A new Guardian feature is inviting filmgoers to think differently about one of cinema’s most ordinary locations: the corridor. Published ahead of the horror film Backrooms, the list selects 20 of what the paper calls the best hallway scenes in film, ranging from slapstick to psychological horror, and argues that these narrow spaces have become some of the medium’s most enduring settings.
The Guardian’s selection, framed as “the 20 best corridors in film,” treats hallways not as background architecture but as central dramatic stages. One example highlighted is a brutal, tightly choreographed fight in the 1997 dark comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, in which John Cusack’s hitman character is attacked by a kickboxing assassin in a school corridor while back in town for his high school reunion.
A list built around a single, simple space
The Guardian’s list is structured around a straightforward idea: that a corridor, by design a place of passing through, can become the heart of a scene. According to the feature, the 20 chosen sequences are united less by genre than by the way they use a hallway’s physical limits to shape tension, comedy or dread.
In Grosse Pointe Blank, the corridor fight is singled out as an example of how a confined setting can make violence feel both intimate and inescapable. The film itself is a dark comedy about a contract killer confronting his past at a school reunion, but the Guardian notes that the hallway brawl is “deadly serious” in tone, standing apart from the film’s lighter moments.
The piece also points out that Cusack’s trainer and fight choreographer is involved in staging the scene, underscoring how much planning goes into making a short passageway feel like a complete battleground. That detail, presented as a “fun fact,” is used to show how a seemingly throwaway location can become a showcase for physical performance and timing.
Why corridors work so well on screen
While the Guardian article is primarily a ranked list, its framing suggests a clear argument: corridors are powerful cinematic tools because they are familiar yet easy to transform. The feature positions hallways as spaces that can quickly switch from inviting to threatening, depending on light, sound and movement.
In the case of Grosse Pointe Blank, the school corridor is an everyday environment, lined with lockers and fluorescent lights. The Guardian emphasizes that this banality heightens the impact of the sudden, disciplined violence between Cusack’s character and the assassin. The fight’s seriousness, contrasted with the film’s broader comic tone, is presented as part of what earns it a place among the 20 chosen corridors.
Across the list, the Guardian points to scenes that use similar contrasts: a hallway that should be safe but feels menacing, or a passage that becomes unexpectedly funny or warm. By focusing on this single type of space, the feature suggests that corridors offer filmmakers a ready-made way to control what the audience can see and how quickly characters can escape, which in turn shapes suspense and emotion.
A mix of terror and welcome
The Guardian’s introduction frames the list as an invitation to “lose yourself” in these corridors, describing them as both “terrifying” and “inviting.” That dual description runs through the examples it highlights.
On the terrifying side, the feature leans into hallways that trap characters, force confrontations or hide unseen threats just out of frame. The Grosse Pointe Blank fight is cited as a confrontation that cannot be easily avoided: the corridor is long, straight and hemmed in, leaving the two combatants little choice but to engage.
On the more inviting side, the Guardian points to corridors that function as routes to possibility or reunion, even when danger lurks nearby. In this framing, a hallway can be a place where characters finally meet, reconcile or reveal themselves, not only where they are cornered.
By gathering 20 such scenes together, the list makes the case that corridor sequences are as central to film language as more obviously iconic locations like city skylines or open roads. The Guardian’s approach is to let the specificity of each scene carry that argument, rather than laying out a formal theory.
Timed to the release of Backrooms
The Guardian explicitly ties the list to the upcoming release of Backrooms, a horror film that, by its title and premise, is expected to focus heavily on liminal interior spaces. The feature positions its 20 corridor scenes as a way for readers to revisit how filmmakers have used similar environments in the past.
By publishing the list in advance of Backrooms, the Guardian is effectively offering a curated watchlist for viewers interested in how a simple hallway can be made frightening, funny or strangely comforting. The mention of Backrooms appears in the introduction as a time peg, giving the list a clear moment in the current film calendar.
What this list offers viewers
The Guardian’s corridor feature is not presented as a definitive canon so much as a guided tour through a specific visual idea. Its inclusion of a scene like the Grosse Pointe Blank corridor fight signals that the list is interested in tonal range as much as in pure horror.
For readers, the piece offers at least three things: a set of concrete film recommendations built around a clear theme; a reminder that small, often overlooked spaces can carry major emotional weight on screen; and a lens through which to approach new releases such as Backrooms.
By focusing on a single architectural feature and tracing it through 20 films, the Guardian encourages viewers to pay closer attention the next time a character steps into a long, narrow hallway and the camera follows. The list suggests that, in cinema, a corridor is rarely just a way from one room to another. It is often where the story tightens, choices narrow and something essential is revealed.
