The Top 18 Movies Containing Mazes or Labyrinths

I love watching movies and I love making mazes. 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. When I set out to compile a list of maze movies I never realized how great the movies would actually be. I think you’ll agree. For a sortable spreadsheet of all the movies containing mazes and labyrinths that I have reviewed on this site (there are over 120), here is the link to the google sheet.

Here are my top 18 favorite movies containing mazes (IN RANDOM ORDER):

1 . Ready Player One (2018) IMDB

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 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

2. Inception (2010) IMDB

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 !!!

3. The Shining (1980) IMDB

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.

4. Prisoners (2013) IMDB

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.

5. Cube (1997) IMDB

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 !

6. The Maze Runner (2014) IMDB

So you wake up with no memory of your past trapped with others just like you in an enclosed environment. Well, not completely enclosed. There is a maze surrounding you patrolled by cyborgs you need to go thru to escape. You get the chance to solve the maze each morning when a large door opens. That same door closes each night, and if you get stuck in the maze overnight, you die. You don’t know why you’re there or who put you there. Escaping the maze seems like the right move…run.

7. Labyrinth (1986) IMDB

Jim Henson, Lucasfilm and David Bowie collaborated on this fantasy movie. A teenage girl is angrily babysitting her younger baby brother and wishes he would be taken away. The Goblin King grants the wish and takes the brother. Her only way to get him back is to solve a Labyrinth in 13 hours or her brother will permanently become a goblin in this weird fantasy world. Includes a wonderful tribute to MC Escher.

8. The Collection (2012) IMDB

After escaping from a serial killer known as The Collector a man is sent back to the serial killer’s hideout to rescue a kidnapped girl. The only problem is that hideout is a booby trapped maze he needs to get thru to save the girl. Can he save her in time ? Another nice horror maze movie.

9. Dave Made A Maze (2017) IMDB

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. You haven’t seen this, and maybe you don’t THINK you want to see this, BUT YOU NEED TO SEE THIS. Destined to be a cult classic circa 2035. Possibly 2037.

10. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) IMDB

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 and over 100 movie awards.

11. The Lady From Shanghai (1947) IMDB

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 ! One of the few maze films that involves a funhouse mirror maze but is not a horror film.

12. The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) IMDB

The ninth James Bond film. A professional assassin with a golden gun charges a million dollars per kill. He trains against other assassins in a room that is set-up like a fun-house, including multiple mirror mazes (and in the opening sequence !). Can Bond find him and spoil his current plot ?

13. Us (2019) IMDB

Jordan Peele knows how to make an interesting horror film. A young girl wanders off from the amusement park on the beach and enters a deserted fun house. When the lights go out she tries to exit, but the mirror maze makes it difficult for her to find her way. Oh, and so does the girl in the mirror. And that’s when you know this thing is about to get sinister.

14. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) IMDB

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 !

15. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) IMDB

The fourth Harry Potter movie/book. At one point Harry and his other competitors(champions) in the Triwizard Tournament are stuck in a hedge maze for part 3 of the tournament. A very active hedge maze that seems to be alive. Harry must escape to move forward.

16. The Maze (1953) IMDB

The film deserves to be included despite being of slightly lower quality than the other movies for 2 main reasons: 1) The title is The Maze so it definitely qualifies 2) The movie starts with shots of the hedge maze that is central to the entire story. That story is of a Scotsman who moves into a castle that has an adjoining hedge maze. There is only one rule for the maze - do not enter it. Which means of course you are going to enter it. I’m sure everything will be fine…right ? You can give it a watch here.

17. Muppets from Space (1999) IMDB

Not the best Muppet film, but this one is led by Gonzo instead of Kermit and the main supporting actor…uh…supporting Muppet is Rizzo the Rat. Now during a key scene Rizzo gets captured by the bad guys and gets put into a cage with lab rats. I should have said Spoiler before that. My Bad. Anyway the lab rats are put into a rat maze during the next scene.

18. It Chapter 2 (2019) IMDB

The newest movie on the list. The Losers Club is called home 27 years after their encounter with Pennywise in Derry, Maine. He seems to be in a very bad mood. Eventually we have a few characters stuck in a fun-house mirror maze with the sadistic clown Pennywise. And things get intense. Running in a mirror maze is a BAD IDEA.

