I love watching movies and I love making mazes and labyrinths. You might not think so, but there is a good amount of overlap between the two. Mazes have been popping up as plot devices in movies since they were first being made. Want to create tension for your characters ? Get them lost in a maze being chased by a villain. Sometimes characters need a challenge to overcome to get to their destination, so how about solving a puzzle or series of puzzles like a maze. Each of these scenarios play themselves out in the list below, plus a few more.
When I set out to compile a list of maze movies I never realized how great many of the movies would actually be. I created an entire movie section on this site which currently has over 70 movie reviews. I had trouble getting the list down to the 12 best, but it is clear that a few movies stand out. Many of these are available to stream for free, and for up-to-date streaming options I suggest you checkout justwatch. Let’s get to the movies !
The 12 Best Movies Containing Mazes or Labyrinths:
This classic 1970’s martial arts movie set a high standard before special effects took the genre to a new level. Considered by many (including IMDB) Bruce Lee’s best movie. it was released in the US just a few weeks after his untimely death. The movie follows Lee as he tries to infiltrate and investigate a man named Han’s inner circle during a martial arts tournament that Han holds on his island. What gets the movie on this list is the final fight scene which takes place in a mirror maze (more of a mirror room). Fighting in a mirror maze definitely raises the degree of difficulty ! SPOILER : Below is the final fight scene, with the mirror room starting around 2:45 in.
11. Cube (1997) IMDB Prime Video
6 strangers wake-up in a giant cube shaped maze that is bobby trapped and trying to kill them. They don’t know why they are there or how they got there but they know they need to try and escape. Are they making the right or wrong choice as they choose each passageway ? Only one way to find out. Now this is some maze horror ! Eventually this became a trilogy, but I suggest you skip #2 and go to the final instalment, Cube Zero if you want answers to the why and who of the Cube.
10. Dave Made A Maze (2017) IMDB Prime Video
Dave builds a cardboard fort in his living room. It looks small from the outside, but once you enter it gets much, much larger. Dave gets lost. Dave’s friends join him against his advice to stay outside. Now everyone is lost. To return to civilization they need to band together and escape the cardboard maze. Destined to be a cult classic. Also we have an appearance of a minotaur in the maze !
9. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) IMDB Prime Video
A young boy is born with a sense of smell more powerful than anyone in human history. With it he obsessively works to create the perfect perfume. Unfortunately, that includes some secret ingredients that are against the law. Of course, he finds some of these ingredients when they are lost in a hedge maze. It gets very weird multiple times at the end, but you can’t say it’s something you’ve seen before ! And that's why the movie made the list, for the original story.
Time Bandits is a 1981 film written and directed by Terry Gilliam. Yes, the same Terry Gilliam of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Meaning of Life, Brazil, 12 Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This movie would best be described as a time travel fantasy film with a Monty Python feel to it. Very British. This is a movie full of imagination and fun storytelling. And about 80 minutes into the movie we have a maze ! The maze appears during a game show sequence that is a trap Evil (the bad guy) has set to steal the map from the dwarves.
7. The Lady From Shanghai (1947) IMDB Prime Video
Rita Hayworth plays a vixen that gets director/actor Orson Welles mixed up in a murder plot in this film-noir classic. They find themselves caught in a fun-house mirror maze in a key plot moment that involves gunshots…if they can find what they are shooting at ! Bonus points for making the maze so important to the story ! One of the few maze films that involves a funhouse mirror maze but is not a horror film.
6. Dark City (1998) IMDB Prime Video
Dark is definitely the best way to describe this city and this movie. An underrated fantasy sci-fi movie where a city is stuck in perpetual night. Our main character is wanted for murder, can’t remember his past, and is being pursued by some creepy guys called The Strangers. As he travels in the city, trying to find information about his life and what is happening he witnesses the cities buildings and structure changing, creating a maze of the city. We also have a conflicted doctor (played by Kiefer Sutherland) who does city experiments using a mouse in a spiral maze that is shaped like the city. And everything leads to Shell Beach. It will not surprise you that the director, Alex Proyas, also brought us the dark and mysterious The Crow.
