Storage in Cinema

With storage facilities in the U.S. numbering over 50,000 (almost five times the number of Starbucks!) it should be no surprise we see them pop up in movies and television as key plot elements. Usually in a capacity that is less than agreeable but this is for fun!

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Jonathan Demme’s Oscar winning adaption of Thomas Harris bestselling novel sees one of the most intense scenes of storage to grace the celluloid. On the trail of a serial killer, Detective Clarice Starling finds her way into a self-storage unit in Baltimore that is full of nightmares. Inside she finds more clues and enough jumps scares to shake the audience to their core. We do not endorse storing creepily posed mannequins and jars of questionable contents.

True Detective (TV Series 2014-)

Not always is a storage unit the home of some murderous psychopath’s creepy collection. Sometimes it’s the home of a heroic crazed detective’s creepy collection. In the Present timeline of the show Rust Cohle is shown to use his storage as a minimalist office to solve a decade old crime. While not technically storing anything illicit, it’s still a terrible use of available space for storage. Most of it is just papers on the walls! Rust Cohle obviously never read our blog on how to get the most bang for your buck space wise. Oh, and don’t spray paint the inside of your unit. That’ll cost you.

Breaking Bad (TV Series 2008-2013)

Blurring the lines between hero and villain Walter White and his wife Skyler use their car wash to launder money. A side operation, Skyler takes to a self-storage unit to store their coffers of cash, neatly piled in the center on top of a tarp. Now, the storing of valuables itself isn’t an awful idea, but please don’t follow their footsteps in how to acquire that wealth.

For whatever reason storage seems a common plot point in thrilling stories. Perhaps it has to do with the security of such sites, keeping valuables out of sight of prying eyes. 1 in 10 Americans utilize offsite storage facilities to store their belongings, stands to reason they’d show up in our entertainment.