Locked doors are meant to keep bad things out. But what happens if the bad thing is already trapped inside with you? (Hence the iconic horror movie scene in which the imperiled teenage heroine is told the frightening phone calls are coming from “inside the house!”) So given the pandemic-induced lockdown, what better time to share a claustrophobic scare with fellow quarantined family members and self-isolating roommates? You may even find yourself relating to the characters in these confined thrillers as the walls start to close in on them.
Rear Window
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
This 1954 Hitchcock thriller about a bored, wheelchair-bound photographer who spies on his neighbors from his window — only to unwittingly witness a murder no one else believes happened — remains as relevant as ever. Why? Because voyeurism has yet to go out of style. What follows is a landmark exercise in cinematic suspense as the camera never leaves Stewart’s apartment, even as the suspected killer draws near. FOR AGES: 10 and up
Panic Room
Streaming on: Hulu, Amazon Prime
When three men break into her new Manhattan brownstone, a divorced woman (Jodie Foster) and her diabetic daughter (Kristen Stewart) flee to the home’s impenetrable vault-for-people only to learn that what the intruders want is hidden in the panic room. The harrowing cat-and-mouse game that follows is jammed with the anticipated twists and sudden reversals, but elevated by director David Fincher’s stylishly-clinical filmmaking. FOR AGES: 14 and up
10 Cloverfield Lane
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
After a woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) crashes her car, she wakes up in an underground shelter with two men, Howard (John Goodman) and Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), who tell her she can’t leave because the world outside is under attack. But are her rescuers more dangerous than whatever threat might be lurking outside? Despite its title, the film works perfectly fine as a stand-alone nerve-jangler unrelated to other Cloverfield entries. FOR AGES: 12 and up
Get Out
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winner is primarily recognized for how skillfully it injects its satirical critique of race relations into a horror genre framework. But it is also a sharply-constructed thriller that finds its hero trapped in a house with smiling strangers who may mean him harm. Daniel Kaluuya stars as Chris, an African-American photographer who travels upstate to meet the parents of his white girlfriend (Allison Williams). Dread steadily escalates as the film recalls such unsettling classics as The Stepford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby. FOR AGES: 17 and up
The Invitation
Streaming on: Netflix, Amazon Prime
This acclaimed but underseen psychological drama stars Logan Marshall-Green as a man invited to a dinner party hosted by his ex-wife. While some of the guests are familiar faces, others are not. And when he learns his ex may have joined a mysterious cult, an evening that starts out awkward and tense swiftly unravels into paranoia. Is there a sinister agenda at play? Or is his mental state the only thing that deserves to be questioned? FOR AGES: 17 and up