Now if you are like me, and you probably aren’t, because we are all different and special in our own way. Anyway, If you are like me you are going to head to your local library to check these out for free. At the time of this writing a few 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 ! Want to know what the best maze movie posters are ? I’ve got you covered !

Additional Posts you would like:

YouTube playlist of the 18 best maze movie trailers

The Top 12 Maze and Labyrinth Movies of all time

A Collection of over 120 Maze movie reviews

The Name Maze Project

Every section of the Doyoumaze website has a story. Today I tell you about the Name maze section of the website. (If you are just interested in HOW to make a maze of your name, I have that covered.) I thought people would enjoy seeing their name in maze form - a kind of personalized maze. If you want to do this on your own click on the link above, otherwise we continue on… Maybe it was my time in corporate America but I think these mazes would look good on a cubicle wall. And they are fun to make. I also thought they would make a nice gift. Print out a friends name and write a note thanking them for being amazing (or maybe a-maze-ing). Now the story of how I went about actually making the name mazes. Here were the stages I went through:

Stage 1 - Names of my Close Friends and Family

Initially I started out as anyone would making my close friends and family members names. That got me to 6 mazes….ok maybe a few more,. Let’s say about 25 mazes. I added these to the website and felt pretty good. Now if they visited my website I had the important people done.

Stage 2 - The Ten Most Popular Male and Female Names

I did a quick search for the 10 most popular names for Men and Women. This is where I found out the Top 10 Men’s names in the United States represent 23% of all Men’s names ( James, John, Robert, Michael, William, David, Richard, Charles, Joseph, and Thomas) and for Women the Top 10 represent 10.7% of all Women’s names (Mary, Patricia, Linda, Barbara, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Maria, Susan, Margaret, Dorothy). I thought it was interesting that the Men’s name database has 1200 different names while the Women’s name database has 4,275 names !!! I later realized this was partly because men have more standard name spellings than women (like Katherine & Catherine & Katharine & Kathryn).

At this point I could display all maze name images directly on the website (and not the name listings you see today).

Stage 3 - My LinkedIn Connections Names

I have approximately 460 connections on LinkedIn. I thought it would be nice to make a maze for each connection. The best part about this project was that I got to think about each person as I made their maze. The people I have lost touch with. My old co-workers from previous jobs. I have to admit, this was a very rewarding project simply because of this process. This project added 302 more unique names to the maze name section. I would like to thank the following names for being popular among my connections:

Michael and Michelle - 8 connections each

Brian, Rachel and Rick - 6 connections each

David, Greg, Jason, Jennifer, Mary and Richard - 5 connections each

Now, if you ask me to connect on LinkedIn you’ll have a much better chance if you have a (short) common name. Website wise this is where I had to take down the pictures of each maze name and use the name listing version you see today. Because once you have so many names, if you want the page to load quickly lots of images is not helping anyone.

Stage 4 - Close variations of Existing Names

If I make Richard, it is easy to make Ricardo. Debbie became Deb. Douglas became Doug. Frank became Fran. etc. Close variations added about 100 more name mazes to the portfolio.

Stage 5 - Top 100 Male/Female Names

I decided that with so many names done I wanted to see how many of the top 100 Men’s/Women’s names I had already mazed. The answer was 134. Since there were only 66 more names (out of the 200 names) that needed to be made I went ahead and finished all of them.

Stage 6 - Top 200 Male/Female Names

Well, I might as well keep going right……I added 132 more names (out of the 200) when this was complete. As I finished this up I found these statistics about how many US names I had covered with the project:

The top 200 Male names represent 72.5% of men’s names.

The top 200 Female names represent 58.2% of women’s names.

Plus I have 262 names not in the top 200 from the previous Stages 1-4. So I think I’m pretty well covered as a % of total US names. The final tally of name mazes ended up being 662…and growing. If you have a name I have not done yet, you can always request it here.

UPDATE:

Stage 7 - Top 300 Male /Female Names

I researched the next 200 overall names (thru #300) and I already had 52 of them on the site. That leaves 148 to make if I take this on, names like Agnes and Cecil. I completed this and along the way added in a few other similar names…+164 names…new total 826 !!!

