Film

The Den

Name: The Den
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Released: 2013
Cast: Melanie Papalia, Matt Riedy, David Schlachtenhaufen, Adam Shapiro, Matt Lasky

The Den traps you in a webcam apartment during the early 2010s, watching a grad student accidentally witness a murder livestreamed from the internet's dark corners. What starts as a curiosity becomes immediate, claustrophobic terror as the killer finds her. Shot almost entirely through screens—your laptop becomes the frame—it's immersive and disorienting, like surveillance becoming a genre.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like slow-burn paranoia built from a single room, a glowing screen, and the feeling that someone is always watching back.

Skip it if you need horror loud and fast, since this one trades jolts for long stretches of watching people stare at glowing screens and type.

What it asks of you: Confined to one apartment and its screens, it runs under eighty minutes at a patient clip and wants you reading the edges of the frame.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Unfriended2014

A teenager is stalked and killed through her laptop by a vengeful ghost, all told through her desktop screen. The premise sounds gimmicky but the escalation is genuinely nasty, and the format stops feeling like a trick.

But The acting can feel stilted when everyone's supposed to be typing and video-chatting. By the midpoint the logic wobbles.

Searching2018

A father hunts his missing daughter entirely through browser windows, search results, and social media. It's a grief story disguised as a thriller, with real emotion buried in the interface. Genuinely moving.

But The first half is deliberately slow as you piece together a normal life. It's a patient film and some will find it too restrained.

Cam2018

A cam worker discovers a perfect copy of herself streaming from her account, stealing her audience and her life. Body horror meets identity theft in the gig economy. Weird, thoughtful, and seriously unsettling.

But It leans into surrealism in the second half. If you want grounded terror, the abstract turn will frustrate you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Den

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Host2020

Both use the limitation of a single screen as the horror itself. In The Den, the internet is surveillance. In Host, it's a séance portal. The boundary between screens and reality is the killing field.

A Zoom séance during lockdown goes catastrophically wrong as six friends accidentally contact something hostile. Shot during the actual pandemic, it captures isolation-era dread while being a genuine ride. Seventy-eight minutes of pure momentum.

But It's minimalist by necessity—a pandemic film shot in real apartments. If you need production value and scale, this will feel cheap even when it's resourceful.

Insidious2011

A son falls into a coma and his parents realize he's trapped in a dark dimension. The mythology unfolds gradually and the scares arrive like clockwork, but there's real dread underneath.

But By the franchise's fourth film it's recycling itself. This first one holds up, but it's built on jump scares and loud strings.

Sinister2012

A true-crime writer discovers 8mm footage of ritual murders tied to a supernatural entity. The found footage within the film is genuinely horrifying and the tension builds methodically into something bleak.

But The pace is glacial in the middle. You're waiting for payoff longer than some will tolerate.

Hush2016

A deaf author, alone in her home, is stalked by a killer outside her window. The silence becomes the movie. It's a masterclass in spatial horror and economy of scares.

But It's home invasion and that particular dread isn't for everyone. Some will find it too stripped-down, too functional.

It Follows2015

A teenage girl is cursed after sex—something supernatural slowly walks toward her, always. The premise sounds absurd but the execution is hypnotic. A genuinely original property in a tired genre.

But It moves deliberately and the threat is conceptual rather than visceral. Horror by mood rather than shock.

The Wailing2016

A South Korean village is gripped by a plague of madness and violence. A grieving father tries to stop it, but nothing is what it seems. Mythological, complex, endlessly rewatchable.

But It's two hours forty-five minutes and refuses to clarify its ending. The ambiguity is the point, but some find it maddening instead.

Martyrs2008

Two women track down the people who tortured one of them as a child, seeking revenge. Brutal, philosophical, uncommon in its willingness to go where it says it will go.

But It's genuinely difficult to watch. Not exploitation, but unflinching. If extreme violence breaks your immersion, skip it.

Marble Hornets2009

Both predate the modern glitch-horror boom and both understand that the internet itself can be the haunted house. Corrupted footage as a threat. Digital decay as dread.

An unfound YouTube series from the early creepypasta era. A college student documents someone following him through a series of deliberately corrupted, fragmented video clips. Eerie, innovative for its time, and genuinely disorienting.

But It's an artifact of 2010s internet culture. The production is deliberately degraded and the pacing is experimental, not narrative. Patience required; payoff is atmospheric, not plot-driven.

Possum2018

Both trap their protagonists in isolation with something that responds to them. The Den: digital isolation becomes physical targeting. Possum: psychological isolation becomes domestic horror. Both understand that confinement—physical or digital—can be a character.

A man returns to his hometown with a disturbing puppet he can't bring himself to destroy. It's a psychological horror film about shame and transgression, almost a folk tale. Hypnotic and horrible and strange.

But It's slow and abstract. The horror is internal and metaphorical. If you need external threats and clear conflict, this will feel oblique and frustrating.