"A Clockwork Orange" and 11 more of the most terrible films about home invasion

It's nice to watch a movie about not too smart characters who confront equally stupid intruders, sitting at home in a cozy chair and knowing that you are not in danger within your apartment. But is this security so real? Are your doors locked with all the locks? Will you open it to a stranger who will call himself a representative of the housing department or an election campaigner? Is there really nothing threatening you when you cross the threshold of your "fortress"?

In Hollywood, the topic of home invasion is not uncommon, and watching such films often makes you feel uncomfortable. Not so long ago, the horror "Strangers: Violent Games" was released, and this is a great reason to remember the best of the pictures in which the heroes had to face evil and cruelty in their own home.

"In case of murder, dial" M" " (1954) / Dial M for Murder

It would be strange to ignore the recognized king of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, in this topic. We will not, but we will offer to recall the classic detective of the master called "In case of murder, type "M"". In this picture, Hitchcock once again touches on the issue of the" ideal crime " — now the attacker finds a submissive performer for the murder: while the main character will create an alibi for himself, his henchman must get into the house and kill the hostess when she is talking on the phone.

Hitchcock, who has a filigree mastery of the story, placed the action of almost the entire picture not even in the house, but in one room, artificially causing claustrophobic attacks in the audience, and the amazing scenes of attack and struggle even today make the heart beat faster.

"Clockwork Orange" (1971) / A Clockwork Orange

The fear of strangers entering the house does not necessarily have to be associated with horror films — thrillers, dramas, and even, as in the case of Stanley Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange", a fantastic dystopia can tell about it. Another important difference between "Orange" and most of the films presented below is the demonstration of the attack from the point of view of the attackers, and not their victims. The viewer seems to become a member of a gang of "homies" who create "ultra-violence" in the landscapes and scenery of patriarchal rural England.

The iconic scene of the attack on the mansion and the rape of the hostess of the house even today is impossible to watch without a shudder — the cruelty with which young bandits "brag" covers the horror of even the most ferocious slashers.

"The Last House on the Left" (1972) / The Last House on the Left

Wes Craven's debut picture is rarely remembered today — firstly, hand on heart, his subsequent works were better. And secondly, the remake of 2009 discouraged the last hunt to revise the off-scale cruel original "The Last house on the Left". But in the context of today's selection, Craven's tape fits perfectly — the characters of the film themselves let murderers into their house, pretending to be insurance agents who got into an accident.

The piquancy of the situation is added by the fact that the villains stop at the house of a couple whose daughter has just been raped and killed by them — Craven has always been perfectly able to tighten the plot knots as tightly as possible. The special bloodiness of the film (the picture received a rolling rating of X) is explained simply — the author was impressed by the crimes of Charles Manson, who broke into houses with special fury.

"Cape Fear" (1991) / Cape Fear

Strictly speaking, the main villain of Martin Scorsese's thriller "Cape of Fear" does not break into the main character's mansion, but invades a large boat, a real houseboat, where the family of the lawyer he is pursuing intends to hide from a former prisoner. The difference, however, is small, moreover, the boat is carried away by the current, and the prisoners of the psychopath do not have the opportunity to go outside and escape if an invasion occurs on land. Thus, Scorsese puts the characters in even more stringent conditions — here you will definitely have to participate in a life-and-death battle, there is no turning back.

The movie is also frightening because the villain is a real psychopath who is obsessed with the destruction of a particular family, the cruelty of Robert De Niro's character at some point ceases to rely on resentment or anger, it fills the whole dark soul of the murderer and rapist. 

"Funny Games" (1997) / Funny Games

It would seem that what could be safer than two polite teenagers in dazzling white clothes at the door of the house, disturbing your rest in the early morning? You never know what could have happened — they got lost or, perhaps, they want to hand over advertising leaflets, or maybe they just need a little sugar in a neighborly way. But no, in the film "Funny Games" by Michael Haneke, two young men, Peter and Paul, bring death to the owners who opened the door of the house for them.

The movie hurt the viewer-evil has never been so ordinary and even attractive, it always needed some motives, except for the banal, but at the same time unthinkable "because we want it that way". Haneke broke down the barriers that previously seemed like an impregnable wall protecting us from horrors.

"The Room of Fear" (2002) / Panic Room

David Fincher's thriller "The Fear Room", undeservedly pushed into the background, deserves to return to it repeatedly without our prompts — this is a brilliantly played tense story about two housewives of a house, a mother and daughter, who are trapped in their own shelter, used as a last resort against an unwanted invasion of the house.