Stage 8 - Regional names page - “The Land”

I decided to create a Cleveland names page. This added 57 additional names to the project, including some unique ones that everyone knows like LeBron, Kyrie, Zydrunas, Halle, Stipe, Urban, and Dolph. This is the first time I used colors other than black and white for these special edition name mazes. New total 883.

Stage 9 - Top European names

I went with Europe since they have names most closely related to our own but with nice variety. I used the top 10 lists I found online for Europe by country for both men and women. Not every name was done but this did add 161 new names and I broke the 1,000 barrier. You can thank Turkey for Zeynep and Slovenia for Zala. New total 1,044.

Stage 10 - Top Americas and Oceanic names

Kept with the International theme but felt like I needed to break it into parts. Again, like Europe I did not do every name in each top 10, just the most recognizable and any that appeared in multiple countries. I was very happy to add my first X name thanks to Mexico, Ximena. Haiti brought us Widelene and Peru gave us Milagros. I added 94 with this project. New total 1,138.

Stage 11 - Top African Names

I learned that South Africa has a thing for names like Blessing, Prince, Princess, and Faith. Also was able to add 4 “Y” names to the 6 I already had and another Z name. Overall Africa brought an additional 74 names. New total 1,212.

Stage 11.1 - National Bubba Day

National Bubba Day June 2nd meant an addition to the list, +1. New Total 1,213.

Stage 12 - Male names from Asia

Asia has such a wide variety of names I had to split it by gender. A mix of traditionally Muslim, Jewish and Asian names made this section varied as there was very little overlap between countries. There is also less overlap with traditional Christian names already on the site. We can thank China for short names like An, De and Yi. Our new first name alphabetically Aarav comes from India. Shout out to Pakistan for Zahid. And more “Y” Names, +6 from 10 before. Overall I added 126 additional names . New total 1.339.

Stage 13 - Female names from Asia

The second half of Asia added 108 new names. This included 2 Q’s, 5 X’s, 8 Y’s and 4 Z’s. I also added 13 names with dashes in them. Most of these names are ones I was unfamiliar with and they are all top ten in Asian countries….can’t imagine what an uncommon name is !!!! New total 1,447.

Stage 14 - Names from Movies

In an experiment to find more names to add to the website I decided to use the character names from movies I was watching until I generated at least 50 new names. I wondered how many movies I would need to watch before I hit 50. The answer was 24 movies !! Here are the movies I watched and the names that came from them:

The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). Big Jake (1971). The Gunfighter (1950). The Westerner (1940). Lonely Are The Brave (1962). High Sierra (1941). The Defiant Ones (1958). Days of Wine and Roses (1962). Night of The Iguana (1964). They Shoot Horses Don’t They (1969). A Woman is a Woman (1961). Bloody Sunday (2002). Lovers of The Arctic Circle (1998). Tyrannosaur (2011). Dark Places (2015). Reign of the Supermen (2019). The Commitments (1991). Three Identical Strangers (2018). O Lucky Man ! (1973). Secondhand Lions (2003). Missing (1982). Suddenly Last Summer (1959). Seconds (1966). Adam’s Rib (1949).

Stage 15 - Name requests by readers

It was a long time between updates, but site visitors kept me busy throughout the year. Name mazes are always fun because I tend to get non-Western names since most of those are already covered on the site. New names added by request include Sadat, Farhan, Rehan, Protha and Fahim. And of course I always like to learn a new Z name like Zasia and Zarif. Overall I added 43 names from requests during this time frame.

Stage 16 - Dating Site name mining

I used a dating site, set the location to worldwide and picked the first 50 New names I did not have on the site. The worldwide search really gave me some diverse names. Eishah, Fyokla, Jamuna, Kaisa, Kia, Lupine, Miu, Neta, Rea, Remi, Shalina, Tiana, Yu, Yuko and Zsu all were added this way. I also captured some new calendar names with Summer, Autumn and May (June, August and April were already on the site). And of course if you add Dagny you need to add Ayn (it’s a rule). Overall with some spelling variations this added 58 new names to the site.

