Five great films about being stuck in the house that might relieve your Covid-19 lockdown blues
- In 2016 Persian-language horror Under the Shadow, a mother and her daughter are trapped in their block of flats with a malevolent spirit
- David Fincher’s 2002 thriller Panic Room stars Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart as another mother-daughter duo, this time trapped in their own home by burglars
So we are, once again, stuck at home without the emotional support offered by cinemas. If you’re sick of moping around the house and looking for some cinematic feels, these locked-down films at least show that you’re not alone.
1. Rear Window (1954)
Alfred Hitchcock pioneered the one-location movie with the likes of Lifeboat (1944) and Rope (1948), and he perfected it with this juicy mystery based on Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story It Had to Be Murder.
After breaking his leg trying to get an action shot at an “auto race”, photographer LB “Jeff” Jefferies (James Stewart) finds himself confined to his Greenwich Village flat in New York with nothing better to do than spy on his neighbours across the courtyard – actually a huge set at Paramount Studios – and neg his society girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly), who wants him to grow up and settle down.
Of course, this being Hitchcock, Jeff soon sees more than he bargained for, getting drawn into a nefarious plot involving suspicious salesman Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) and his missing wife (Irene Winston). But could it be all in his imagination?
By putting us in Jeff’s position – watching, powerless, from afar as the drama unfolds – the film makes voyeurs of us all.
2. Home Alone (1990)
Offering perhaps a little less subtext than Hitchcock’s effort, this punchy kids’ flick from writer-producer John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) and director Christopher Columbus (Mrs Doubtfire) has graduated from sleeper hit to festive classic over the years.
