I recently included Doric (Sophia Lillis) from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) on a list of underrated shapeshifters and mentioned much I love the sustained chase scene which shows off her abilities. Although that scene wasn’t actually filmed in one go—it’s a few takes seamlessly stitched together—it still creates the impact that such shots often provide: instant immersion, tension, and propulsion.
A well-placed and well-executed long take can really elevate the action and/or emotion of a scene. The iconic, brutal hallway fight in Oldboy (2003), for instance, is utterly relentless, while the 92-minute movie Boiling Point (2021) feels so chaotically frenetic due to being filmed in one continuous take. But this list will focus on the sci-fi and horror genres—here are six of my favorite examples from both movies and TV shows. (Please note that I’ve tried to avoid spoiling any of the films/episodes below, but the video clips for each entry may include spoilers for those who haven’t seen the works under discussion.)
Children of Men (2006)
Set in 2027, Children of Men takes place in a world where infertility has plagued the human race for almost two decades, leading to serious unrest as humanity gradually tapers out. Director Alfonso Cuarón makes great use of long takes throughout the movie, with this filming style lending an incredible level of verisimilitude to the bleak dystopian world.
The car chase long take—which follows five people driving to a safe house out in the English countryside—deserves special mention. The scene unfolds over about four minutes, beginning with regular chatter and an endearing moment of reconnection between main character Theo (Clive Owen) and his estranged wife, Julian (Julianne Moore). The camera—which is inside the car for the majority of the scene—then swings around to show a burning car careening out of the woods to block off the road. As a gang of armed assailants attack the now frantically reversing car, the camera pivots to capture the various characters’ reactions to the surrounding chaos.
As well as being pulse-poundingly intense, the real time chase is also technically impressive and I immediately wanted to know how exactly it was filmed in such an enclosed space. Thankfully, there’s a video on YouTube which explains how the filmmakers managed it.
The Vast of Night (2019)
It’s one thing to pull off technically impressive long shots on a big movie budget, but it’s another thing entirely for a small independent film, such as The Vast of Night, to master such a feat. Set in the 1950s in a small New Mexico town, the film follows a young switchboard operator, Fay (Sierra McCormick), and a radio DJ, Everett (Jake Horowitz), as they try to track down the source of a mysterious—and possibly alien—sound.
The movie’s most impressive long take is a jaw-dropping, town-spanning shot that clocks in at a little over four minutes (although it’s actually a few shots stitched together). The camera starts with Fay at the switchboard and then zooms down the town’s streets and across fields before working its way through a packed basketball game at the high school and then finally ending up with Everett at the radio station.
The sheer amount of ground covered in this shot is staggering, but aside from being a technical marvel (the camera was smoothly handed off to multiple operators and a go-kart was involved!), it also perfectly establishes the setting of the film: the small sleepy town of Cayuga. Aside from building atmosphere, the fact that the majority of the residents are gathered in one place becomes relevant later in the film.
One Cut of the Dead (2017)
The award for longest take on this list goes to One Cut of the Dead, which begins with a 37-minute unbroken shot (which is why we’ve embedded the trailer, here, rather than scene in question). Admittedly, the quality of those 37 minutes is patchy enough that I considered quitting the first time I watched it, but I urge you to see it through to the end because things go in a wildly unexpected direction and everything eventually makes sense. Once the credits roll, there’s even a good chance you’ll want to go back to rewatch those first 37 minutes.
The plot follows the filming of a low-budget zombie movie and the fictional director, Takayuki Higurashi (Takayuki Hamatsu), is so dedicated to completing the movie that he keeps the camera rolling even when real zombies suddenly attack the cast and crew. This movie really hinges on the element of surprise, so that’s all the plot you need to know before pressing play. While One Cut of the Dead is technically a zombie film, it puts a truly innovative spin on the genre—and beyond offering up a fresh take, it’s also absolutely hilarious.
Serenity (2005)
Serenity hit cinemas a few years after Firefly had wrapped on TV, so there was a good chance that a sizeable portion of the film’s audience wasn’t already going to know the characters. To efficiently remedy this, a long take is used right after the film’s opening title credit rolls. The titular spaceship is struggling to land and over the course of the next four-and-a-half minutes, we follow Captain Mal (Nathan Fillion) as he walks around the ship to speak to each crew member about whatever problem it is that they’re currently dealing with.
Each character gets a moment of introduction, but it never feels messy or overwhelming thanks to Mal acting as an anchor. Moreover, as we’re being introduced to the crew, having Mal move through the ship gives the audience a chance to get oriented with the interior of Serenity (which in itself feels like a character!). And for fans of Firefly, the immersive scene feels like an immediate welcome home.
Technically, there is a sneaky cut in the middle of the scene when Mal and Simon (Sean Maher) are bickering and head to the lower deck. It wasn’t possible to build one set on top of the other so two long takes had to be joined together.
“Triangle”, The X-Files (1998)
“Triangle” contains almost everything I want to see in an X-Files episode: Mulder punching Nazis! Mulder kind-of-but-not-really kissing Scully! Scully punching Mulder! The only thing that’s missing is a weird monster, but the filming style absolutely makes up for that.
The episode starts with Mulder (David Duchovny) being pulled from the sea by the crew of the Queen Anne, an ocean liner that mysteriously vanished in the Bermuda Triangle back in 1939. The ship has been boarded by Nazis and while Mulder runs around trying to foil their plans, Scully (Gillian Anderson) is in the present—1998—trying to find and rescue her recklessly confident partner.
Long takes are used throughout the episode, with various shots tracking Mulder around the ship (as in the clip above). But my personal favorite of these long takes is when we follow Scully around the FBI office as she tries to get information about Mulder’s location. Although her side of the story isn’t as action-packed, there’s something captivating about watching her storm through the building threatening whoever she needs to threaten in order to save Mulder. By not cutting away from Scully over the course of those 10 minutes, we get a real sense of not only her desperation, but also of her unstoppable drive.
“Two Storms”, The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
“Two Storms” plays out across two different locations in two different time periods. In the past, we follow the Crain family as a storm rolls over Hill House; in the present, a similar storm rages outside the funeral home where the family has reunited for the first time in years to mourn a death (I won’t reveal who dies!). The vast majority of the 53-minute episode is comprised of five long takes; three in the funeral home and two in Hill House, with the longest clocking in at 17 minutes and 19 seconds.
Director Mike Flanagan has spoken at length about how difficult it was to bring all of the moving parts together for the long takes. Of course, the actors had to bring their A-game and all of the camera’s movements were precisely blocked. But the rain and lightning effects of the storm were also meticulously timed and there were particular challenges with choreographing the supernatural effects (some of which were achieved through the use of a dummy, a double, and sneaky on-set passages). A makeshift elevator was even built to smoothly lower the camera from Hill House’s balcony to the ground floor.
All of that hard work was definitely worth the end result: The long takes serve to build the tension and heighten the emotions in each timeline. For instance, during an argument between the present-day Crains, the camera circles the characters and the constant movement intensifies the verbal sparring. Plus, the tracking shots through the titular house’s corridors and rooms make the building feel particularly cavernous and ominous.
I had a hard time narrowing this list down to just these six long takes, and I’ve had to leave out plenty of brilliant ones. Feel free to take to the comments to declare your love for Shaun’s hilariously oblivious walk to the shop and back in Shaun of the Dead (2004), or to wax lyrical about the three grittily realistic hallway fights in each season of Daredevil!
