This article dredges the ‘reservoirs of dogma’ and ‘symbolic lagoons of social fears’ to locate the ‘home invasion’ film genre within its diachronic and synchronic contexts. As such, we will first situate these films as part of the historical tradition of Gothic literature. This allows us to unpack the ways in which the depictions of the ‘home’ and ‘homeliness’ in Gothic literature and the ‘home invasion’ genre problematise constructions of identity and category formation. Secondly, exploring the genre in its contemporaneous socio-cultural setting allows us to see how particular social traumas are manifest in popular culture. These dimensions are explored by focusing on three key examples and their subsequent remakes: The Last House on the Left, Straw Dogs and Funny Games.
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