Home Invasion Horrors: A History and Analysis of Cinematic Break-Ins - Paperback

by Ryan Izay (Author)

Home invasion narratives have been around nearly as long as cinema itself, popularized by the silent era's "race-to-the-rescue" movies and classic Hollywood's "gangster raid" films, and influenced by the slasher and stalker sub-genres. They emerged as a fully formed sub-genre following the success of major releases like The Strangers (2008) and The Purge (2013), with more than 100 such films issued in the 2010s alone.

Commonalities and differences can be found in the home invasion films featuring criminals, stalkers, and psychopaths, in addition to the inverted and hybrid releases that revise established narratives. This book examines the history, cinematic and societal influences, and reasons for the popularity of home invasion films, offering potential allegorical readings of the narratives and a comprehensive list of these films.

Author Biography

With over 20 years of experience as a film critic and journalist, Ryan Izay started as the Los Angeles representative covering press junkets and red carpets for the UK-based website, Real Movie News, in addition to working as a features writer for Screen Rant, developing list-based articles for Total Nerd at Ranker, and as a staff writer for the horror genre magazine Girls and Corpses. He is a senior adjunct professor in the cinematic arts department at Azusa Pacific University and works remotely for Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida.