Summary

• Home invasion movies draw on real-life horror and grounded stories for extra scares.
• The Strangers franchise explores traditional masked invader tropes with a fresh twist.
• Films like Night of the Living Dead and Funny Games elevate home invasion horror with supernatural elements and social commentary.

With real-life horror stories like the Manson murders in the popular imagination, home invasion movies have a particular resonance with many viewers. Unlike more fantastical horror movies, home invasion stories feel comparatively grounded in reality – heightening the sense of horror and making many of them extra-scary.

Although The Strangers: Chapter 1 is intended to be a fresh start for a pre-existing The Strangers franchise, the movie draws on long-established traditions in the genre. Over the years, many horror movies have followed a similar trend of mysterious masked invaders causing havoc in the home, defiling personal space and inflicting terror on its inhabitants. However, this isn't the only format a home invasion horror can follow. In fact, some of the most interesting and successful home invasion horror movies offer a fresh spin on this approach, either with the setting, the characters involved, or the story.

10 The Strangers (2008)

The original film in the franchise

Perhaps the most obvious place for fans of The Strangers: Chapter 1 to look for similar content is with the original movie in The Strangers franchise. Starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, the 2008 film is a bleak and nihilistic chiller that, despite a mixed initial critical reaction, is now considered a cult hit. Given this status, it is perhaps understandable that The Strangers: Chapter 1 set out to revisit the saga.

Drawing heavily on the influence of Michael Haneke's Funny Games, as well as real-life stories like the Manson family, The Strangers combines a tense and creepy atmosphere with unnerving realism.

Centered around an isolated summer cabin, the film follows a couple's desperate attempts to survive a break-in by three sadistic masked strangers. Drawing heavily on the influence of Michael Haneke's Funny Games, as well as real-life stories like the Manson family, The Strangers combines a tense and creepy atmosphere with unnerving realism. The result is undeniably scary and arguably essential viewing after The Strangers: Chapter 1.

9 Mother! (2017)

A metaphorical and shocking horror

Although Mother! is far from a typical home invasion movie, its deeply metaphorical story and themes nonetheless make it a highly effective – if unconventional – example of the genre. Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, the movie sees the couple's home slowly fill with strangers who, despite being invited in, quickly come to dominate the house. While their presence is initially tolerable, things quickly spiral out of control.

Much of what makes Mother! so disturbing is the atmosphere. The sinister oppression of the waves of unfamiliar people creates an air of freneticism, culminating in one of the most shocking and divisive finales in modern horror. Although it is much less naturalistic than The Strangers: Chapter 1, Mother! is a startling reminder of how the home invasion genre can be used to explore wider themes of religion, environmentalism, and abuse.

8 Us (2019)

A nightmarish reflection of societal problems

Although Jordan Peele's Us has a home invasion at its center, the movie addresses much more wide-ranging social and political themes. Focusing on the Wilson family, Us sees a tranquil holiday disturbed by the arrival of a group of doppelgangers who are determined to replace the real Wilsons. It soon becomes clear that this is not an isolated incident, sparking a terrifying conflict between the so-called "tethered" and their counterparts.

Us is Jordan Peele's second horror film, after Get Out

While Us is a wide-ranging commentary on many aspects of American family life, the horrifying home invasion and the tethered's mission to replace the Wilsons is what gives it its power. Lupita Nyong'o, in particular, is deeply disturbing as the scissor-wielding Red, while each of the family's counterparts brings something sinister to the table. As a way to combine lofty themes like privilege, classism, and xenophobia with the chilling prospect of a home invasion, Us is hard to beat.

7 Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

A timeless genre masterpiece

While most traditional home invasion movies involve human protagonists, some of the most successful have incorporated supernatural elements to elevate the horror. George A. Romero's seminal 1968 movie, Night of the Living Dead, is a perfect example. Although the movie's antagonists are reanimated corpses rather than psychotic murderers, their intentions are the same – break into a safe place and cause carnage.

Night of the Living Dead is available to stream on Hulu, Max, and Peacock

Night of the Living Dead's key theme of external forces trying to penetrate into the sanctity of suburban America is what makes it such a potent metaphor to this day. While the zombies themselves are undeniably scary, the movie is also a classic example of horror acting as a mirror to highlight the prejudices and paranoia that permeate society. Coupled with the terrifying prospect of the undead bursting through barricaded windows, and Night of the Living Dead remains a powerful home invasion movie.

6 Inside (À L'intérieur) (2007)

A violent meditation on motherhood

A terrifying, violent, and disturbing home invasion movie, Inside is made all the more affecting because of its focus on new motherhood. While the motivations behind the invaders in The Strangers are terrifyingly opaque, the villain in Inside is horribly understandable, being driven by trauma and loss. This gives the horror of what follows an empathetic edge that makes Inside doubly unnerving.

