Top 10 Homebound Horror Films

Ah, we’re still spending our time indoors, in a place we call our home. It’s safe, you feel protected, it’s comfortable with food, clothes, water, and throughout the ups and downs of this pandemic, for some of us it has been stable. For others, it’s been unlucky and that is quite a shame. My very empathetic heart goes out to those who are struggling.

I didn’t know exactly what to talk about for Wednesday, it has been ROUGH mentally for the past few days and I’m on a “social media” ban or detox so I’m not on IG as much. However, I will be updating and posting mostly on this blog’s account just to keep things kind of moving. But back to what I was gonna say earlier, unsure about what topic to do since I haven’t been watching a lot of anything horror related for a little bit so I decided to use a generator prompt. These are used for writing and since I am writing, I took the first prompt to make this.

“Home”.

How fitting.

And then I thought, what are some good horror movies that take place in a central location like a home (or house)? I wrote down as many films as I could think of, most of which I have seen so I can give some input and rank them, separating them from top 10 list and honorable mentions.

So here we are, my 10 Homebound Horror films that you should check out.

10. You’re Next (2011) – The kills in this movie are wild, from the cold open to the end.

09. Hush (2016) – I saw this years ago on Netflix with a friend, I just remember how scary it was to watch a young author (who is also deaf), fight for her life against a masked killer.

08. The Haunting (1963) – A great classic black and white film, full of supernatural elements and a tragic ending for one character. Though when you manifest over and over, it comes true. 

07. Night of the Living Dead (1968) – The majority of the film does take place at a farmhouse. The living dead rise and terrorize survivors in this 1968 Romero classic.

06. Crawl (2019) – A hurricane forces a young swimmer to search for her father while trying to hide from alligators in Florida.

05. Wait Until Dark (1967) – I saw this film in high school and it left a huge effect on me. And yes, we as a class JUMPED at that specific scene. There’s a doll with drugs in it, Audrey Hepburn is great and Alan Arkin is… shudders.

04. Black Christmas (1974) – Classic holiday horror, I’m still very upset by the ending. This is personally one of my favorite films from the decade.

03. The Changeling (1980) – Another film reviewed before and has some staying power. Also quite underrated as well for early 80s horror.

02. The Strangers (2008)  – “Because you were home.” That one line is enough to still terrify me.

01. Host (2020) – Reviewed this film previously, I still think it’s one of the best watches of 2020.

Now with those films listed and these are my personal opinions based on what I like, there are TONS of other honorable mentions that would round out the rest of a top 20-30 and perhaps some of these are on your list, too. If you haven’t seen any of these, they are worth a check out. It’s a mixed bag, hopefully you’ll find something you like.

Honorable Mentions
Scream (1996)
Burnt Offerings (1976)
When a Stranger Calls (1979)
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Lake Mungo (2008)
House (1985)
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
The Others (2001)
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Crimson Peak (2015)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Rose Red (2002)
Poltergeist (1982)
Night of the Demons (1988)

Horror films, whether supernatural, slasher, thriller, or psychological that take place in a home are scary. There’s horror in a foreign place scary, and horror in a place you deem as “safe” scary and when that happens, anything can happen. 

What are some of your favorites? Were they listed? Did I forget any? I’m sure I did! Leave a comment below and let’s discuss!