Who said you should fear only the vast, boundless spaces? Sometimes even the most confined and seemingly intimate locations can hide traps, enclosed spaces that perfectly embody the psychological claustrophobia, a theme increasingly explored on TV and at the heart of intriguing titles we’ve thought to suggest. If you’re looking for high-tension stories set in well-defined environments, where four walls stop being a mere backdrop and become a real pressure cooker, here are three TV series with three microcosms featuring performers who are deeply emotional, influenced by secrets and a delicate psychological balance that will seize your attention.
Extreme Tension: 3 TV thriller series set in enclosed spaces you shouldn’t miss
Severance / Split
Whether you call it Severance or Split is up to you: what remains unchanged is the story, set largely inside a company, Lumon Industries, and more precisely on the same floor with employees who have chosen to undergo a delicate medical procedure known as “severance.” What is it for? To separate the memories of personal life from those of work: consequently the internal workers have no idea of what life is like for the external ones and vice versa. The protagonist, Mark, together with his colleagues at work Helly, Irv and Dylan begin to ask questions, realizing that Lumon hides many, too many secrets. In this case Lumon offers as a location a sterile white labyrinth composed of bright corridors and isolated offices where the tension is palpable, dictated by a sense of claustrophobia that is both physical and mental. The protagonists are prisoners of their professional identity and there is no apparent way out. The series is available for streaming on Apple TV+ and currently comprises two seasons.
The Haunting
The Haunting is the horror paranormal anthology series created by Mike Flanagan and to date comprises two seasons. Streaming on Netflix, the first season is set at Hill House, the Crain family mansion scarred by a deep tragedy. The story unfolds between the past and the present: as children, the Crain siblings spent the summer at Hill House where their mother died; in the present, those unresolved childhood traumas return to haunt them as adults. Hill House is not merely a location, but a living entity that traps the protagonists. The enclosed spaces of the mansion amplify the tension and the anxiety that accompany the Crain family, suffocating them within its walls.
Nine Perfect Strangers
In this case the location is somewhat broader than the previous ones, as Nine Perfect Strangers is set in a remote wellness center where nine stressed clients seeking peace agree to spend time away from everything and everyone at Tranquillum House, an exclusive wellness and meditation resort nestled in nature run by Masha, an an enigmatic Russian guru who promises to heal their souls. Despite the luxury, that resort quickly becomes a prison for the participants and that isolation from the outside world becomes forced and unwelcome, erupting quickly into chaos. Spanning two seasons and based on the novel Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty (author of Big Little Lies), it is available for streaming on Prime Video.
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