10 Perfectly Contained Sci-Fi Movies That Take Place in a Single Location

For filmmakers and producers working on a budget, setting a movie in a single location is always a great idea. There are no transportation or permit headaches. The restrained nature of such films also makes them easier for audiences to follow. However, the directors and screenwriters are required to be more creative whenever they choose this route. Otherwise, it’ll be a totally dull affair. Thankfully, most of them tend to come up with something magical, justifying the lack of location switching.

Hollywood is packed with movies set in single locations, spread across several genres. Who could ever forget Joel Schumacher’s Phone Booth, starring Kiefer Sutherland, or Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder? Sci-fi fans also have a few great offerings to enjoy in this particular taxonomy. These films brilliantly push fake science to its elastic limit, leaving audiences totally entertained.

Here are 10 perfectly contained sci-fi movies that take place in a single location.

‘Moon’ (2009)

Moon’s Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is excited. His three-year solo mission on a lunar mining base for Lunar Industries is about to come to an end. His job has been to oversee automated harvests of helium-3, crucial to Earth’s energy supply. After a rover accident, he bumps into another version of himself and discovers that he is one of numerous human clones created to avoid the expense of human staffing. With the help of the base’s AI, GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey), he plots an escape, aiming to tell people on Earth the truth.

He’s Been Fooled All Along

Combining the themes of corporate malpractice, mental health, and misuse of science with spectacular cinematography, Moon presents an unusual and exciting concoction, giving it the feel of a Black Mirror episode. Made only on a $5 million budget, it’s one of the freshest, most vibrant pieces of filmmaking you’ll see in a long time. Who needs to go to the moon when you can learn everything about it here? The film was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.

‘Coherence’ (2013)

Set on a night a comet is meant to pass Earth, the beguiling and artful Coherence sees an assortment of friends meet for a group dinner at a house. After some time, they start experiencing strange phenomena, notably the appearance of duplicate versions of themselves. What’s up with that? It turns out the comet has caused various realities to intertwine. Who will fix this mess?

Visitors From Other Universes

Shooting a multiverse movie doesn’t always require a multiverse-sized budget. This picture was completed with only $50,000. Aware that he won’t be able to take audiences on wild trips, director James Ward Byrkit pins them down with the theory, properly analyzing complex science topics like quantum coherence and cosmic radiation spectrum. Brykit shot the entire thing at his Santa Monica home and used friends as cast members. Luckily, none of them disappoint. They are all naturals.

‘The Man from Earth’ (2007)

Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith) is revealed to be retiring at the beginning of The Man from Earth, yet he doesn’t seem so old. After gathering friends and associates at his home for a retirement party, he confesses that he is actually a 14,000-year-old Cro-Magnon (born in the Paleolithic period) who’s never aged beyond his 30s. The academics in the room — including a biologist, historians, and a theologian — thus start challenging him, resulting in engaging discourse.

Is He Really Who He Says He Is?

Richard Schenkman’s deeply affecting film is based on a story that screenwriter Jerome Bixby had written for a Star Trek episode in the ‘60s. Throughout its 90-minute running time, it proves itself as a small but potent film with wonderful nods to pop culture, including mentions of Van Gogh, Columbus, and the Roman Empire. Among a solid cast, Tony Todd gives a towering performance as Dan, an anthropologist who won’t stop asking questions. The Man from Earth also happens to be one of the films with a pure 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

‘Infinity Chamber’ (2016)

After sabotaging a government operation using a computer virus, Frank Lerner (Christopher Soren Kelly) wakes up in a futuristic automated prison run by an AI system named Howard (voiced by Jesse D. Arrow). Locked up in a windowless cell, he is endlessly interrogated and occasionally finds himself falling into dreamlike sequences occurring inside a coffee shop. Will he be able to free himself by the third act of Infinity Chamber?

Cyber-punishment for Cybercrimes

Infinity Chamber ought to be considered an essential A.I. film as it presents a rather realistic look at future incarceration and warns of all the ways the justice system can be corrupted using machines. Even though the protagonist is perpetually cranky, arrogant, and downright irresponsible, he still manages to win audience sympathy and compassion, thanks to actor Christopher Soren Kelly’s incredible performance. Slot it into your schedule if you can.

