In theatre, stage plays with just two characters are called two-handers, and while it's much more common in the live format, they can still be found in movies too. It's interesting that even with movies featuring just two characters, there seem to be common threads with all of them.

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When it comes to genre, a lot of them tend to be horror, and more specifically, horror that prominently features torture. And outside of that, many of the others tend to be adaptations of acclaimed stage plays. Though most of these movies have gone largely overlooked for most of their lifespans, there are so many great indie films to discover. If nothing else, they are well-developed character studies and opportunities for actors to show audiences what they're capable of.

Hard Candy (2005)

Hayley ties up Jeff in Hard Candy

For a movie featuring just two actors, Hard Candy packs a punch and is incredibly impactful in terms of how intense it can get. The movie is so minimal that not only does have a tiny cast, but it's also entirely set in and around one house. Hard Candy follows a girl who is seeking revenge for her friend who was raped and murdered, and she spares no mercy on the man who she suspects it to be.

What follows is more psychological torture than anything, as the girl makes the killer believe he's being castrated when he really isn't, and she then gives him the option of turning him into the police or killing himself. It's a very dark movie and one of the most shocking games of cat and mouse in cinema.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at a strange contraption in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

The movie adaptation of Hamlet has a very long runtime, being four hours in length, but in stark contrast, the 1990 spin-off is under two hours, and far more interesting too. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a perfect example of how to draw audiences in with just two characters.

The only thing that happens in the first seven minutes is Rosencrantz repeatedly flipping a coin and it only ever lands on heads, but it's still engaging. Other characters from Hamlet appear in the movie, but only briefly and mostly in the background, as the two angels commentate in a hilarious manner exactly what's going on.

Before Sunrise / Before Sunset (1995/2004)

Celine and Jesse prepare to kiss in profile in Before Sunrise

Richard Linklater is a fascinating director due to his use of time. The best example of that is his movie Boyhood, which sees a boy coming of age over the course of 12 years, but another great example is the Before trilogy. Each movie was released nine years apart and chronicles two people's lives together at different stages in their relationship.

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While the third movie, Before Midnight, does have a lot more characters, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are both limited to just Jesse and Celine. Though there are few tiny roles with lines throughout the two movies, they are so minuscule that their character names are Bookstore Manager and Wife On Train.

Gravity (2013)

Dr. Stone lost in space in Gravity

Gravity begins with two astronauts working on a space station only for a catastrophic event to take place, leading to one of their deaths and the other to explore the infinite darkness that is outer space. There are barely even two characters in the movie, as Matt Kowalski is only in the first fifteen minutes until he dies, and he only briefly reappears in Dr. Ryan Stone's imagination an hour or so later.

Outside of that, Stone carries the 90-minute movie as she navigates her way through space and attempts to make her way back down to Earth. The fact that the movie can keep viewers engaged for that long with just one character is why Gravity is one of the best Alfonso Cuaron movies.

The Sunset Limited (2011)

Samuel L Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones sitting on a couch in The Sunset Limited 2011

The Sunset Limited might be an HBO original that was only made for TV, but it looks beautiful, features a well-told narrative, and there's some major star power behind it too. The movie is so much more than any other direct-to-TV feature-length, as it stars Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson as the two only characters.

Just like the iconic My Dinner With Andre, The Sunset Limited is nothing but two men speaking in a room for 90 minutes. But as both men have completely opposing ideologies and beliefs, the razor-sharp dialogue is just as thrilling and compelling as any action movie.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Katie And Micah Look At An Invisible Demon In Paranormal Activity

There are actually four characters in the first Paranormal Activity movie, but the other two characters' screentime is so short that it hardly counts. Almost the whole 90 minutes is carried by Micah and Katie, the latter of whom becomes possessed by a spirit that has been haunting her ever since she was young.

Despite there being six sequels in the long-running series, the original still remains the scariest Paranormal Activity movie to date. And that's largely thanks to how eerily minimal the whole thing is.

Antichrist (2009)

Willem Defoe in the promo photo for Antichrist.

Antichrist isn't for the faint-hearted. Coming from the mind of controversial filmmaker Lars Von Trier, the 2009 movie is about a husband and wife who retreat to the woods to grieve over the death of their newborn baby. The movie is so minimal that even the two only characters don't have proper names, simply being called He and She in the credits.

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Though it sounds like a drama, especially as Trier is known for his piercingly realistic dramas, the movie is as much a horror as it is anything else. In fact, it could be labeled torture porn even more than the likes of Saw or Hostel, as She becomes possessed in the woods and begins mutilating both He and Herself.

Malcolm & Marie (2021)

Malcolm and Marie, Malcolm is hugging Marie from behind

Malcolm & Marie is one of the many art projects written and directed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as it was in the midst of quarantine, it's no surprise that the movie features just two people. The film follows a writer-director and his girlfriend during the night of the premiere of his newest movie.

Just like many other two-handers focusing on couples, like the aforementioned Antichrist and What Happened Was, the film depicts the breakdown in Malcolm and Marie's relationship. They accuse each other of being egotistical when Malcolm refuses to acknowledge that Marie was the influence for the main character of his new film.

Gerry (2002)

The two Gerrys look at the floor in Gerry

Gerry is almost like a spiritual successor to Good Will Hunting, as almost the exact same creative team is behind it. Director Gus Van Sant is behind the camera, and Matt Damon penned the screenplay with Ben Affleck's brother, Casey Affleck.

However, the 2002 movie is much different from Good Will Hunting. The movie sees two best friends hike through New Mexico, only to get lost and struggle to survive due to dehydration. Along with there only being two characters in Gerry, there's very little dialogue too, and it's often used as an example of non-narrative cinema. Gerry isn't one of Gus Van Sant's best movies, but it's one of his most interesting.

Duel (1971)

An image of a large truck heading towards the camera in Duel

Duel is often dubbed the greatest TV movie of all time, as it was Steven Spielberg's directorial debut and he was already showing signs of his auteurship. Though it did get a theatrical release with added footage sometime later, both versions of the film only feature two major characters, and even then, one remains largely unseen.

The film is about a commuter driving through California who becomes terrorized by a truck driver. The truck driver is mostly in the shadows or behind the highly reflective windscreen, but that's what makes the movie that much more intense. The movie is a lot like Jaws, but instead of a shark, it's a giant tractor-trailer.

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