Stage 17 - Popular Names from Mexico

I want to continue to add more international names and Mexico seemed like a logical choice. Many names are spelling variations on existing names with an O or A added or an E becoming IO (Leonard became Leonardo, Marc became Marco, Maurice became Mauricio, and Justin became Justina for example) . Also there were a large number of Hispanic names already on the site from the Top 300 males/female US names. I was surprised I was missing Juana, Marco, Margarita and Arturo. This added 38 new names.

Stage 18 - Popular Names from India

I have been watching a lot of Bollywood movies and I notice so many new names. So I researched Indian names and found a list broken into 2 categories, Hindu, and Muslim. This gave me a nice long list of names to add ! My favorite section was when I added Tanisha, Manisha, Anisha, Nisha, and Isha. I just kept dropping one letter ! Anyway, I had gone 5 steps without adding any V names, but that was changed during this step with 3 new ones, Vinod, Vikash and Vijay ! I also added Zaid and Zuhaib to give the Z’s some love. Overall this added 59 new names to the website !

Stage 19 - Names I was surprised I missed

I ran the query for additional names that are not yet on the website for the next 100 male/female names and selected 12 names each that I was surprised have never made it onto the site. Surprised because I know people with the names or just because I thought they were more popular and already on there. Usually I don’t list every name I added in a section, but this time is an exception. I grouped them into these categories: Names of people I know, Evan, Stuart, Rudy, Lindsay, Lindsey, Joanna, Monique, Opal, and Sheryl. Popular names I missed: Blake, Devin, Damon, Dominic, Edmund, Grant, Homer, Neal, Rex, Brandi, Harriet, Lynda, Maggie, Natasha, and Whitney. AND THEN I said how about a few more and I added 16 more…

STAGE 20 - Name requests by readers (2024)

I keep a running list of name mazes that have been requested for the website. I like to to see where the names come from and see if I am missing any particular region. Here are the names I added starting in the Spring of 2024 until now, number’s 2002 to 2087 on the site. A few teachers had me create mazes for the students in their classrooms. Thank you to everyone who helped me add a name to the site !

Here is the list of names added with the countries where it is most popular !

Aaliyah (US); Alivia (US, India); Amaria (Algeria); Anessa (US); Archer (US, Barbados); Archie (US); Arelia (Mexico); Asher (Isreal); Atik (Indonesia); Atilla (Turkey); Avery (US); Baba (Nigeria, India); Babakan (India); Babe (Mauritania); Bailey (US); Bash (Nigeria); Bennie (US); Boyd (Zambia, US); Brandt (US); Breanna (US); Brigham (US); Brooks (US); Bryson (US); Chinyere (Nigeria); Christen (US, Denmark); Colm (Ireland); Danica (Serbia, Montenegro); Delvin (Kenya, US) - interesting that this is a female name in Kenya and a male name in the US; Demilade (Nigeria); Emmet (US); Emory (US); Favour (Nigeria); Fedal (Turkey, Iran); Fiorella (Italy); Gohan (India); Gwen (US); Habilin (Indonesia); Haniya (Isreal); Hudson (Brazil); Huntley (Jamaica, US); Jethro (Phillipines,Zimbabwe); Kavya (India); Kaylee (US); Keerthana (India, Sri Lanka); Kenslee (Papua New Guinea); Kittie (US); Lincoln (Brazil, Jamaica, Liberia); Lissy (India); Madelyn (Philippines); Madison (US); Mariano (Mexico, Argentina); McKensie (US); McKenzie (US); Melody (US, Philippines); Miles (US); Miliano (Brazil); Missy (US); Nash (US); Oakley (US); Olukorede (Nigeria); Pierson (US); Pranav (India); Rawan (Egypt, Qatar); Rebekah (US); Retno (Indonesia); Ruthie (US); Ryder (US); Safaa (Egypt); Sanvi (Togo, India); Savannah (US); Selah (US); Seua (india); Sharla (US); Sid (Algeria, Mauritania); Tasha (US); Taylon (Brazil); Tilly (Netherlands); Tobias (Germany); Waylon (US); Wrigley (US); Xavier (France); Yaser (Egypt, Bahrain); Zia (Pakistan, Afgahnistan); Zuri (Mexico, India).

