The Top 12 Best Maze / Labyrinth Movies of all time

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:

12. Enter the Dragon (1973) IMDB AMAZON

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.

8. Time Bandits (1981) IMDB AMAZON

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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How to Make a Mobile Maze

The 43rd type of maze construction I will “how to” is the Mobile Maze. Like some of our other mazes, most notably, the Kids Maze, this type of maze can look many ways and have many different constructions, but it is still has distinct characteristics to properly execute ! Let’s define what a Mobile maze is then get into the step by step instructions !

Mobile Maze - A Maze designed specifically to be viewed and solved on a mobile device.

HOW TO MAKE A MOBILE MAZE

Step 1 - Choose the Maze construction

This seems like an odd Step 1, but it is correct. Similar to a Kids Maze, the Mobile Maze can be created dozens of different ways. Take a look at the How To Draw a Maze section and choose the look you prefer. You will actually be following THOSE sets of instructions while following some basic rules to make the maze look good on mobile ! Also note that some objects lend themselves to this maze construction - a giraffe would be good, as would a anything long.

Step 2 - Follow the instructions + add these rules

Follow the instructions of the maze construction you selected while adding these 2 rules:

1. Design the maze vertically using a 9:16 ratio or greater. The 9:16 ratio is the standard size for a mobile screen (you can read more about screen sizes below) . An easy way to think of this is that you want a maze about twice as high as the width. If you want a maze to be scrollable in order to be solved (this adds some difficulty !), try for a larger ratio like 1:4. What do I mean by that ? Well in a scrollable maze a dead end may be off the visible screen - in fact you might even design your maze with this in mind to make it more challenging !

WHAT A 9:16 RATIO LOOKS LIKE

2. Make pathways that are WIDE. This is a vague but important design feature. I find that a bit of testing is needed to get this just right. If you design digitally it can easily be adjusted (and this is for mobile, so I assume that it is) in order to have a maze that can be solved easily. For Grid based mazes (Grid Maze, Color Grid Maze, Arrow Maze, Block Move, etc.) the widest # of blocks I would suggest using is 5.

Let’s look at a few different Mobile Maze examples:

Here is an example of a Mobile Arrow Maze, that is a 5:13 ratio, and because it is an Arrow Maze, no pathway adjustments are needed ! Because the maze is long the solver cannot see the Goal when they start solving it !

And here is an example of a Mobile Grid Maze. Once again I used a 5:13 ratio. Notice how the pathways between grids are much thicker than usual. I more than doubled the normal width.

A Mobile Weaving Maze. 5:23 ratio, and with very wide pathways. I find that this construction needs more length than others to help establish more realistic false pathways. Still, this is a fun maze to make and solve in a mobile format.

And one more for fun. A Mobile Hidden Message Trail Maze. 5:18.

ADDITIONAL MOBILE MAZE EXAMPLES:

I have a section on the site of over 30 mobile mazes, that includes a free downloadable file of each of them (not really a book since the sizing is for mobile phones, and not for printing). And, although it does not have many words, if you prefer to read and solve laberintos en Español, tengo que aqui.

MAZE DESIGN BASED ON SCREEN SIZE:

Computer screen monitors vary in their aspect ratio, but most since 2012 are 16:9 (1.78), although through time they have varied from 1.25 to 1.60. So, yes, you are not imagining things, computers are getting wider. Some of you might even remember when televisions were a 4:3 aspect ratio (1.33) before they became much wider.

Most smartphones also happen to be a 16:9 (in landscape mode or 9:16 in portrait mode) which is convenient when you use landscape mode to watch YouTube or other videos on your phone. But when you are not watching videos, your phone is in portrait mode for just about everything else you use it for. Tablets have large range of ratios with many 4:3 like an old tv and some 16:10. This makes them a bit wider so that books get formatted as a priority over videos (you are reading with your tablet and not watching movies right ?).

So, when I make a maze for this website I am always thinking about how it will look on a large screen and how it will print on a standard size piece of paper (8.5x11) which is a 1.29 ratio. The mazes still look fine on a cellphone screen, but are not entirely solvable in most cases without zooming in to see the pathways more clearly. This means a lot more difficulty in maneuvering to solve a maze.

So when you make a maze those are the screens you might be making them for. And in this case, Mobile mazes you want to design for a 9:16 screen !

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Maze Design Case Study - Designing a Grid Maze in Different Difficulty levels

I wanted to do a case study showing how to create a maze in a few different difficultly levels. I thought the best way to illustrate this was to design a create a maze with a variety of different branch types included then have you solve them and compare how enjoyable each was for you to solve. Let’s jump into the example and you’ll see what I mean. (Hopefully).

• Example - Part 1. Please solve this small 10x10 grid maze. Yes this is an interactive example !

