Attack the block
by Mighty_Emperor | created - 04 Feb 2013 | updated - 17 Mar 2021 | PublicHigh-rise horror, action and thrillers.
The plot usually involves someone having to fight their way up to the top of a block or fight their way down and out. Common set pieces include room-to-room fighting and poorly lit corridors, so I've also included films set in larger apartment buildings, which has a very similar feel even if they aren't as far off the ground (although far enough that the fall would be lethal).
The theme has become popular for zombie films and their cousins amongst the contagiously violent, as it takes the siege element introduced in Night of the Living Dead (which was heavily influenced by The Last Man on Earth) and raises the stakes to new heights.
See also: Hoodie horror, which often takes place in tower blocks. In addition, Don't Ever Get in the Elevator! is a list of lift/elevator-based films (not my list but I know the creator). Although it might seem the opposite of subterranean horror, there are some films that are essential set in inverted tower blocks, like Resident Evil and Fortress.
Comments: As I don't have a Facebook account I cannot interact with the new comments system, so have switched it off and replaced it with a thread on the message board.
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1. Attack the Block (2011)
R | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.
Director: Joe Cornish | Stars: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones
Votes: 111,403 | Gross: $1.02M
Here for the thumbnail graphic, list continues below:
2. The Towering Inferno (1974)
PG | 165 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
At the opening party of a colossal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.
Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway
Votes: 48,224 | Gross: $116.00M
The classic film that heavily underlined our fears of the tall edifices.
3. Shivers (1975)
R | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are being infected by a strain of parasites that turn them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Paul Hampton, Joe Silver, Lynn Lowry, Allan Kolman
Votes: 23,570
Body horror with contagious violence overtones.
4. The Lift (1983)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A lift technician finds himself drawn into a web of mystery and peril as he investigates the perplexing deadly accidents occurring in the elevators of a new office building.
Director: Dick Maas | Stars: Huub Stapel, Willeke van Ammelrooy, Josine van Dalsum, Liz Snoyink
Votes: 7,696
See this list, for more elevator horror.
5. Tenement (1985)
X | 94 min | Action, Crime, Horror
A drug selling and violent street-gang terrorize the renters of a big trashy apartment-house.
Director: Roberta Findlay | Stars: Joe Lynn, Mina Bern, Walter Bryant, Corinne Chateau
Votes: 1,016
6. Demons 2 (1986)
R | 92 min | Horror
A group of tenants and visitors are trapped in a 10-story high-rise apartment building infested with demons who proceed to hunt the dwindling humans down.
Director: Lamberto Bava | Stars: David Edwin Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Bobby Rhodes
Votes: 12,033
7. Enemy Territory (1987)
R | 89 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An insurance salesman inadvertently gets trapped after dark in an apartment building that is terrorized by a street gang called "The Vampires."
Director: Peter Manoogian | Stars: Gary Frank, Ray Parker Jr., Jan-Michael Vincent, Frances Foster
Votes: 981 | Gross: $0.20M
8. Die Hard (1988)
R | 132 min | Action, Thriller
A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Votes: 945,194 | Gross: $83.01M
The defining film for the high rise action.
9. Poltergeist III (1988)
PG-13 | 98 min | Horror, Thriller
Carol Anne is staying with her aunt in a high-rise building, where the supernatural forces haunting her make their return.
Director: Gary Sherman | Stars: Heather O'Rourke, Tom Skerritt, Nancy Allen, Zelda Rubinstein
Votes: 20,453 | Gross: $14.11M
Might win the prize for earliest use of the looming towerblock on its poster.
10. The Tower (1993 TV Movie)
91 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A man working at an ultramodern corporate building finds himself and a colleague trapped inside with a homicidal security system hell-bent on killing them both after perceiving them as a "threat".
Director: Richard Kletter | Stars: Paul Reiser, Susan Norman, Richard Gant, Annabelle Gurwitch
Votes: 651
A crossover with murderous machine movies.
11. Urban Ghost Story (1998)
R | 82 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
After a car accident, Lizzie lies dead on the roadside - slowly she is taken into the light - but is pulled back to earth when she is revived by the doctors. Lizzie feels sure that during ... See full summary »
Director: Geneviève Jolliffe | Stars: Jason Connery, Stephanie Buttle, Heather Ann Foster, Nicola Stapleton
Votes: 661
12. The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
R | 100 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A computer scientist running a virtual reality simulation of 1937 becomes the primary suspect when his colleague and mentor is murdered.
Director: Josef Rusnak | Stars: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 77,242 | Gross: $15.50M
13. The Shaft (2001)
R | 111 min | Action, Horror, Mystery
When the elevators in New York's 102-story Millennium Building start to malfunction, mechanic Mark Newman is sent to find the cause. After a series of gruesome and deadly "accidents" occur, Mark joins forces with spunky reporter Jennifer.