Other posts you may like:

What I use to make my mazes

10 Places Where you can Buy Spectacular Maze Art

The Surprising Benefits of Solving Mazes

Maze Solving Case study - Using the reverse fill solving method

I asked the audience which of the 4 maze solving options they used when they solved a maze. The overwhelming majority (in early results, but I do not expect them to change) use a writing utensil for standard physical mazes. If they are solving on a screen they use their eyes. Let’s review the 4 types I laid out:

4 Most Common maze solving options

• With a writing utensil - probably the most common way to solve a drawn maze. You have a maze printed out or in a book in front of you and you grab a pen or pencil and solve using it. Makes the maze a one time use unless you have an eraser that does a good job and doesn’t harm the paper too much

• With your finger - you use your finger as a guide to work your way through the maze and solve it. This method allows multiple people to solve the same maze

• With your eyes - my personal most common maze solving method. Works for most maze types, although you need to add in a more comprehensive method for any spiral maze.

• Reverse fill with a writing utensil - a method I used to use because I liked the way it looked. You use a pen / pencil and start at dead ends, filling each in until you reach a new branch. Eventually this leaves only the correct path NOT filled in, creating a reverse solve !

And now let’s look a a maze solved using the reverse fill method. The best type of maze to use this for is the hidden message maze, because what you are left with when it is solved is a fun message !

The big test for a maze maker is about to take place. I have made a hidden message maze. If I have made it well, you do not know what it says by looking at it…Take some time…Do you know what it says ?

So, I am hoping you do not know what that says yet. Here is where I put in a large block so it is more difficult to get any hints from your eyes naturally looking ahead and seeing the answer. The first answer I will show is using the most common method of using a writing utensil to solve the maze (in this case it is actually done by a digital pencil).

So did you get it correct? Solving in the normal way gives us a hidden maze message of “MISS YOU”.

Now, let’s start with a reverse fill solve and see what it looks like. For my example I wanted to show you the start of the reverse solve, shown with each incorrect branch being a different color so you can more easily see what is happening. Starting in the bottom left corner of the maze, I found a dead end and began filling it in completely until I reached an intersection, where I stop. Then I find another dead end and do the same. If I come to an intersection and have filled in the other path that branches off from it, I have essentially created another dead end to fill in ! Here is what the first 15 dead ends look like filled in (each in a different color).

Using that dead end fill-in method will eventually leave you with the only paths left being those that are the solution ! This is a long process, but one that gives you a much different look when you finish solving the maze ! Here is what the hidden maze looks like reverse solved:

So, if you are bored, or have a new full ink pen and want to solve a maze in a new way….try the reverse fill method.

PRO TIP: How do you think you could use this solving method best ? Well, start in the middle of the page between the start and the goal. Now evaluate the shortest distance from wall to wall. In a square shaped maze this will not matter, but in this example, the rectangle, you will want to look for dead ends in the center moving from the north/south walls since they are the shortest distance from the center.

What are you trying to accomplish ? You are trying to break the maze into 2 sections, the east/west side of the maze, or the north/south. If you find the correct location of the center pathway, you have essentially now made the maze into 2 sections with a center checkpoint. This makes the maze much easier to solve. I used LONG dead ends in the hidden, message maze above, so let’s try an easier maze with this new knowledge:

Since it is a long rectangle we want to cut this in 2 mazes, north/south.

And here is what it looks like after a few dead ends are reverse solved:

Happy maze solving !

Maze design posts that may interest you:

How to Create Maze Art in 6 Easy Steps + Case Study

Maze Art: Advanced Tips to Creating Your Own Masterpiece

Case Study#9 - Improving a Maze - Taj Mahal

Maze Comic Book Cover #110 - Olly Olly

Issue #110 in my comic book cove collection features the maze of an Oxen and is titled Olly Olly with a subtitle of Free. I used a new font for this. I hope you enjoy the maze !

My comic book cover mazes are archived by year:

Comic Book Cover Mazes - Year 1 (Issues #1 - 53)

Comic Book Cover Mazes - Year 2 (Issues# 54 -105)

Comic Book Cover Mazes - Year 3 (Issues #106 - )

Seems like an interesting character.