5 . Ready Player One (2018) IMDB Prime Video
Steven Spielberg directed this great movie from the best selling book. In the year 2045 a virtual reality world called the OASIS can be won by the person who can find a series of Easter Eggs hidden in the virtual world. To find the Easter Eggs you need to solve puzzles (some maze like) using details about pop culture from the past (our present). With cameos by over 120 characters this movie is one you can watch again and again and never see all the hidden cameos. Oh, and did you notice the Ready Player One logo is a MAZE ! You start from the initial R and work your way to the center of the O.
Ready Player One Logo Maze
4. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) IMDB Prime Video
In 1944 Spain a young girl escapes a world at war by escaping into a fantasy world at the center of a secret underground labyrinth. The girl meets a faun (totally normal) who takes her to the center of the labyrinth. She learns she can become an immortal princess in this fantasy world but must prove herself first by completing 3 tasks. Winner of 3 Oscars (Best Achievement in Cinematography, Art Direction, and Makeup) and over 100 movie awards. Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro this movie is always ranked in the top 250 list of IMDB.
3. Prisoners (2013) IMDB Prime Video
A man (Hugh Jackman) tries to hunt down his 6 year old daughter and her friend who have been abducted. As he gets closer to the suspected abductor he finds a man obsessed with making mazes (I do not support this premise). Can he find the children in time to keep them safe ? A really tense thriller I highly recommend. Directed by the visionary Denis Villeneuve (Dune, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049), this movie makes the IMDB top 250 movie list of all time.
2. Inception (2010) IMDB Prime Video
At the time of this writing this is the highest rated Science-Fiction movie of all-time on IMDB. A group of thieves go into dreams to steal corporate ideas from the minds of people. This time they need to plant an idea in a CEO’s head during a dream (what they call an inception). To do this they will need to circumvent the maze of subconscious dream worlds they’ve created - a dream world within a dream world within a dream world. Sounds like that will be easy to execute. And the ending !!! Thank you Christopher Nolan for this masterpiece !
And the #1 Maze movie is…..going to be revealed after these honorable mention maze movies that didn’t quite make the cut. We have 3 horror movies, 3 fantasy movies and 2 animated movies. All are worth a look, but none made my final list beyond this honorable mention shoutout.
The Maze Runner (2014) IMDB Prime Video . A group of boys with no memory are placed in a maze.
Labyrinth (1986) IMDB Prime Video . A girl must solve a labyrinth to rescue her baby brother from a goblin.
The Collection (2012) IMDB Prime Video A man tries to save a girl from a serial killer and his maze-like warehouse.
Us (2019) IMDB Prime Video. A young child wanders into a funhouse mirror maze during a beach vacation, where she sees herself? or a doppelganger inside…
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) IMDB Prime Video Harry must complete 3 challenges, with the third being a huge maze to win a tournament.
Tales from the Crypt (1972) IMDB Prime Video 5 strangers get lost in a maze like crypt.
Alice in Wonderland (1951) IMDB AMAZON Alice visits wonderland and finds herself in a hedge maze garden where living playing cards are painting roses.
How to Train Your Dragon (2010) IMDB Prime Video Viking kids learn to train dragons in a maze.
Maze movie posters
And the best maze movie is…
1. The Shining (1980) IMDB Prime Video
One of the best horror movies of all time is also one of the best movies of all time. Stanley Kubrick as the director of a Stephen King best selling book with Jack Nicholson as the lead character….Yes please ! A writer takes a job as a caretaker of a secluded hotel that is closed for the Winter with his wife and young son joining him. Oh, did I mention the hotel is also haunted ? As the writer’s mental state deteriorates, his wife and son try to leave but he won’t let them. Can they escape a secluded hotel in the middle of winter ? I would try using the hedge maze outside….just a thought. If you want to explore the symbolism in the film check out the documentary Room 237.
At the time of this writing most of these are available to stream online. My favorite site to check what is streaming where is Justwatch. Now, make some popcorn and sit back and enjoy the show ! I also suggest you check out the top maze movie posters of all time.
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Watchmojo YouTube video on maze movie scenes !
How to Make a Maze - website section with over 40 different How-tos
