Best Home Invasion Horror Movies

Home is where the heart is, and where most people feel safe from the world. Returning from a bad, stressful day of work and school would be the highlight for anyone. Finally, time to relax and forget about the day, order a pizza and watch a movie. Imagine the horror when they find themselves in a situation just like in a horror movie, when the safety of home is violated by intruders.

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These horror movies are some of the most effective out there, because even when not directly based on a true story, home invasion is something that can and does happen every day, and it could happen to anyone.

7

The Collector

Home Alone (1990) Meets Saw (2004)

As if being indebted to loan sharks isn’t bad enough, Arkin O’Brien and the Chase family find themselves in the crosshairs of the Collector, a terrifying masked man who kills everyone in the family apart from one, who he ‘collects’. Arkin has decided to steal a ruby from the Chase family to pay off their debts, only to find out someone else is already in the house, intent on picking off the family one by one.

The Collector doesn’t just kill in any old boring fashion, as he rigs the house with all manner of horrifyingly painful and certainly deadly traps, as though Home Alone’s Kevin McAllister became the apprentice of John Kramer from Saw. One of the most gruesome home invasion movies of all time, The Collector is an experience that viewers won’t soon forget.

6

The Resident

The Invader Knows the Home All Too Well

• Release Date: March 29th 2011
• Director(s): Antti Jokinen
• Runtime: 91 Minutes

After moving into a new apartment in New York city following her divorce from her husband, Juliet is ready to start her new life and try to move on from her ex-husband Jack, quickly meeting a man named Max. From first impressions, he seems like a normal man until a startling revelation reveals that he has been stalking Juliet, living in a secret passageway directly connected to her apartment.

Someone secretly living in the crawlspace of an apartment is a very rational and real fear to have, and The Resident dials it all the way up to 11 with all manners of disturbing actions from Max. While not a typical home invasion horror movie, it may be one of the most unsettling to watch unfold. At least in the end, Juliet got her revenge.

5

The Rental

A Peaceful Getaway Devolves into a Nightmare

Two pairs of couples set off to a rental situated on the Oregon Coast, ready to have fun and forget all about their troubles and responsibilities for a short while. Renting properties does usually involve a few risks, but none quite so deadly as what the quarter face in this home away from home invasion horror movie.

They quickly learn of secret cameras planted around the place, including one in the shower that Charlie and Mina catch in the midst of the affair. As anyone would, they assume the property owner, Taylor, is to blame, but this very effective red herring hoodwinks the characters and the audience too. A masked serial killer had access to the property and was the one who installed the cameras. Their weekend getaway becomes a weekend slaughter as he starts picking them off one by one.

4

Us

A Home Invasion with a Terrifying Twist

• Release Date: March 22nd, 2019
• Director(s): Jordan Peele
• Runtime: 116 Minutes

In mythology and folklore, doppelgangers are said to be an evil alter ego to a person, sharing their appearance but usually not their personality. They often wish to replace their existence, implementing themselves into that person’s life. And this is the very real horror the Wilson family faces while on a family vacation, as four red-suited strangers show up on the driveway at night, bearing an eerie resemblance to the family.

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Violent, unpredictable, and downright terrifying, Us presents a more supernatural threat in the classic home invasion template, providing a refreshing but horrifying take on this subgenre of movies. The surprise twist at the end is just the cherry on the icing, which horror fans definitely need to see unfurl for themselves in the movie for full effect.

3

Hush

Hush Introduced One of the Most Underrated Final Girls of All Time

Before producing hit Netflix shows such as The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of House Usher, Mike Flanagan was responsible for an underrated yet highly effective home-invasion horror movie, Hush. In this movie, deaf-mute writer Maddie Young lives in solitude in the woods, trying to work on her next novel. Writer’s block is going to become the least of her worries when a masked assailant arrives at her property, learning she is deaf and able to use that information to his advantage.

Despite being just an author, Maddie quickly proves herself to be resourceful, using whatever means are around her to survive just one more moment, cementing herself as an underrated final girl deserving of far more recognition among horror fans. Fraught with tension, Hush is an effective and thrilling home invasion horror movie fans of the genre need to watch.

2

Don’t Breathe

A Clever and Tense Subversion of the Genre

In most home invasion movies, the character who has their home broken into is usually the one that is fighting or fleeing for their lives, but Don’t Breathe provides a completely different angle on this genre.

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Needing money for their own reasons, a trio of young adults break into the house of a blind veteran to steal the money he has locked in his safe, figuring it should be an easy robbery. But after finding their way in, they quickly realize it won’t be so easy to leave with their lives, never mind the money. This man is a force to be reckoned with, and quickly becomes the antagonist of the movie as the three invaders become the quarry. The subversion is clever and well-implemented, making Don’t Breathe a unique entry in the genre.

1

The Strangers

A Chilling Trio of Masked Strangers Terrorize a Strained Couple

Inspired by a string of break-in burglaries and the murder of the Tate family, The Strangers is very much grounded in reality, even if not based on one story itself. After a tense night at a friend’s wedding, James Hoyt and Kristen McKay stop at James’s family’s summer house for the night, situated in a rather quiet and secluded neighborhood. A mysterious knock interrupts them late at night, as a woman arrives asking to see Tamara. The couple answers, telling her no one lives there by that name not knowing this is just the start of their troubles.

Three masked strangers terrorize the couple all night alone, finding ways inside their home, and they don’t just have a simple burglary in mind. The stranger’s answer to why they are doing this is a simple but chilling iconic quote “because you were home“, which reveals there isn’t really any rhyme or reason for their psychotic actions, and the sinking realization that if they hadn’t answered the door, their night could have been a lot more peaceful.

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