Largely thanks to the impressive acting works — Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart against Jared Leto and Forest Whitaker-the picture looks in one breath, but there is no need to say that the impregnable fortress inside the house can turn out to be a death trap for its inhabitants, Fincher is a worthy follower of Hitchcock, there is always a place for unexpected plot twists and amazing transformations of heroes and villains in his films.

"Strangers" (2008) / The Strangers

We don't want to upset you, but the new film "Strangers: Violent Games" has a very distant relation to the original "Strangers" — by and large, the authors of the sequel only used the same masks as ten years ago. So the two films are strikingly different, and the advantage, of course, is on the side of the first tape. The main characters in it had a very dotted, but curious backstory-Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman played a quarreled and ready to part couple, but their conflict is interrupted by the appearance of three masked subjects who brazenly entered the house.

The creators of" Strangers " in the credits indicate the reality of such a story, but you do not need to take these words literally — this is just a warning to frivolous housewives who are ready to open the doors to any guest.

"You're finished! "(2011) / You're Next

In the slasher "You're finished!" directed by Adam Wingard, the main role is played not by actors, but by masks — this time, unlike "Strangers", the pursuers chose the images of animals: a fox, a tiger and a sheep. Otherwise, the plot of the picture is quite standard — a large, but not too friendly family is going to a gala dinner in a mansion on the outskirts of the city, and here they are already waiting for maniacs with crossbows, axes, sharp wire and a mobile phone jammer.

The sinister guests arrange their murders with theatrical poses and the invariable bloody message "You're next!", however, there is a justice for them — some of those present at the dinner do not want to die. The denouement with an explanation of the motives somewhat spoils the impression of the tape, but in any case, the viewer is alarmed — keep the doors locked.

"Doomsday Night" (2013) / The Purge

Not all plot experiments with the story of the invasions are successful, but "Doomsday" is a real leap forward. The main characters of the film are victims of an attack not by chance, moreover, they know that they can be attacked and are even ready to repel it. Of course, everything is not going according to plan, and pre-prepared traps and containment systems do not work, but the general atmosphere in the story, you will agree, is completely different.

Before the thirst to kill with impunity, locks and bars are powerless here, the villains are not stopped by pleas for mercy and return fire — the cult of violence and the passion of Americans for weapons are elevated to a degree, and the indulgence of lawmakers to vices is exposed. Oddly enough, the audience liked the ultra-violence, and the film has already received two sequels.

"Who's There? "(2015) / Knock Knock

The plot of Eli Roth's thriller " Who's there?" it looks like the embodiment of the innermost male dreams — the family of the main character left him alone in a huge house, and after dark, two hot girls, soaked from head to toe, knock on the door of the mansion.

The hero of Keanu Reeves receives strangers at his place, allows them to clean up and warm up while a taxi is driving to the house, but suddenly (suddenly?) the acquaintance turns into sex, and now the man is already being held hostage by two brazen extortionists-threatening to report the rape to the police, the girls arrange a real sabbath in the house.

Eli Roth has never been shy about experimenting, not paying attention to the grumbling of critics. So this time he made a film about the invasion for the Facebook and Instagram generation, where social networks become weapons as dangerous and effective as a gun or a knife.

"Silence" (2016) / Hush

The lack of motives of the attacker is perhaps the most terrible thing that distinguishes invasion films from other horror films. Such films show how defenseless we are against Absolute Evil, which does not need reasons to attack.

The heroine of the thriller "Silence" becomes the object of persecution by an unknown masked man who visited her country house. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the mansion is located far from other houses, and the heroine herself lost her hearing and voice as a child, and therefore cannot call for help by traditional means. However, the habit of living in silence gives a woman an advantage over an ominous guest — she feels the movements of a stranger in other ways.

"Don't Breathe" (2016) / Don't Breathe

Turning a hunter into a victim is not a new artistic technique, and in the context of the fact that villains who break into a private territory should be punished by the owner, it looks fair and reasonable at all, but not in the case of the thriller "Don't Breathe".

His heroes, three teenagers, break into the house of a blind war veteran living in a run-down house on the outskirts of the city. The would-be robbers just need to find where the old man hides his savings, and quietly escape while the blind man fumbles in search of his cane. But it was not there — and the house turns out to be filled with secrets, and the grandfather can still quite stand up for himself, and most importantly — there is a secret hidden in the basement of the house, the disclosure of which is not welcome by the owner, which means that those who broke in must be destroyed at any cost.