Weekly Theme

Weekly Theme for August 3: Home Invasion

I got this idea after catching a advanced screening of a new film that came out this past weekend. I won't give too much away but the basic plot is a burglar breaks into a house to find it severely booby trapped.... No, I'm not talking about a new sequel to Home Alone. This film was called The Collector. It was basically the newest installation to the Saw series slasher flicks. Actually it was pretty sub-par in most respects but it did give me the idea for this week.

I am talking about all those films that make my wife keep checking that the door's locked every 15 minutes. There's definately something much more frightning about the bad guy actually making into your house. That's supposed to be base.

It's been a while since I've scene it, but I think Straw Dogs is one of the best examples of using that setting to create a very uncomfortable feeling.

So what of it?? I know there's quite a few more horror/slasher films I've left off  but I am also really interested if anyone could name any non

Re:Weekly Theme for August 3: Home Invasion

Emery, you HAVE seen the personal statement that has always been on my profile haven't you?

Re:Weekly Theme for August 3: Home Invasion

Risselada:

Emery, you HAVE seen the personal statement that has always been on my profile haven't you?

Yes of course I have and I have to admit that I thought of you and your brilliant observations while watching The Collector last week.

Pancakes,

Emery

Re:Weekly Theme for August 3: Home Invasion

leeroy711:

Risselada:

Emery, you HAVE seen the personal statement that has always been on my profile haven't you?

Yes of course I have and I have to admit that I thought of you and your brilliant observations while watching The Collector last week.

Pancakes,

Emery

Hah, yeah I just read the synopsis for The Collector!  Too bad you say it wasn't that good.  The first two Home Alone movies were amongst the most watched in my youth and I still like to put them in around every Christmas.  It was actually during one of these Christmas parties watching Home Alone that I shouted out suddenly "Ever seen the movie Straw Dogs?"  I guess something about how or when I said it was amusing the the company and they would repeat it around me, so I kind of took it on as my catch phrase.  The home invasion parts were of course the centerpieces for the Home Alone movies though and every child's delight.  Basically it was like the sillyness of a human cartoon, but with all of the human pain.

I'm surprised that you made this the weekly topic this week while you are at the same time running your Michael Haneke marathon and didn't even bring up Funny Games!  Now that is a home invasion movie if I ever saw one!!

Also, I've never seen it, but from what I know about the plot of Panic Room, it sounds applicable too.  Has anyone seen it?  I find David Fincher to be a capable director, although after seeing The Game I can't say that all of the plots he takes on are that believable.

Anyone ever heard of or seen Lady in a Cage?  I haven't but I love the idea of the plot.

Re:Weekly Theme for August 3: Home Invasion

Fargo features a rather memorable home invasion, both hilarious and unsettling--everything you'd expect from those dastardly Coens. It's probably one of the best scenes in that movie.

Re:Weekly Theme for August 3: Home Invasion

Risselada:

Also, I've never seen it, but from what I know about the plot of Panic Room, it sounds applicable too.  Has anyone seen it?  I find David Fincher to be a capable director, although after seeing The Game I can't say that all of the plots he takes on are that believable.

When I saw Panic Room in the theater I felt that it was lacking in some sense. It seemed to end on such a low note that made me feel cheated somehow. But after repeat viewings I've grown to reasonable appreciate it. I think the use of digital effects used to make the brownstone feel both enormous yet claustrophobic could have been used a little more sparingly (all the swooping through railings and down vent shafts and through tiny cracks seemed a little too forced and put in just for the sake of showing the advancements in FX).

Re:Weekly Theme for August 3: Home Invasion

All the ones that immediately come to mind have been stated.

Some other good examples are:

The People Under the Stairs - This was one of those movies I never sat down and actually watched all the way through until a few years ago. Growing up it was on television all the time. I remember seeing bits and pieces of it and getting scared and changing the channel. There is so much random shit going on in the film that I actually thought the parts I had seen were from completely disparate movies. The poor black family planning to rob a wealthy family, the freaky brother sister bondage craziness, the alien like monsters living under the stairs - its just insane. But watching it all together its easily become a favorite guilty pleasure of mine.

The Strangers - I really liked this one. The wholesomeness of Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman mixed with the depravity of the intruders and those even freakier masks they wear was just plain unnerving.

Last House on the Left - Didn't see the remake but the original was good enough.

I Spit on Your Grave - This one struck me as very similar in parts to Straw Dogs in various aspects. The local townies finding an innocent woman to brutalize and the ultimate retribution that follows.

The Edukators - Fun little foreign flick about a bunch of radical activists that decide to break into wealthy homes and cause chaos but without actually stealing anything.

The Ref - Don't really remember this one except that Denis Leary is his usual jive talking self and holds a couple hostage in their own home. Need to check it out again.