There’s a moment in John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian that always gets to me. It’s that scene right before the final battle when Conan prays to his Cimmerian god and states that no one will remember who he and his companion were – the only thing that matters is that, in that moment, two stood […]
There’s a moment in John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian that always gets to me. It’s that scene right before the final battle when Conan prays to his Cimmerian god and states that no one will remember who he and his companion were – the only thing that matters is that, in that moment, two stood against many. From the battle of Thermopylae to Black Hawk Down, the idea of a small group standing their ground against an overwhelming force is one of the most compelling setups in all of fiction, and this also applies to the horror genre.
Many of our favorite scary stories borrow from this same mythological source, which is why there are countless horror movies about small groups of survivors attempting to defend an isolated location from evil invaders. And in honor of what we’ve now come to know as “Siege Films,” we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six of the most terrifying Siege movies out there. After all, what’s scarier than realizing that there’s nowhere left to run?
As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own siege horror favorites if you think we missed a particularly scary one.
Neil Marshall may be mostly known for his claustrophobic masterpiece The Descent, but my personal favorite example of his genre output will forever be 2002’s Dog Soldiers. An insanely fun combination of action, horror and even comedy, this werewolf flick sees a group of ill-equipped soldiers take refuge in an isolated cottage once they’re attacked by man-eating monsters.
A labor of love that took 6 years to go from script to screen, Dog Soldiers also boasts one of the all-time best werewolf designs ever put on film. However, if you decide to check this one out, I’d recommend turning on subtitles due to the copious amounts of Scottish slang.
5. Demons (1985)
I’ve always felt that there aren’t enough horror films set inside movie theaters. Sure, there’s 1991’s Popcorn and the final act of The Final Destination (where the protagonist races to save moviegoers from a fire in a meta twist), but only a handful of filmmakers have dared to explore what I believe is an obvious location for a scary story.
Thankfully, one of these rare filmmakers is Lamberto Bava, son of legendary director Mario Bava. In 1985, Lamberto partnered with Dario Argento to produce a surprisingly meta horror flick about university students who become trapped in an old movie theater under siege by the titular Demons. A fun mix of self-aware writing and gruesome practical effects, I’d recommend both this film and its entertaining sequel to any genre fan willing to explore Italian horror.
4. Green Room (2015)
One of the less speculative entries on this list, Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room (the second installment in his as-yet-unfinished color trilogy) is only really a horror picture because of the director’s decision to highlight the extreme and ultimately nonsensical violence perpetrated by the Nazi antagonists.
And while characters from other films have plenty of chances to find helpful resources, the ill-fated punk band in this film is initially trapped in the titular green room itself, having almost no weapons with which to defend themselves from their hateful pursuers. And in case you haven’t seen this one before, the excellent cast alone (featuring the talents of thespians like the late Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat and even Patrick Stewart) is already worth the price of admission.
3. The Void (2016)
A John-Carpenter-inspired creature-feature with crowd-funded practical effects and plenty of Lovecraftian terror, Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie’s The Void is a miracle of an independent horror flick. And though the film boasts enough otherworldly shenanigans to suggest a cosmic mythology, most of the action is actually contained within a small-town hospital.
The film actually plays out like skillfully-crafted Call of Cthulhu one-shot as survivors are forced to fight back against an invasion of maddened cultists as well as the incomprehensible forces that they serve. Just be prepared for some cringe-inducing body-horror if you decide to watch this one!
2. The Mist (2007)
As a lifelong introvert, I’ve always thought that the real horror of this Stephen King adaptation was in creating a situation where I’d be forced to interact with my neighbors for a prolonged period of time. That being said, I’ll admit that the mysterious mist containing eldritch horrors might just be a little worse than having to borrow a cup of sugar from the crazy cat lady next door.
And while most of the other movies on this list see folks rallying together in order to defend their claustrophobic safe room, The Mist stands out by showing us the worst-case scenario when paranoid strangers give in to the darker side of human nature. I mean, we all agree that Ms. Carmody is much scarier than demon spiders and tentacles, right?
1. Dawn of the Dead (1979)
You could easily replace this entry with Romero’s own Night of the Living Dead, but I’d argue that the easily recognizable urban location makes the undead siege hit that much harder in this iconic follow-up. In fact, the setup of strangers working together to defend a shopping mall during a zombie apocalypse is so iconic that it has since inspired countless remakes, knock-offs, parodies and even video games.
It’s likely that you already know all the beats to this story even if you’ve never seen Dawn of the Dead before, though that shouldn’t keep you from checking this film out. After all, while I’ll admit that the Zack Snyder remake is one hell of a gnarly siege flick as well, at the end of the day, there’s no beating the original.
