It’s only a movie…it’s only a movie: 7 chilling home invasion films

In remembering Extremities from 1986 in my last post, and in lieu of recent events, I recalled a few other noteworthy home invasion and attacker films.

Desperate Hours

Before he played a wrestler and nemesis to Iron Man, Mickey Rourke played an escaped, psychotic con that breaks into the home of married couple, Anthony Hopkins and Mimi Rogers, to hide from the FBI.

Panic Room

Jodie Foster plays Meg Altman, a woman whose home comes equipped with an unusual feature – a panic room. When three criminals break in during the night, Meg and her daughter lock themselves in the panic room for safety. The trouble is what the criminals want is inside that very room.

Funny Games

This ain’t no comedy, as the title may imply. Rather, this is a dark film about two sadistic home invaders who terrorize a family by forcing them to participate in a series of physically and mentally disturbing games.

Home Alone

Okay, this one may not be chilling but the fact that it spawned Home Alone 3 is enough to make anybody shudder. Kevin, an 8-year-old boy, is left home alone when his family mistakenly leaves on their Christmas vacation without him. Two bumbling thieves played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern discover that Kevin is home alone and decide to rob his house. Kevin learns of their plan and outfits his house with a series of homemade booby traps to thwart them.

The Strangers

A couple staying in a vacation house are terrorized by three masked assailants they cannot escape no matter what they do. While similar to Funny Games, this film offers its own unique brand of chills.

The Last House on the Left

Mari, a teenage girl vacationing with her parents at a lake house is brutally assaulted by a prison escapee. She manages to escape her attacker and return to the lake house, but not before he leaves her for dead, and makes his way to the lake house where he is invited in by Mari’s parents to whether a storm. When Mari’s parents realize what their house guest has done to their daughter, they attempt to get revenge.

I Spit on Your Grave

Jennifer is a writer who escapes to a riverside cabin to concentrate on writing a new book. While there, Jennifer is assaulted by four male locals. Jennifer survives the horrendous attacks and returns to the riverside community to seek revenge on her attackers.