Director: Dick Maas | Stars: James Marshall, Naomi Watts, Eric Thal, Michael Ironside
Votes: 5,295
Remake of The Lift.
14. 28 Days Later (2002)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Alex Palmer
Votes: 445,331 | Gross: $45.06M
One act plays out in a tower block under attack by the infected.
15. Dark Water (2002)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A mother and her 6-year-old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water.
Director: Hideo Nakata | Stars: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa
Votes: 34,918
16. Breaking News (2004)
TV-14 | 90 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After a disastrous failure to stop a robber gang, the police attempt to redeem themselves through a series of publicity stunts and shootouts.
Director: Johnnie To | Stars: Richie Jen, Kelly Chen, Nick Cheung, Yong You
Votes: 5,775
17. Night Watch (2004)
R | 114 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
A fantasy-horror set in present-day Moscow where the respective forces that control daytime and nighttime do battle.
Director: Timur Bekmambetov | Stars: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Vladimir Menshov, Mariya Poroshina, Valeriy Zolotukhin
Votes: 55,375 | Gross: $1.49M
18. Dark Water (2005)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A mother and daughter, still wounded from a bitter custody dispute, hole up in a run-down apartment building, where they are targeted by the ghost of a former resident.
Director: Walter Salles | Stars: Jennifer Connelly, Ariel Gade, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth
Votes: 65,364 | Gross: $25.47M
19. Day Watch (2006)
R | 132 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
When Anton, a Warrior of Light, is falsely accused of murdering some vampires, he embarks on a journey to find the real killer and search for an ancient object that has the power to alter destiny.
Director: Timur Bekmambetov | Stars: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Mariya Poroshina, Vladimir Menshov, Galina Tyunina
Votes: 35,387 | Gross: $0.45M
20. Mulberry St (2006)
R | 84 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A deadly infection breaks out in Manhattan, causing humans to develop into blood-thirsty rat creatures.
Director: Jim Mickle | Stars: Nick Damici, Kim Blair, Ron Brice, Bo Corre
Votes: 6,410
21. REC (2007)
R | 78 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
Directors: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza | Stars: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge-Yamam Serrano, Pablo Rosso
Votes: 196,484
22. Quarantine (2008)
R | 89 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A television reporter and her cameraman are trapped inside a building quarantined by the CDC, after the outbreak of a mysterious virus which turns humans into bloodthirsty killers.
Director: John Erick Dowdle | Stars: Jennifer Carpenter, Steve Harris, Columbus Short, Jay Hernandez
Votes: 77,320 | Gross: $31.69M
The [Rec] remake.
23. [Rec]² (2009)
R | 85 min | Horror, Thriller
In order to ascertain the current situation inside, a supposed medical officer and a GEO team step into the quarantined and ill-fated apartment building.
Directors: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza | Stars: Jonathan D. Mellor, Manuela Velasco, Óscar Zafra, Ariel Casas
Votes: 78,496 | Gross: $0.03M
This list doesn't include Quarantine 2, which goes off in its own direction and isn't a remake.
24. The Horde (2009)
Not Rated | 90 min | Action, Horror
An end of the world battle between gangsters, cops and zombies.
Directors: Yannick Dahan, Benjamin Rocher | Stars: Claude Perron, Jean-Pierre Martins, Eriq Ebouaney, Aurélien Recoing
Votes: 16,389
25. Against the Dark (2009 Video)
R | 94 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
In a post-apocalyptic world, a master swordsman leads a squad of ex-military vigilantes into a hospital on a mission to rescue trapped survivors from blood-thirsty disease-infected humans.
Director: Richard Crudo | Stars: Steven Seagal, Tanoai Reed, Jenna Harrison, Danny Midwinter
Votes: 5,682
Big hospitals can offer the same kind of challenges.
26. Rammbock: Berlin Undead (2010)
R | 63 min | Action, Drama, Horror
Just when Michael arrives in Berlin to visit his ex-girlfriend Gabi, a terrible virus starts spreading across the city at a rapid pace, turning people into mindless homicidal maniacs. Much ... See full summary »
Director: Marvin Kren | Stars: Michael Fuith, Theo Trebs, Anka Graczyk, Emily Cox
Votes: 5,919
It is a relatively low block of flats but it comes with a lot of the similar aspects to the high-rise ones.
27. The Raid: Redemption (2011)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A S.W.A.T. team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.
Director: Gareth Evans | Stars: Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy, Donny Alamsyah
Votes: 216,985 | Gross: $4.11M
28. Attack the Block (2011)
R | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.
Director: Joe Cornish | Stars: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones
Votes: 111,403 | Gross: $1.02M
29. The Veteran (2011)
R | 98 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A soldier returning from the war in Afghanistan uncovers a conspiracy involving the intelligence services and a gang of drug dealers.
