When it comes to fear, nothing quite hits home like the unnerving feeling that you aren’t safe there. Home, that is. From things going bump in the night to that cold sweat that you haven’t set the burglar alarm, horror and thriller movies play on this with the home invasion genre.
Whether it’s a straight-up home heist or some supernatural boogeyman creaking down the corridor, a good home invasion movie always sets pulses racing. With Renny Harlin hoping to cash in on the genre again with The Strangers: Chapter 1, we’re expecting another home invasion classic on a par with 2008’s first movie. Lock the doors and turn off the lights because we’re knocking at the door with the 15 best home invasion movies you need to check out.
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Us (2019)
After finding his feet with the Oscar-winning Get Out, Jordan Peele proved himself a modern maestro of horror with 2019’s Us. Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke are on top form as the parents of the Wilson family, while we can’t help but feel the former was robbed of an Oscar nod.
Straying into the supernatural as Get Out did, Us is much more than your standard home invasion movie. Thanks to some unnerving dual roles, it gets the most out of its core four actors. With a twist ending that gets under your skin and stays there for some time afterwards, Us is the epitome of modern horror.
FEAR NOT! Buy tix to The Strangers: Chapter 1 HERE
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Black Christmas (1974)
It’s always fun to see a cast of fresh-faced teens offed in a series of elaborate ways, and bucking the trend of sorority slashers, 1974’s Black Christmas has left quite the mark. Inspired by the legend of “the babysitter and the man upstairs,” Black Christmas is held alongside Halloween as one of the first mainstream slashers.
While Black Christmas received mixed reviews upon release, it’s since become a cult classic with a few too many revisits. There’s been a middling 2006 remake and a sad desecration when Blumhouse tried to modernize it in 2019, so we’d stick with the classic Christmas cracker.
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Home Alone (1990)
Breaking out from the pack of various horror and thrillers, a list of home invasion movies wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Home Alone. Chris Columbus’ 1990 classic might be a more family-friendly affair, but if those traps were being used in real life, Harry and Marv would definitely be in the morgue.
While there are die-hard fans of the 1992 sequel, this is largely where our love for the series ends. A 2021 Disney+ requel proves that Home Alone’s best days are behind it. Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy our annual rewatch of the OG and reciting Angels With Filthy Souls word for wor … you filthy animals.
Funny Games (1997)
Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke gifted us Funny Games in 1997, and while it starts as a simple home invasion with two preppy psychopaths playing their sad*stic game for a bit of fun, it ends up delivering one of the most batsh*t endings you’ll ever experience.
There’s a lot to be said about Haneke’s Americanized version with Tim Roth and Naomi Harris, although few expected the shot-for-shot remake in 2007. However, if you’ve only seen that version, we implore you to watch the original. Funny Games might seem clean-cut, but trust us, it’s anything but.
Hush (2016)
With barely any dialogue during its 81-minute runtime, Hush is a bold swing that undoubtedly sets the stage for other sensory horrors like Bird Box and A Quiet Place. Before Mike Flanagan was Netflix’s golden boy with The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher, Hush was a more intimate affair.
Kate Siegel writes and stars as the lead, and while she’s not deaf in real life, Hush does its best to portray what it would be like for someone who is hearing impaired during a home invasion. That didn’t stop some criticisms from the likes of A Quiet Place’s Millicent Simmonds, which, unfortunately, dulls some of this indie thriller’s shine.
Don’t be scared! Buy tix to The Strangers: Chapter 1 HERE
Ils (2006)
Known outside France as Them, this bare-bones horror is simple enough. A young couple moves to the French countryside and is attacked by masked intruders, with the typical “there’s a voice in the woods scenario.” Back when it was “cool” to say a movie is based on real events, Ils also has the added spook factor of creepy kids.
Even if the backstory might not be real, Olivia Bonamy’s performance is very real. Director David Moreau says Bonamy suffered from claustrophobia, which made her sewer scenes a little too realistic. While Ils is forgotten somewhat in the wake of The Strangers, this French-language film is well worth a watch.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Sure, you might associate George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead with zombies, but at its core, it’s a solid home invasion movie about seven people trapped in a rural farmhouse. Even if the attackers aren’t your typical masked psychopaths, hordes of the undead knocking at your door are arguably even scarier — after all, there’s no motive.
Even though Night of the Living Dead’s monsters are only ever referred to as “ghouls,” Romero popularized the zombie genre and inadvertently birthed everything from The Walking Dead to 28 Days Later. The splatter film genre also finds its origins here, but next time someone tells you it’s a straight-up zombie movie, you might want to tell them otherwise.
The Purge (2013)
Given the direction society is taking, the dystopian nightmare of The Purge sometimes feels like it isn’t too far away. The Purge’s unique concept of making all crimes legal for one night of the year makes it work because you know help isn’t just around the corner.
Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey excel as our unlikely heroes, but it’s the titular Purgers that really shine. The Purge name was quickly expanded into a bigger and bloodier sequel in 2014, and at last count, there have been five movies and a TV series. For many, nothing will beat the original movie for sheer ingenuity alone.