‘ARQ’ (2016)

Fears of the world running out of oil have been around for a long time, but in ARQ, this is already a reality. Possessing advanced tech that can provide unlimited energy, enginee, Renton (Robbie Amell), becomes one of the most sought-after people in the world. Soon, his home is invaded, and a time loop occurs, subjecting him to the ordeal again and again.

Raising an Important Discussion About Energy

Smartly scripted, expertly filmed, and brought to life by a skilled cast, this sci-fi flick has crack indoor action scenes, endless shocking moments, and a poignancy that raises it to Kubrick-ish quality. The snappy conversation crackles, but where the film really succeeds is in the razor-sharp focus on its themes of environmental conservation and familial bonds.

‘Cube’ (1997)

Six strangers — a police officer, a physician, an architect, a math student, an autistic savant, and an escape artist — awaken inside a large maze of cube-shaped rooms, each with fatal traps triggered by sound and movement. As they try to navigate the labyrinth, tensions increase, alliances disintegrate, and paranoia continues to surge. The key to survival is in figuring out the mathematical clues in each room. Who will be the last person standing in Cube?

Intellectually Stimulating, Yet Wildly Scary

Greatest sci-fi horror movie of all time? The jury is still out, but Cube leaves you intellectually stimulated and also scarred for months. The clever use of a Kafkaesque setting earned it a cult following and even led to a remake in Japan. The math sure is dizzying, yet that’s what makes the movie great. Even better is the creativity employed during filming. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the set’s location was near a train line, so the locomotive noise was incorporated into the events as that of the cubes moving.

‘The Platform’ (2019)

Events in The Platform unfold in a large, futuristic, industrial prison known as the “Vertical Self-Management Center.” Prisoners are fed by a vertically moving platform with various delicacies on it. Since those on each floor tend to eat as much as possible, those on the lower floors are often left with little food, causing them to resort to conflict and cannibalism.

War for Nutrition

This wildly gory Spanish film is consistently shocking and often twisty. And lead actor Iván Massagué adds an element of melancholy; he’s perennially curious with plenty of charm, but hardly a brave adult, evidenced by his failure to save a few victims of violence. Still, you’ll love him. A lot goes on, yet director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia still finds a way to include weighty topics like suicide and terminal illness. An American remake could definitely make bank at the box office.

‘I Am Mother’ (2009)

Someone prepared for the future in I Am Mother. They knew humanity would eventually be wiped out, so they created an automated bunker meant to repopulate Earth in case such an event ever transpired. The bunker has now been activated. Inside it, an AI-powered robot named Mother is attempting to grow an embryo in a laboratory setting. Unfortunately, conflict emerges when the girl turns 18.

Can AI Be Trusted?

Australian actress Rose Byrne sounds good as the AI robot, and Clara Rugaard is memorable as Daughter, as she fights for independence. Nominated for Best Visual Effects at the AACTA Awards, the movie raises an important question: Can AI really be counted on? Mother does her job diligently until Daughter stops following the rules. From there, we get immersed in an eerie atmosphere that never loosens.

‘Oxygen’ (2021)

Set entirely inside a cryogenic chamber, Oxygen opens with Liz (Mélanie Laurent) awakening with no clue of her identity or how she got there. She learns that oxygen is rapidly depleting, and she can only communicate with MILO (Medical Interface Liaison Officer), the chamber’s AI system. As she struggles to find a way out, her memories start coming back.

The Wildest Fight for Survival

Mélanie Laurent gives a career-high performance, especially in her frustrated moments where MILO refuses to open the cryo unit, demanding an administrator code. There’s also a major twist that you won’t see coming, involving mankind’s future and space. The claustrophobic atmosphere will haunt you, too. But don’t worry. It’ll all be over in about 100 minutes. Even then, you’ll find yourself longing for more.

‘Sunshine’ (2007)

It’s the year 2057 in Sunshine, and there is a major problem. The sun is slowly dying, so temperatures on Earth have dropped to dangerous levels. A team of eight astronauts is thus placed on the Icarus II, a spacecraft equipped with special explosives designed to reignite the dying star. Will they be successful in their mission, or will they have a devil of a time?

A Dark Mission to the Sun

With a star-studded cast that includes Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, and Benedict Wong, little ever goes wrong in Sunshine’s acting department. Winner of Best Technical Achievement at the British Independent Film Awards, the film impresses in its analysis of science and religion, with one character even choosing to kill his colleagues because he believes the mission goes against God’s will. Fundamentalism doesn’t come better than what you’ll find here.