This Friday will see the wide release of "You're Next", a home invasion thriller/comedy that has been garnering rave reviews on the festival circuit. Home invasion movies are a very specific sub-category of the horror genre that derive their scares not from supernatural menaces like ghosts or vampires, but from a very human threat. It's the spine-tingling feeling of "This could actually happen," that makes them so uncomfortable to watch. Home invasion movies have been around as long as horror has existed as a genre, but the past decade has seen a sudden uptick in their popularity, and as we know, quantity does not always equal quality. So here is a list of some of the best home invasion movies -- not necessarily the scariest, the twistiest, or the goriest -- but the most solid entries in an often shaky genre.
No one can make a disturbing film quite like the French. So it's no shocker that the bloodiest film on this list comes to us from France. "Inside" tells the story of a pregnant woman terrorized in her own home by an unknown female assailant who's not after money or jewelry -- she wants the woman's unborn baby. Mining most of its scares from body horror that will make you cringe in sympathetic pain, "Inside" is most definitely not for the faint of heart. It's also mercilessly bleak. Watch at your own risk.
This one is far less gory and far more psychological than the previous entry. David Fincher made "Panic Room" right after his cult-favorite "Fight Club", and his innovative directing style is on full display in this story of a woman lucky enough to move into a new house with a panic room, only to have that backfire when what the thieves want is inside the panic room that she and her diabetic daughter are holed up in. Bolstered by fantastic performances from star Jodie Foster and villains Forest Whitaker and Jared Leto (as well as a very-pre-"Twilight" Kristen Stewart), "Panic Room"s level of psychological tension was compared favorably with the films of Alfred Hitchcock upon its release.
Did you know a young Dustin Hoffman once starred in a controversial, ultra-violent home invasion movie? Well he did, and it's widely considered one of the best films in the genre. "Straw Dogs" is about a mild-mannered man who moves with his new wife to her small hometown, where they are harassed in increasingly violent ways by her ex-boyfriend and his gang, until the mild man finally snaps. Derided by some as pro-violence while lauded by others as subversively anti-violence, "Straw Dogs" is a film guaranteed to elicit a strong reaction no matter which side of the issue you fall on.
The mind of Austrian director Michael Haneke must be a dark place. He made last year's Best Picture nominee "Amour" which, with its chronicle of one elderly couple's decline after the wife suffers a stroke, is just as disturbing if not as outright scary as any of the films on this list. His "Funny Games" is one of the most divisive films in the home invasion category, notorious for its use of unusually theatrical techniques such as breaking the fourth wall, and the "rewinding" of action, as well as its frequent subversion of genre expectations. Regardless of what you think of Haneke's defiantly strange directing choices, it's hard to deny the creep-factor of this tale of two normal-seeming young men who randomly decide to terrorize an innocent family at their lake house. Haneke remade his own film shot-for-shot in 2007 for American audiences, starring Naomi Watts. Some argue that the remake is not as effective, since its use of well-known stars hampers the believability, while simultaneously scoffing at the necessity of such a faithful recreation of an already well-regarded film.
One of the best efforts to come out of the recent spate of Hollywood horror films, and easily the best American home invasion movie of the decade. "The Strangers" focuses on a couple who find themselves besieged in their home by a trio of masked murderers. While many home invasion films try to offer an explanation for the disturbing events (she wanted the baby, they wanted the money, etc.), "The Strangers" is even more disturbing for the attackers' complete lack of motive. At one point, when asked why they're doing this, one of them famously replies in a bone-chillingly bored tone: "Because you were home." A de-emphasis on gore, a masterful use of silence and shadows, and a super-creepy skipping record make "The Strangers" a superior experience.
Often seen as the French predecessor of "The Strangers", "Them" is a similar tale of a young couple terrorized by unknown assailants at their country house. Psychological cat-and-mouse games eventually give way to a prolonged, 20-minute chase sequence that's almost unbearably suspenseful. The lean running time makes "Them" an exercise in frugal filmmaking -- not a single moment is wasted, with events quickly escalating from bad to worse. "Them" is also one of the few home invasion films to have a twist that works. The final, shocking reveal of this film will leave you feeling paranoid days later.
Without a doubt the most prestigious film on this list, "Wait Until Dark" stars Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman whose home is invaded by thugs seeking to recover a doll stuffed with heroin. This film is famous for its suspenseful climax, where Hepburn's Susy levels the playing field with her tormenters by smashing all the lights in her apartment, leaving them (and the audience) just as blind as she is. Hepburn is so good in this film that "Wait Until Dark" has the honor of being one of the rare horror films to gain Academy Award recognition, earning her a nomination for Best Actress.
Just kidding! But seriously -- if "Home Alone" weren't played for laughs, it would be an absolutely terrifying film. Viewed through a different lens, this plot could easily be describing a nail-biting home invasion movie: A boy, forgotten by his family, is left all alone in a large house. Though initially thrilled by his new-found freedom, the boy must soon use every tool at his disposal to help fend off two grown men, both hardened criminals, bent on entering and pillaging his home. Pretty much all it would take to turn this from a comedy into a horror movie would be a creepy soundtrack. At least it would have a happier ending than 90% of the films on this list.
What do you think of these home invasion films? Are there any you thought should have made the list? Tweet us @Stagebuddy, and be sure to see "You're Next" this Friday, August 23rd.
