Shubhabrata Dutta
Scelerophobia is the fear of burglars and robbers. In other words, it is the fear of home invasion. Over time, horror movies have incorporated this fear in various storylines and given us great home invasion horror flicks. These range from cult classics to new experimental thrillers to horror comedies. In this article, we bring you a list of scary home invasion movies available on HBO Max.
8. Shut In (2016)
A psychological thriller directed by Farren Blackburn, ‘Shut In’ follows Mary (Naomi Watts), the stepmother of Stephen, who is in a vegetative state due to an accident that killed his father, Richard (Charlie Heaton). Besides looking after Stephen, Mary is also a work-from-home child therapist whose latest patient is a deaf-mute child named Tom (Jacob Tremblay), who is struggling to cope with the death of his mother. One night, to Mary’s utter dismay, Tom disappears, and the cops fail to find him. Soon, Mary begins to experience inexplicable occurrences in her house, like hearing sounds and even seeing Tom in the dark. Is it really him, or is it someone else? Has someone broken in, or has someone been inside all along? To find out, you can watch this gripping film right here.
7. The Strangers (2008)
Sometimes, the only reason why you get in trouble is because you are home. In ‘The Strangers’ (the first installment of The Strangers film series), couple James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) are at the former’s isolated childhood home. Despite expecting no one, they soon find themselves in the company of three people: Dollface, Man in the Mask, and Pin-Up Girl. Why are they there? Well, for fun. As for James and Kristen, things are about to get bloody. You can watch ‘The Strangers,’ directed by Bryan Bertino, here to find out how.
6. The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)
Directed by Johannes Roberts, this is a sequel to ‘The Strangers’ (2008) and stars Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman, Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Emma Bellomy, and Damian Maffei. The movie follows Mike, his wife Cindy, and their children Kinsey and Luke as they arrive at a mobile home park in Gaitlin Lake, where Uncle Marvin lives. What is supposed to be a getaway takes the form of a nightmare when three masked people, namely Doll-face, Pin-Up Girl, and The Man in the Mask (also there in the first part), arrive at their doorstep, thirsty for murder. What follows is how the family tries to survive a night of terror at the hands of people who speak not through their mouths but with their axes. You can watch this movie here.
5. Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Belonging to the Evil Dead franchise, one of the most popular horror franchises ever, ‘Evil Dead Rise’ is directed by Lee Cronin and stars Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Lily Sullivan, and Gabrielle Echols. It follows Ellie, a single mother who lives in a condemned apartment with her teenage children, Danny and Bridget. After an earthquake shakes up the building, the children, who discover a concealed chamber in the basement, find a volume of the ‘Book of the Dead’ and phonograph records, in one of which a priest recites incantations to summon demonic entities. Soon, Ellie is possessed by something sinister and dies only to return from the dead as a monster bent on killing everyone around, including her children and her younger sister, Beth. But it all depends on letting her inside the apartment where Beth and the kids are. A slasher/home invasion horror film, ‘Evil Dead Rise,’ can be watched here.
4. Funny Games (1997)
There is something about the visual quality of the 90s horror films that makes them more appealing and organic. This is especially applicable to ‘Funny Games,’ an Austrian film directed by Michael Haneke. When the Schobers (Georg (Ulrich Mühe), his wife Anna (Susanne Lothar), and their son Georgie (Devon Gearhart)) arrive at their holiday home for a vacation, they expect a peaceful stay. But fate has something else for something in store for them in the form of two weird boys named Paul (Arno Frisch) and Peter (Frank Giering), who love to play sadistic games. What makes things worse is that one of the boys interacts with the viewers, making us complicit in their schemes. You can watch ‘Funny Games’ here.
3. The Cheshire Murders (2013)
A documentary film directed by David Heilbroner and Kate Davis, ‘The Chesire Murders’, showcases the horrific case of triple murder and arson in Cheshire, Connecticut, that took place on July 23, 2007. Linda Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky invaded the home of the Petit family, i.e., William, his wife Jennifer, and their daughters, 7-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela. Jennifer and Michaela were sexually assaulted, after which Linda and Joshua lit the house on fire to remove all evidence of the chaos they had created before escaping. William was the only one who survived. The documentary also shows the trials of the criminals and what led to their life imprisonment, not the death penalty. A film that is sure to get you enraged and hurt and leave you emotionally worn out, ‘The Cheshire Murders’ can be watched right here.
2. Panic Room (2002)
Directed by David Fincher, ‘Panic Room’ is considered a cult thriller starring Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, and Dwight Yoakam. The film centers on a mother-daughter (Foster and Stewart, respectively) duo who move into their new mansion of a home in New York City’s Upper West Side. Surprisingly, it has a hi-tech panic room with four concrete walls, a thick steel door, its own ventilation system, and surveillance monitors to keep an eye on every corner of the house. It can be used as a safe room for the occupants in case of intrusion. As fate would have it, the house is breached by a gang of three thieves, and the mother-daughter duo make their way inside the room. However, it seems that what the thieves are looking for is inside the room as well. This gives rise to two questions for each party: the thieves think about how to enter the panic room, and the mother-daughter duo think about how to keep them from entering it. To find out who succeeds, you can watch ‘Panic Room’ here.
1. Parasite (2019)
This Oscar-winning Korean film stars Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Park Seo-joon, Kang Ho Song, Park So-dam, and Choi Woo-shik. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, this film follows two families, one rich and one poor. The low-income family’s son makes his way into the wealthy household by forging the usual documents and pretending to be a teacher for the wealthy family’s daughter. He even manages to get his family hired as professionals by the rich family. A successful home invasion calls for a celebration, especially with the wealthy family out on a trip, but things take a dark turn when it is revealed that a stranger has been living in the basement for a long time. A brilliant take on the home invasion horror genre, ‘Parasite’ is one of a kind. You can watch it here.
Read More: Best Horror Documentaries on HBO Max