The story follows a pregnant woman who, as she prepares to give birth, is accosted by a mysterious stranger who breaks into her house and tries to steal her baby. Inside ratchets up the tension as the women vie for control, culminating in a deeply distressing and incredibly violent climax. By combining the dual themes of a home break-in and kidnap, Inside offers an uncompromising viewing experience that isn't for the faint-hearted.

5 Dog Soldiers (2002)

An action horror with elements of the supernatural

Tonally, Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers is a long way removed from the senseless masochism on display in The Strangers. However, for a more light-hearted, action-heavy home invasion horror, the 2002 werewolf movie is hard to beat. The film follows a group of soldiers on assignment in the Scottish highlands who soon find themselves under attack from a pack of werewolves. While initially, the squad is caught out in the open, they quickly take shelter in a farm house, where the movie's home invasion roots really shine.

Although its social commentary may be comparatively sparse, Dog Soldiers makes a great double-bill with bleaker home invasion films.

Mixing a razor-sharp script with likable characters, Dog Soldiers is a thrilling example of how the genre can benefit from an emphasis on action. As one character puts it, the film plays out like the epic British stand at Rorke's Drift – only with seemingly unkillable werewolves instead of Zulu warriors. Although its social commentary may be comparatively sparse, Dog Soldiers makes a great double-bill with bleaker home invasion films.

4 Don't Breathe (2016)

Fede Álvarez's claustrophobic thriller

One of the most innovative horrors of the past decade, Don't Breathe ingeniously inverts typical home invasion tropes, turning the invaders into the victims. While breaking into anyone's home is frowned upon, Don't Breathe quickly establishes that the would-be burglars are not the real villains. Instead, the movie succeeds thanks to Stephen Lang's malevolent homeowner.

After the success of the first film, a sequel – Don't Breathe 2 – followed in 2021

Not only does Don't Breathe play with genre conventions, but the film adds the extra twist of making Lang's Norman Nordstrom blind – which in turn makes silence the key to survival. This cranks up the tension, with much of the movie playing out in unbearable quiet. The addition of a horrifying twist makes Don't Breathe one of the most memorable home invasion horror movies ever made.

3 Hush (2016)

An ingenious use of sound to sow terror

Much like Don't Breathe, Hush's success comes from the movie's unbearably tense atmosphere. However, while Fede Álvarez's movie features a blind antagonist hunting down unprepared intruders, Hush flips the script with its deaf-mute heroine (Kate Siegel). Like many home invasion movies, Hush takes place in an isolated cabin. However, while its setting is fairly typical, the movie ups the ante through its ingenious use of sound.

With much of the movie playing out in near-silence – save for the clever use of ambient background noise to recreate Maddie's world – the movie is much more immersive than many of its genre contemporaries.

Hush centers its protagonist's disability, building an unconventional atmosphere that makes the sinister masked antagonist seem even more threatening. With much of the movie playing out in near-silence – save for the clever use of ambient background noise to recreate Maddie's world – the movie is much more immersive than many of its genre contemporaries. Boasting 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, Hush rates as one of the best twists on the home invasion trope ever.

2 Wait Until Dark (1967)

A boundary-pushing horror that was ahead of its time

In many ways, Wait Until Dark created the template that movies like Don't Breathe and Hush have benefitted from. Starring Audrey Hepburn, the movie revolves around a blind woman who comes under attack from nefarious criminals on the hunt for a hidden cache of drugs. Despite not being explicitly billed as a horror, Wait Until Dark is one of the earliest examples of the home invasion subgenre that has subsequently become so popular – and one of the best.

Unbearably tense thanks to Hepburn's mesmeric performance, Wait Until Dark is elevated by fantastic acting and slick direction. The film holds 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, while Hepburn and ing actor Zimbalist were both nominated for Academy Awards. Considering that the movie is nearly 60 years old, Wait Until Dark still feels just as potent as any modern horror.

1 Funny Games (1997)

A savage indictment of Hollywood's obsession with violence

While many horror movies are made with a sly wink to the viewer, Michael Haneke's harrowing home invasion thriller Funny Things takes audience complicity to a whole new level. Aside from the terrifying and brutal story, which sees a mysterious duo assault a family with seemingly no explanation, Funny Games is famous for its fourth wall breaks that effectively implicate the audience in what's unfolding on screen. The result is far more disturbing than most conventional horrors.

Funny Games is available to stream on Max

Although the movie was remade almost shot-for-shot in 2007, Haneke's German-language original remains the best version of the movie. The extreme violence and bleak tone make Funny Games a polarizing watch. However, for a genuinely chilling home invasion horror movie in the same vein as The Strangers: Chapter 1, the film is hard to top.