Horror and thriller:- That unsettling feeling that you are not safe there is one of the most powerful triggers for dread. Ah, home. Horror and thriller films leverage the home invasion genre to explore themes of paranoia, from things going bump in the night to realizing that you forgot to set the burglar alarm.
Horror Tom Chapman
An effective house invasion film always gets viewers’ hearts racing, whether it is a traditional home theft or a paranormal boogeyman creaking down the hallway. Expecting a sequel to 2008’s first home invasion film, Renny Harlin is trying to capitalize on the genre once more with The Strangers: Chapter 1.
We’re knocking on your door with the top 15 home invasion movies you should see, so lock the doors and turn out the lights.
Us (2019)
Jordan Peele established himself as a contemporary master of horror with 2019’s Us, following his breakthrough performance in the Oscar-winning film Get Out. As the parents of the Wilson family, Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke are in excellent form, but we can’t help but feel that the former was wrongfully denied an Oscar nomination.
Us is far more than just your average home invasion film, delving into the paranormal as Get Out did. It makes the most of its four main actors, thanks to a few unsettling dual roles.
Us embodies modern horror perfectly, with a surprising finale that lingers in your mind long after watching it.
Black Christmas 1974
Black Christmas (1974), which defied the trend of sorority slashers, has made a lasting impression. It’s always entertaining to watch a group of innocent-looking teenagers get elaborately trolled. Halloween is celebrated with Black Christmas, one of the first popular horror films, which is based on the story of “the babysitter and the man upstairs.”
Black Christmas is now a cult classic that has been seen much too often, despite the film’s initial lukewarm reviews.
We would stay with the traditional Christmas cracker because there was a mediocre 2006 version and a depressing attempt at modernization by Blumhouse in 2019.
Home Alone 1990
It wouldn’t be a list of home invasion movies without include Home Alone, which stands out from the other horror and thriller films. Though the 1990 masterpiece by Chris Columbus may be more suitable for a family, Harry and Marv would undoubtedly be in the morgue if those traps were actually being employed.
Even though the 1992 follow-up has its ardent supporters, this is pretty much the end of our affection for the series.
Home Alone’s greatest days are behind it, as evidenced by a 2021 Disney+ requel. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t love the classic Angels With Filthy Souls and replay it every year, word for word, you filthy beasts.
A Funny Game from 1997
Funny Games is a 1997 film directed by the Austrian Michael Haneke. Although it begins as a straightforward home invasion involving two preppy psychopaths having a little fun with their sadistic game, it has one of the most unbelievable endings you will ever see.
Although few anticipated the shot-for-shot remake in 2007, there’s enough to be said about Haneke’s Americanized version starring Tim Roth and Naomi Harris. We beg you, nevertheless, to watch the original if you’ve only seen that version.
Though it might appear uncomplicated, Funny Games is anything but.
Hush, 2016.
Hush is a strong swing that surely lays the stage for later sensory horrors like Bird Box and A Quiet Place, even if it has very little dialogue in its 81-minute running length. Hush was a more private affair prior to Mike Flanagan being Netflix’s golden child with The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher.
While not actually deaf, Kate Siegel, who writes and stars in the lead role, tries her best in Hush to capture the experience of a hearing-impaired person during a home invasion.
However, this did not prevent some criticism from the likes of Millicent Simmonds from A Quiet Place, which unfortunately takes away some of the sparkle from this indie thriller.
Ils, 2006
Known outside of France as Them, this basic horror is rather straightforward. In a classic “there’s a voice in the woods” scenario, a young couple that goes to the French countryside is ambushed by disguised invaders. Ils also has the extra spook aspect of scary kids, back when it was “cool” to suggest a movie is based on real events.
Olivia Bonamy’s performance is incredibly authentic, even though the context may not be.
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This French-language movie, Ils, is well worth seeing even though it is somewhat forgotten in the aftermath of The Strangers.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Although you would think of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in terms of zombies, the film is really a good home invasion tale about seven individuals who are imprisoned in a remote farmhouse. Hordes of the undead banging on your door are potentially scarier than assailants wearing masks—after all, there’s no reason for them to be there.
Romero popularized the zombie subgenre and unintentionally gave birth to everything from The Walking Dead to 28 Days Later, despite the fact that the creatures in Night of the Living Dead are only ever referred to as “ghouls.”
This is where the splatter film genre also got its start, so the next time someone tells you it’s a zombie movie, you might want to refute them.
The Purge (2013)
Sometimes it seems like The Purge’s dystopian nightmare is not too far away, given the direction society is going. Because you know that help isn’t far away, The Purge’s novel idea of making all crimes legal for one night each year works.
Although Lena Headey and Ethan Hawkey do a great job as our unlikely heroes, the Purgers themselves steal the show. In 2014, the Purge moniker was swiftly expanded into a more expansive and bloodier sequel; as of the last count, five films and a TV series had been released.
