Just finishing off LONG WEEKEND and it struck me that the "Protagonists attempt to leave troublsome area and find that they can't, that they essentially keep returning to the same spot" is a fairly common horror film staple. time/space bending, supernatural trickery or just misdirection, its a fun way of doing away with a common logical plot hole.

Other than LONG WEEKEND, the two instances that jumped to mind are:

THE LEGACY (I believe an attempt to leave is thwarted by a road that always returns to the main house).

the "Loughville" section of THE MONSTER CLUB, IIRC.

one could argue that a non-car version happens in IDENTITY (the clue that made me instantly realize what was going on, as it immediately put me in mind of an old LAND OF THE LOST episode wherein the nature of the pocket universe is illustrated by the family going to a mountaintop and looking through binoculars only to observe their own backs)

I feel like I'm forgetting some obvious others...anyone?

I guess this is also a cousin to the "chasing yourself" space loops of KILL BABY KILL and the TWIN PEAKS finale, although the whole "the beginning is starting over, it's all a dream/premonition", in classic DEAD OF NIGHT style, are a narrative trick, not an "in story" trick.

If that bridge wasn't out, I'd bet the same thing would have happened in EVIL DEAD!

I guess a rather infamous example of a non-car one would be The Blair Witch Project, although in this case it doesn't so much skirt around the plot hole as create one, i.e. everyone who views it saying "they should just have followed the river".

In the Mouth of Madness, big time!

REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE has the two girls doing it à pied.

That dead guy in Bloody Pit Of Horror was doing a great job of driving around in a perfect endless circle. Excellent form.

I've walked that circle. :lol:

The horror pic DEAD END (2003) definitely qualifies as a "circling" film---it'a about a family driving to their in-laws for the holiday along a dark and curiously deserted road who get lost and can't seem to find their way back no matter what---very good & creepy and worth watching 'til the end.

This is where I came in.

I still feel like there's some classic, older example/s I'm forgetting - by the time of THE LEGACY a scene like that was immediately identifiable as to what was going on but damned if I can think why...

I haven't seen DEAD END yet. Or BLOODY PIT OF HORROR for that matter.

I don't remember it from REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE but I only saw that once (and during a particularly bad stretch of my life) so I'll have to check it out again.

I think I was wrong about "Loughville" in THE MONSTER CLUB - further recollection makes me think that it's not presented so much as an inescapable place, just that the cops that the escapees hook up with are "in on it" (unless there's an earlier scene of trying to escape that I'm forgetting).

IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS - well, I'll have to take your word for it. I saw during the initial release (where we referred to it as IN THE MOUTH OF THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE because that was also around at the time) and once on videotape (to do a second check and see if it wasn't me) and that was quite enough. Other than the "standing on the edge of the abyss" scene - which is excellent - I've never understood the love for this film. But a "pocket universe" aspect to the storyline I remember wouldn't be surprising.

Now that I think of it - FREDDY'S DEAD (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET # whateverthehell) might also have a similar sequence as I remember one of the kids being forcibly ejected from Springfield to go lure new meat to the town, with the implication that once inside city limits you can't get out.

BLAIR WITCH is the "slapping my head in stupidity for forgetting it" one. I've always assumed that the kids inability to leave the forest was intended as a subtle indication of malefic influence and not just stupidity so "following the river" isn't really a plot hole for me - in fact, it's much scarier that way. Becoming "faery-led" is straight out of European folklore and fits in well with the film. I'd agree they could have "sold" it better, however.

Hmmm, still feel like there's some classic film that's conspicuous by its absence....

Richard, keep on walking...nothing to see here....hey, didn't you just leave? :D