10 Home Invasion Horror Movies With A Twist

2. Don't Breathe (2016)

Martyrs 2008
Sony Pictures Releasing

Essentially the inverse of Hush, Fede Álvarez's Don't Breathe (2016) demonstrates the dangers of underestimating those without all five senses, and shows how the little old man is not always the victim, or even necessarily the good guy.

Young criminal trio Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette) and Money (Daniel Zovatto) break into an old blind man's (Stephen Lang) house in an abandoned neighbourhood following rumours of a safe with a big payday inside. Expecting easy pickings, they are soon besieged by the army vet, whose home has more secrets than the safe can hold, and whose skills have only heightened without the use of his eyes.

All of the assumptions in the first act of the movie turn into weapons used against the invaders: the empty neighbourhood ensuring nobody will come to their aid, the dark and dingy house favouring those used to using their other senses, and the blind man operating alone with nobody to temper his worst instincts. He's got the skills of Liam Neeson, the senses of Daredevil and, as seems to be the case with so many of cinema's home invasion victims these days, has someone chained up in the basement.

To say they never saw him coming is an understatement.

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