Cape Fear (1991)
Yes, houseboats count as homes you can invade. The jacked Max Cady is easily one of Robert De Niro’s best performances, with 1991’s Cape Fear being a rare remake that outshines the 1962 original. If you want another great remake, you have to watch The Simpsons’ “Cape Feare”.
Another gem of Martin Scorsese’s impressive library, Cape Fear is likely the closest the director will ever get to a horror movie. Just as Cady is an underrated villain, Cape Fear gets nowhere near enough recognition. In one final note, look out for cameos from original Cape Fear actors Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck.
The Strangers (2008)
Even though we once thought The Strangers would be one and done, the legacy of Bryan Bertino’s 2008 cabin calamity lives on. Despite not doing that much outside of the box, The Strangers made a name for itself with its pulse-pounding tension and clever use of camera angles.
The Strangers became a sleeper hit that grossed over $80 million on its $9 million budget and spawned Johannes Roberts’ underwhelming The Strangers: Prey at Night. Thankfully, the series is back on track, with Chapter 1 serving as a prequel. We’ll see how annoying the line “Is Tamara home?” gets by the time we get to the planned The Strangers: Chapter 3.
Don’t be scared! Buy tix to The Strangers: Chapter 1 HERE
Don’t Breathe (2016)
The second sensory horror to make the list, Fede Álvarez’s Don’t Breathe doesn’t have the blood and guts of his Evil Dead reboot, but to be honest, it doesn’t need it. Feeling like an extended episode of Black Mirror, Don’t Breathe’s real terror sets in as we realize we’ve been rooting for the wrong person the entire time.
If only the story had ended here instead of milking the cash cow and making Stephen Lang’s The Blind Man the hero of the abysmal Don’t Breathe 2 — come on, he’s born to play the villain. With Lang himself fuelling the fires of a third outing, let’s hope the legacy of Don’t Breathe isn’t soiled further.
Wait Until Dark (1967)
A golden oldie is 1967’s Wait Until Dark, which starred Audrey Hepburn and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Playing a blind woman called Suzy, Hepburn’s character is drawn into the criminal underworld when her husband accidentally ends up with a doll full of heroin. It’s not as memorable as her roles in Breakfast at Tiffany’s or My Fair Lady, but then again, neither of them will raise your heart rate like this.
Like Don’t Breathe, Wait Until Dark has the seemingly hapless Suzy flip the tables on her attackers. That doesn’t mean she has it easy, and Wait Until Dark contains some incredible jump scares that even Hitchco*ck would be proud of. Although we’re glad Wait Until Dark hasn’t been remade, it still feels oddly modern.
The Last House on the Left (1972)
Horror legend Wes Craven needs no introduction, and while most of you will associate whim with the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street or Scream, The Last House on the Left is more important than you know. As well as Craven teaming up with Friday the 13th’s Sean S. Cunningham, it’s his directorial debut.
Part home invasion, part revenge flick, The Last House of the Left is nothing if not brutal. Despite Craven’s cutting the movie numerous times, its violent nature (involving someone having their private parts bitten off) led to it being banned in the UK until 2002. There’s been a subpar modern remake, but if you want the Clockwork Orange of home invasion movies, check out Craven’s version.
Panic Room (2002)
We’re enjoying the Jodie Foster renaissance thanks to her role in True Detective season 4, but in a post-The Silence of the Lambs era, Panic Room was one of her best. David Fincher delivers a typically Fincher-esque thriller, set on one rainy night in New York City’s Upper West Side.
Foster plays a downtrodden divorcee caught in a claustrophobic game of cat and mouse with three blundering burglars. Watch out for a young Jared Leto and an even younger Kristen Stewart. After watching this, you’ll undoubtedly look into how much it would cost to install one of your own.
In Cold Blood (1967)
Like the aforementioned Ils and The Strangers, In Cold Blood claims to be based on true events. The difference is, this one actually is. Adapting Truman Capote’s 1966 “nonfiction novel” of the same name, In Cold Blood tells the story of the horrific Clutter Family Murders from 1959.
In Cold Blood stars Robert Blake and Perry Smith as murderers Scott Wilson and Dick Hickock. Making our blood run cold, director Richard Brooks shot on location at the actual site of the Clutter Family Murders. As well as getting a 1996 miniseries, In Cold Blood rightly earned a place in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Don’t be scared! Buy tix to The Strangers: Chapter 1 HERE
Author Bio:
Based in Manchester, UK, Tom Chapman has over seven years’ experience covering everything from dragons to Demogorgons. Starting out with a stint at Movie Pilot in Berlin, Tom has since branched out to indulge his love of all things Star Wars and the MCU at Digital Spy, Den of Geek, IGN, Yahoo!and more. These days, you’ll find Tom channelling his inner Gale Weathers and ranting about how HBO did us dirty with Game of Thrones Season Eight.
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