar setup, but also a movie not restricted by the rules of television, also check out Eyes of a Stranger (1981).
Demons 2 (1986)
Trading the big movie theater for an unassuming apartment building, Lamberto Bava‘s Demons 2 allows for a different sort of confined atmosphere. The characters here all come upon the otherworldly forces in their own time and space before then taking to the hallways and other shared areas for their survival. Overall, it doesn’t quite outperform Bava’s original, but the one official sequel has its own charms.
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
It took some years to see it happen, but more folks have come around to Joe Dante‘s Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Some might even prefer it. This zanier sequel, of course, moves that story of Mogwai and mayhem to the Big Apple after beginning in a small Pennsylvania town. A skyscraper becomes the main venue for the ensuing chaos born from Gizmo’s offspring coming in contact with a gene-altering serum.
Candyman (1992)
Urban horror does not get much better than Candyman, Bernard Rose‘s adaptation of Clive Barker‘s story “The Forbidden”. A colossal housing development in Chicago is haunted by a boogeyman of sorts, one who is played to perfection by the great Tony Todd. On the other end of that bloody hook is Virginia Madsen, that scholar whose prying lands her, and others, in the maw of a ruthless entity.
The Shaft (2001)
Dick Maas‘ vision for a killer elevator first came to fruition in The Lift (1983), but it was only when he remade his own movie that the story could reach its full visual potential. Now armed with a higher budget, the Dutch filmmaker’s English redo, one which stars Naomi Watts, is a spectacle that has to be seen to be believed.
REC (2007)
POV horror reached great heights in Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza‘s [REC]. This Spanish stab at the found-footage format is a masterclass in sustaining tension and building atmosphere, balancing light and darkness on screen, and executing scares in an effective way. The singular movie, one about a reporter trapped inside a quarantined apartment building, comes at you pretty fast before slinking back into its shadowy corner.
Devil (2010)
What could have been the start of a trio of stand-alone horror movies, ones produced by M. Night Shyamalan, wound up being a one-and-done kind of venture. Nevertheless, John Erick Dowdle‘s Devil is a way more fun time than one would expect, based on the fact that the story is largely contained to an elevator.
Dream Home (2010)
Pang Ho-cheung‘s Dream Home brings new meaning to the phrase “killer listing”. Josie Ho goes on the offensive after losing out on not only her dream apartment, but also her dreams in general. As gory and wince-inducing as this satirical slasher is, it also has an affecting quality to its story.
Attack the Block (2011)
A superb script elevates a relatively simple, not to mention familiar, concept in Joe Cornish‘s Attack the Block. Fully fleshed-out characters and expert pacing to go with the pulpy plot, this movie is a tough one to beat. The setting is put to such good use in this tale of young, underclass saviors going up against alien invaders. Since then, there have been some similar stories put on screen, including Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015) and Infested (2023).
Tower Block (2012)
While James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson‘s Tower Block might have the smell of a mere thriller, its execution is rife with enough jolts and suspense to include it with these horror offerings. Here, the remaining residents in a soon-to-be closed block are stuck on the top floor, and they’re gradually being picked off by a mysterious sniper. The reason for their targeting is never hard to figure out, but the fun here is the mayhem and carnage, not the mystery.