OK. Take note of how your experience was solving the maze. Did you enjoy it ? How quickly did you solve the maze ? Anything you did not like about the experience ? Did you find it to be enjoyable or frustrating ?

Now lets try this maze made on the same grid structure. We have 10x10 grid maze with the Start and Goal placed in the same locations.

• Example - Part 2. Please solve this small 10x10 grid maze.

I have the same questions for you as before. How was your experience was solving the maze ? Did you enjoy it ? How quickly did you solve the maze ? Anything you did not like about the experience ? Did you find it to be enjoyable or frustrating ?

An finally in Part 3 we will group 2 additional mazes together for evaluation. Same questions will apply.

• Example - Part 3. Please solve each of these small 10x10 grid mazes.

So what have we learned ? Before I go into some explanations on the design of each maze take a minute to hypothesize on what you think just happened. 4 similar mazes. Hopefully they gave you different experiences for you when you were solving them.

4 Maze Comparison - The Differences and Design Choices

• First, did you notice each maze has the same exact solution ? Mazes 2 & 3 have the inverse (or flipped) solution of mazes 1 & 4. So the solutions are essentially all equal.

• Each numbered maze should have gotten more difficult as the numbers increased (although with a small maze size this may have been somewhat less obvious)

• Maze 1 - Short dead ends. Incorrect paths do not have branches. Pathways are wide. Some paths are “filler” and unusable.

• Maze 2 - Longer dead ends. Incorrect paths do not have branches. Pathways normal width.

• Maze 3 - Long dead ends with additional branches off of them. Pathways slightly smaller.

• Maze 4 - Long dead ends with choices and branches off them. 4 way choices included. Small pathway widths.

So to summarize I used the following to change the difficulty of the 4 mazes:

• The length of dead ends - How fast you know you have made an incorrect choice

• Dead end branches - When you make a wrong turn are there multiple incorrect choices on that branch

• Expanded pathway choices - Some intersections have multiple choices

• Pathway widths - Smaller pathways are more difficult to see and navigate.

• Unusable pathways - Filler sometimes used to fill a maze out while keeping it at the desired difficulty level.

Let’s look at the pathways coded to show what I mean. The red line is the solution. The blue line is the false pathway. The purple line is an unusable pathway (Did you know some mazes use this ?)

What you need to notice in the below deconstructed mazes:

• Maze 1 - Thick pathways make this maze easier to solve. The purple lines to not connect to anything - essentially they are filler and unusable pathways. Most likely you did not notice them. They make the maze easier. The blue lines, the incorrect dead end paths - are short and only extend 2 levels before letting the solver know it was the wrong choice.

• Maze 2 - Normal pathway width. No purple pathways from here on out. The blue lines are long but have no branches off of them. Longest length is 11 blocks.

• Maze 3 - Pathways are a bit thinner. The blue dead end lines now have branches, so wrong turns have additional wrong turns. None of these, however has more than one additional dead end branch. There is also a dead end choice at the starting block.

• Maze 4 - Pathways are very thin. There are now 3 intersections where 4 pathway choices are included (they look like a plus sign in this grid maze). Dead end branches also have multiple dead ends off of them.

Hopefully this explanation and example shows you a small piece of how maze difficulty can be designed and changed with a few different choices. Most solvers would prefer Maze #1 because the wrong turns are not overly punishing. But a nice amount of people would prefer something a bit more challenging also, so remember the audience you are designing for when you create your mazes !

I will say that there is a balance between making a challenging maze and poor maze design. Do the pathways need to be ultra thin or are you just straining the eyes of the solver ? I think a re-design of Maze #3 with thick pathways would be both enjoyable AND challenging ! Happy maze-ing !

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Daily Maze #1000 !!

This site started in late 2018. And on December 21, 2018 I posted my first daily maze on the home page, initially unsure if this was something I actually wanted to do. Could I commit to making a new maze each and every day ? Could I commit to changing the website each and every day (and early on remembering to do it) ? What would I do for themes and ideas ? When I first started out I had more questions than answers. The first maze I ever made was made for National Crossword Puzzle Day. It looks like a crossword puzzle but is actually a grid maze. The technique I use has changed since then but I think the maze works.

This maze has been followed by a series of themed mazes each and every day since, all on the home page of the website. Each are free to download. Many have later been made into free downloadable maze books. I have enjoyed making them, and based on the sites growth, you have enjoyed solving them. You may have also noticed that there is a second daily maze posted each day that started in April 2021 in the now retired Laberintos section of the site (Spanish for Mazes). It is the same maze translated into Spanish. But for my counting I am treating this separately. Counting ? Yes. Today is a special day because I have hit a milestone maze. Today I post daily maze #1000.

There have been some bad mazes and some really good mazes posted and everything in between. Lots of conventional mazes and more than a few experimental ones.