Thursday Movie Picks: Home Invasions

It's October so that means it's officially Halloween month over at Wandering Through The Shelves. As you can probably tell, I love Halloween. But Wanderer's first theme is one that I'm actually not crazy about: home invasions. They just make me a bit too uncomfortable for my viewing pleasure. Luckily, there have been a few over the past few years that I've really enjoyed. 

1) Hush

This straight to Netflix horror film changes the home invasion mold slightly by having our protagonist be deaf, and by having our intruder take off his mask and quite literally be like "Oops you saw me, now I have to kill you." It's very twisted and well played. 

2) Don't Breathe

A few misfits make the biggest mistake of their lives when they break into a blind man's house. This film gets serious props for introducing a twist late in the game that shouldn't have worked but just made everything even more fucked up. 

3) Them (Ils)

In all fairness, I haven't seen this movie in years. Them was loosely remade as The Strangers in the U.S but the thing that made this the most disturbing is when they revealed who the killers and their motives really were. I'd like to watch this again. 

Comments

  1. All 3 sound very scary which is why I haven’t seen them:). The one with the blind man sounds good but disturbing as most horror films can be

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't Breathe throws a twist at you towards the end of the film that actually makes you sympathize for the people robbing him. lol

      Delete
  2. Oh look, we match with 2, and I'm not surprised. :D

    I really liked Don't Breathe! I watched both our matching picks last week, and I watched Hush first and felt like I needed... more depth to the characters. And Don't Breathe delivered that with its well crafted script. I was surprised and it made me again like the horror genre a bit more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hush could've used more depth, but I was just really blown away with how much I liked it. I normally dislike this genre and Hush had some gorgeous shots. Plus I love John Gallagher Jr.

      Delete
  3. We share Hush! I haven't seen the other two but they sound good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't Breathe is a really interesting take on this genre.

      Delete
  4. I'm 0 for 3 this time but then home invasion movies aren't usually ones I seek out. They all sound unsettling but decent if you're a fan of the subgenre.

    As I said I'm not much for this type of film and had to root around quite a bit to find three that fit but at least I was finally able to come up with a trio that I like.

    He Ran All the Way (1951)-After a failed stickup during which he kills a cop Nick Robey (John Garfield) ducks into a local public pool house where he strikes up an acquaintance with Peg Dobbs (Shelley Winters). Upon leaving he offers her a cab ride to her home and she invites him in. Discovering he’s pursued he takes Peg and her family hostage leading to a tense standoff holding the police at bay while terrorizing the family. This was the great Garfield’s final film before the stress of being blacklisted lead to his fatal heart attack at only 39.

    The Desperate Hours (1955)-On the run after a prison break Glenn Griffin (Humphrey Bogart), his brother Hal (Dewey Martin) and Sam Kobish (Robert Middleton) break into the suburban Indianapolis home of businessman Dan Hilliard (Fredric March) and his family and take them hostage while they wait for Griffin’s moll to show up with loot for a getaway. What is supposed to be only a few hours stretches into nerve jangling days as the woman doesn’t show. William Wyler directed thriller is a tense suspenser. Badly remade in the 80’s.

    Cul-de-sac (1966)-George (Donald Pleasance) and his much younger French wife Teresa (Françoise Dorléac) live in an isolated castle on a remote tidal island. American gangster Dickey (Lionel Stander) fleeing a botched robbery with his wounded sidekick Albie (Jack MacGowran) cross the causeway at low tide and take over the castle but then the tables turn. Roman Polanski directed this strange thriller with both dramatic and comic overtones. Leading lady Dorléac was Catherine Deneuve’s sister and a rising international star before she was killed in a car crash the year after this was made.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I usually avoid home invasion movies too, so I'm also 0 for 3 on your picks.

      Delete
  5. Hey! We match on Don't Breathe. Based on the lists so far, I think I will add Hush to my watchlist.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh these are some good f--king picks. I've only seen the first two, but goddamn, they were insane. The deaf angle made Hush a million times more f--ked up, and the twist you speak of in Don't Breathe...still makes me want to throw up.

    Them sounds....good? (I liked The Strangers a lot)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've seen all of The Strangers.

      Delete
  7. I'm getting braver with horror movies but I will always struggle with this niche! I've heard so many great things about Don't Breathe though so I'm going to have to brave it this October I think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's worth it! I don't care for this genre but that's an interesting take on it.

      Delete
  8. Brittani,

    I have "Hush" on my Netflix Watch List. The other two I can't find there but will check AmazonPrime. It almost seems like I've seen "Them" but I can't swear to it now. Thanks for the movie suggestions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Correction, I did not see "Them". AmazonPrime has it but it has subtitles. They also have "The Strangers" and I saved it to my watch list.

      Delete
    2. Yes! Them is French so it would be subbed. I hope you like Hush.

      Delete
  9. Yup, we match on the first two. That last one sounds really intriguing. Haven't heard of it before, I don't think, but now I want to find it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I haven't seen these, but they sound scary as hell and fit the theme really well. Nice picks!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hush is on my watchlist for this month, it looks really good. I've heard such good things about Don't Breathe, too. I've always wanted to see Ils, especially because I really liked The Strangers, but I never have.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Don't Breathe is one I want to see...and now I'm curious about the twist.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Batman

Thursday Movie Picks: Wedding Movies

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum