10 Home Invasion Horror Movies That Broke All The Rules

10. Hush - Limited Senses, Heightened Tension

Often a lot of the tension in a home invasion scenario comes from the sound. You would first realise someone was breaking into your house if you heard your door being broken down or a window being smashed, for example, and then go on to wait in terror as you hear footsteps creeping closer to the closet you’re hiding in.

Hush’s protagonist, Maddie, lost her hearing and ability to speak after contracting meningitis as a teen. After a visit from a buddy of hers one evening, she is visited by someone far less friendly; a masked killer murders her friend and then becomes intent on picking Maddie off too.

Living in the back end of nowhere, Maddie is not in the prime position to get help when someone is trying to break in and murder her, and with the added problem of not being able to hear her attacker moving around there are some horribly tense moments that leave you shouting at the screen, “he’s behind you!”

The one spoiler I’ll give for this movie is that it does manage to subvert another expectation. You know her beloved cat companion? Fortunately he manages to survive!