For the 40th week of 2018 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks series hosted by Wanderer. It’s the first week of the 2018 Halloween edition as the theme is home invasion where the home of a person or a family is invaded and things go horribly wrong. Even where something bad is happening at the house to the people at the home or those who invade the home. Here are my three picks:
1. The Last House on the Left
Wes Craven’s debut film which was inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring revolves around a group of criminals who torture two teenage girls where they later go to the home of one of the girls. What happens is that these gang of criminals just found themselves in the wrong place and at the wrong time where they get what is coming to them. It’s a unique take on Bergman’s film but also proves the gift that Craven would have in the world of horror and suspense.
2. Knock Knock
A remake of an obscure 1977 film called Death Game, Eli Roth’s home invasion film is about what happens when a good man invites two stranded young women into his house where he tries to help them only to get himself into some serious shit. Even as he is seduced by these two women and his life goes into ruins as it once again play into a lesson. Never open the door to strangers no matter how fucking attractive they are.
3. Don't Breathe
From Fede Alvarez is a film where a trio of young criminals go into the home of a blind man thinking he has some big money in his home. Yet, what they would find is something very different as they become the hunted. Even as the blind man can sense things in his home and no one who invades his home is safe. It’s an inventive horror film with a lot of chills as well as elements that play into what this man could be hiding.
© thevoid99 2018
This is rough for me viewing wise since I'm neither a horror fan nor much for home invasion films, too unsettling, so I've seen none of these. Don't Breathe is popular today. I've had multiple opportunities to see Last House on the Left and always passed, I'm sure that will never change.
ReplyDeleteSince I'm not too knowledgeable on the subject I had to go on the hunt but found three that are more in the thriller/drama vein but still hew to the theme.
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.
These are tough for me to watch. And Eli Roth, oof.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any of these but Don't Breathe is already on my list and Craven's film sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteLast House on the Left is way too rapey for my taste. We match on Don't Breathe though! Great film.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking "Knock Knock" we watched several years ago and it was just a crazy mess. I didn't like how it went, either. This is one movie that didn't have a happy ending. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAs you know, we share Don't Breathe. Fantastic film. I don't love Last House on the Left as much as many others, but I get how influential it is and how it helped propel Wes Craven, so good pick there, as well. Haven't seen your other pick.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t seen any of these but I’m most familiar with the last one and unsure I want to see it.
ReplyDeleteI’m watching Don’t Breathe very soon.
ReplyDelete@joel65913-I haven't seen your picks but I have seen Michael Cimino's remake of Desperate Hours which was OK.
ReplyDelete@Jay-Yeah, Eli Roth isn't for everyone.
@Cathy Kennedy-Of course it didn't have a happy ending but then again, this is what happen when you open your doors to strangers.
@Wendell-I'm glad we share Don't Breathe.
@Birgit-Eli Roth is someone you have to watch with caution as he can be gory but this is not one of his gorier films.
@vinnie harris-Hooray!