Director: Matthew Hope | Stars: Toby Kebbell, Adi Bielski, Tony Curran, Ashley Thomas
Votes: 7,399
30. Dredd (2012)
R | 95 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.
Director: Pete Travis | Stars: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Rachel Wood
Votes: 294,203 | Gross: $13.41M
Although some people moaned that Dredd seemed like a rip-off of The Raid, attacking city blocks is a recurring theme throughout Dredd's history (as highlighted early on with the 1981 story "Block Mania"), but this list also demonstrates that the general theme goes back a long way too.
31. Citadel (I) (2012)
R | 84 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children who committed an act of violence against his family years earlier.
Director: Ciarán Foy | Stars: Aneurin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wunmi Mosaku, Jake Wilson
Votes: 7,333
32. Tower Block (2012)
Not Rated | 90 min | Thriller
Several months after witnessing a murder, residents of Tower Block 31 find themselves being picked off by a sniper, pitting those lucky enough to be alive into a battle for survival.
Directors: David Beton, James Nunn | Stars: Sheridan Smith, Jamie Thomas King, Jack O'Connell, Ralph Brown
Votes: 5,762
33. Kill Zombie! (2012)
TV-MA | 90 min | Comedy, Horror
The bizarre story takes place in Amsterdam-West, where a virus turns people into bloodthirsty zombies. Although much blood is flowing and many limbs chopped off, there is a lot to laugh at in this bizarre horror comedy.
Directors: Martijn Smits, Erwin van den Eshof | Stars: Yahya Gaier, Mimoun Ouled Radi, Gigi Ravelli, Sergio Hasselbaink
Votes: 1,605
For the later parts of the film, where they need to storm an office block to rescue someone (unfortunately, it is also the building a space station has crashed on, rather delicately, so is the epicentre of the zombie outbreak).
34. Comedown (2012)
Not Rated | 90 min | Horror
Six friends who turn the deserted the tower block they lived in as kids into a pirate radio station soon learn they are not alone, as a resident psychopath begins hunting them down.
Director: Menhaj Huda | Stars: Jacob Anderson, Sophie Stuckey, Jessica Barden, Shizzio
Votes: 1,522
Rather by-the-books slasher, that offers absolutely nothing new to the field.
35. Devil's Tower (2014)
82 min | Horror
When Sid's friend goes missing, he and new girl Sarah investigate disappearances in their tower block. Uncovering the secret of a vengeful ghost possessing a horde of zombies, they must fight for their lives - and their souls.
Director: Owen Tooth | Stars: Roxanne Carrion, Jason Mewes, Frances Ruffelle, Jessica-Jane Stafford
Votes: 775
36. Vertical Village (2012)
17 min | Short, Horror
Joel has lived in an apartment, on the top floor of a high-rise block for years, when he realises that something strange is happening to the building. At first he cannot put his finger on ... See full summary »
Director: Johan Bergqvist | Stars: Lotte Fletcher-Jonk, Annabelle Lanyon, Enid Rothwell, John Sears
37. Containment (I) (2015)
TV-14 | 77 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
What happens when an epidemic breaks out, but you're kept in the dark? Anything can happen. Slowly the residents realize that they will all die unless they come together.
Directors: Chris Carr, Roland Holmes, Neil Mcenery-West | Stars: Lee Ross, Sheila Reid, Gabriel Senior, Andrew Leung
Votes: 3,441
38. Zombie Fight Club (2014)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Horror
After Jenny's boyfriend is killed in a zombie attack, she faces the challenge of surviving in the face of adversity.
Director: Joe Chien | Stars: Andy On, Jessica Cambensy, Michael Wong, Terence Yin
Votes: 873
39. Dark Tower (1987)
R | 91 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A partially under construction office tower is being haunted by a deadly presence which seems to target the building's architect.
Directors: Freddie Francis, Ken Wiederhorn | Stars: Michael Moriarty, Jenny Agutter, Carol Lynley, Theodore Bikel
Votes: 1,253
40. The Belko Experiment (2016)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
In a twisted social experiment, eighty Americans are locked in their high-rise corporate office in Bogotá, Colombia, and ordered by an unknown voice coming from the company's intercom system to participate in a deadly game of kill or be killed.
Director: Greg McLean | Stars: John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, John C. McGinley
Votes: 58,329 | Gross: $10.16M
41. Mayhem (2017)
Unrated | 86 min | Action, Comedy, Horror
A virus spreads through an office complex causing white-collar workers to act out their worst impulses.
Director: Joe Lynch | Stars: Steven Yeun, Samara Weaving, Steven Brand, Caroline Chikezie
Votes: 25,447
42. Shadowchaser (1992 Video)
R | 97 min | Action, Sci-Fi
Terrorists with an indestructible robot take over a high-rise hospital in order to kidnap the president's daughter.
Director: John Eyres | Stars: Martin Kove, Meg Foster, Frank Zagarino, Paul Koslo
Votes: 839
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