7. The Strangers (2008)
Bryan Bertinos spooky hit has Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman spend a night in hell when their remote house is taken over by 3 masked miscreants who came knocking on their door late in the evening. The happening Bertino took inspiration from was during his own childhood, where one night a total stranger knocked on his door and left with the excuse of a wrong address. An argument could be made that the stranger was in fact one Chris Columbus who left the house with his tail between his leg after having been burned, nailed, knocked with paint cans and led to believe an old black and white film clip was an actual machine gun-toting gangster. In any case, the film's sordid storyline was entirely dreamed-up by Bertino.