WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I think I have said this several times before in other articles but one of the key tropes for any horror film is isolation! Like the fear of the unknown, the idea of no escape is terrifying. Probably the most common display of this is with the old cabin in the woods – look at Evil Dead and Cabin Fever for example to name a couple. It’s possibly why the film Cabin in the Woods was named such. But, as you will see below, there are many other forms of isolation outside of being physically trapped inside a building…
Fall
So, originally I was going to write an article specifically based around the fear of heights which is something I personally suffer from but there’s not enough films. However I’m sure it can be extremely isolating being trapped so high up with what feels like no possible way back down. I say feels, Becky and Hunter literally end up with no way back down. Now I don’t know if the TV tower they decide to climb is genuinely real but just looking up at it just on screen turned my stomach even before they started climbing. For safety reasons they clearly weren’t 2000 feet off the ground in this film but my GOD! The shots looking down are unbelievably unsettling. I guess you would consider this film as more of a psychological horror as it taps into our personal fear instead of being out and out scary on the surface. Normally in these types of films, they’ll add a little bit of tension between the two characters and I would say that they tried to do that with the fact that Hunter was sleeping with Becky’s husband but they never turned it into a full blown argument which I’m kind of glad as it would have been a little bit of a cliché to do so.
Frozen
There’s something really weird about this film – it was made in 2010 but seems to be graded like it’s from the 80s or 90s. It’s funny, I’ve clearly watched Final Destination too many times because the control board shaking and the cable creaking made me think those are the reasons the chairlift was going to stop at some point. Instead it seems to be simple incompetence on behalf of the staff but I guess don’t go on the chairlift when you’ve already been told no? This is the only film in the article that implies any sort of time line for the characters being trapped. The only thing that bothers me a little with this is that you’d think a member of staff would question how a ski has fallen on the front of their vehicle if no one is left on the mountain? At least with Fall they’re throwing things from a massive height so it’s unlike anyone would really notice it or have moved away by the time it reaches the floor. I’m not sure what’s worse, being trapped in the chair or being trapped on the ground with 2 broken legs! I’ll be honest I was expecting, kind of hoping as well, that this would end with all characters dead but alas this was not the case.
The Cave
I guess some people would probably consider this as a creature horror but the fact that they’re trapped underground with the monsters – does that not also constitute isolation? I think you think about the two together makes the isolation that much scarier because this dive team have no idea what they’re up against and have no way back out! The one thing I will say is that they slightly missed a trick with this film. Because the creatures are parasitic and I guess infectious to some extent, they could have followed a similar line as The Thing and implied that any of them could be infected – instead of making it obvious that it’s Jack. This would then add to the isolation and fear because they would become less trusting of each other at the risk that they could infect or even kill each other at any given moment. Obviously I’m not saying that this isn’t a good film as it is, especially as the transition Jack undertakes makes Cole Hauser look creepier and creepier and the twist at the end of the film is genius!
The Ledge
How is it three of these isolation films are set at height? This film not only tackles the idea of physical isolation what with being trapped on a rock face but also with the isolation of fearing for your life. In the middle of nowhere, Kelly ends up trapped on the face of a 10,000 foot mountain – pursued by her friend’s killers. Actually, killers is harsh, only one of them actually kills Sophie, the rest are just complicit. This may actually be the only film in this article where the isolation actually works in our lead characters favour at first as Kelly is a much better climber than those pursuing her. The terrifying part for me is that Kelly decides, in her hurry to get away of course, to free climb the rock face. I loved the concept of this film but for me the flashbacks, to who I assume is Kelly’s dead husband or fiancé, kind of meant you lost some of the suspense in the film. Unlike Fall it also didn’t seem to have any impact on the overall story.
Rent-a-Pal
You know how I like to look at these sorts of tropes from an alternative angle? Well, here’s a different way to look at isolation – as just plain and simple loneliness. David has no one in his life outside of his mother who, on any given day, no longer knows who he is. Because of this, he’s awkward and struggles to find love which leads him stumble across the Rent-a-Pal tape – leading to dangerous consequences. Can someone please tell me how Will Wheaton can be so damn creepy? It’s disturbing in the first place how much David comes to rely on the tape of Andy let alone the fact that he comes across as a creepy Mr Rogers (watch A Beautiful in the Neighborhood and you’ll know who I’m talking about). What’s genius is, the tape genuinely talking back is gradual until David becomes less reliant on Andy, less lonely. Strangely though it doesn’t become openly disturbing until around 20 minutes from the end when the photo Andy takes somehow appears in David’s house causing him to snap. I like the fact that they didn’t try to explaining it all by saying the tape is possessed – they just let David’s loneliness drive him mad.
Treehouse
This film was originally going to be used for A Horrifying Childhood pt.2 but I realised it works better to show the use of isolation in horror as Killian and Elizabeth spend the majority of the film trapped in a treehouse in the woods as it is the safest place to hide. As if being in the woods itself isn’t isolating enough, their only communication to the outside world is a walkie-talkie and if I’m honest, I genuinely thought that Ariel was pranking Killian as it felt too quick for the monsters to be on to them. Outside of that moment which is reasonable suspenseful, very little actually happens, which meant the opening scene when Elizabeth running into the woods to save her brother is a little bit of a disappointment if I’m honest. I think for me, the flashbacks to Killian and Crawford’s abusive father slightly took away from the main story line. The interesting thing however is that it seems it was safer to be isolated than to go back to civilization.
