As Colin Farrell frets in a phone booth, we bring you ten more small-space big screen dramas.

Das Boot (1982)
Ah, submarine movies. The ultimate cinematic (water) pressure cooker. Gasp for air along with the huddled sailors, tensed and waiting for groaning hulls and ominous sonar blips. This German U-Boat classic has been often imitated – U-571, K-19: The Widowmaker, etc - but never bettered. (Out now on DVD.)

12 Angry Men (1957)
Stuck in a sweltering New York jury room with Henry Fonda forcing a reconsideration of a seemingly open-and-shut murder case, you’d be pretty irate too. Accused of brilliant acting and clinically claustrophobic filmmaking, Sidney Lumet’s debut is guilty as charged. (Out now on DVD.)

Lifeboat (1944)
Hitchcock loved single location experiments – Rear Window, Rope – and this WWII drama unfolds entirely in the eponymous vessel, its survivors marooned after a torpedo attack. Not his finest but the “motley crew in peril” dynamic directly influenced those cheesy 70s disaster movies. Cheers, Hitch. (Not currently available.)

Executive Decision (1995)
Basically “Die Hard in a 747”, pitting pen pusher Kurt Russell and decimated anti-terrorist squad against chemical-weapon packing Islamic extremists bound for the US. Uneasy viewing post 9/11 but any film that kills Steven Seagal after 20 minutes has some merit. (Out now on DVD.)

Caged Heat (1974)
From Alcatraz to Shawshank, prison movies self-evidently deal in confinement, but few with such obvious glee as Jonathan Demme’s chicks-behind-bars flick. Plenty of gratuitous catfights, gunfights and shower fisticuffs make this cult B-movie a strangely liberating stay in the can. (Out now on Region 1 DVD.)

Out Of Order (Abwärts) (1984)
High-rise horror as a lift carrying four people goes haywire, dangling them 300ft up in a deserted office block. This German thriller’s frayed cables effectively fray the nerves and suddenly make taking the stairs a much more attractive option. (Not currently available.)

Fantastic Voyage (1966)
Cheerfully crazy 60s sci-fi with a miniaturised sub sent inside a dying scientist’s body to save his life. Dodgy biology lessons compensated by a stunning Raquel Welch and the best white blood cells attack till The White Stripes came along. (out on DVD 02 June 03)

Cube (1997)
Canadian micro-budgeted futuristic thriller, where six people wake to find themselves inexplicably trapped inside a network of booby-trapped, identical square rooms. Constrictive as a hungry boa with gruesomely inventive surprises and demises for a no-star cast. The Crystal Maze it ain’t. (out now on VHS.)

My Little Eye (2002)
Last year’s genuinely nasty Big Brother-inspired horror hit has contestants for an Internet reality show trapped in a snowbound mansion, with a killer who has a fatal way of “voting off” his rivals. And there’s no Davina McCall to save them. (Out now on DVD.)

Secret Honor (1984)
Robert Altman’s 80s stage adaptations reached their peak with this study of a ranting, boozing Richard Nixon recording and re-evaluating his crooked legacy. For a one room monologue, PT Anderson favourite Philip Baker Hall’s Tricky Dicky keeps you absolutely riveted. (Not currently available.) Leigh Singer 17 April 03

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