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Nato And Remy’s Last Stand: Home Invasion Horror

With The Purge and You're Next right around the corner, Remy and I thought now would be an appropriate time to discuss "home invasion horror." You know, those films that show a family or group of people minding their own business in either their own house or someone else's, only to have some sick, twisted bastards show up and crank the horror knob up a few notches. Whether it's a robbery, for fun, in honor of Satan, or for any reason, home invasion films are effective because of the terrifying realism that anyone can break into your house at any time. Your home is supposed to represent safety, a sanctuary from the outside world if you will, so the utter thought that someone can just barge in and threaten your safety at will is prime material for a horror flick, causing nothing but irrational fear. Sorry, did you want to sleep tonight or something?

The Prowler from Black Christmas (1974)

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Time to meet a home invader that lives in your home, calls your phone screaming perverted sexual threats, kills housemates one by one, and does so during the most joyous of holidays – Christmas.

Black Christmas happens to be one of my favorite horror films, so it’s no surprise that I include “The Prowler” on my list of horrifying home invaders. Living in the attic of a sorority house, “The Prowler” lures his victims away from the group one by one, killing them off in brutal fashion. Not only dabbling in physical violence though, he also repeatedly calls the house as I mentioned before, psychologically tormenting the girls as they attempt to prevent becoming the next victim.

I do have to specify this only goes for Bob Clark’s 1974 version though, because 2006’s remake absolutely destroyed all the ambiguous tension that made Black Christmas so terrifying. A completely different beast of a film, and not a good one in my opinion, the “remake” took too many creative liberties that just didn’t have a solid leg to stand on. Stick with the original!