Guest Editorial - Bad Places to Hide When Killers Come Home - Adrian Rawlings

Bad Places to Hide When Killers Come Home

Beyond the nightmarish yesteryears of werewolf transformations and hypnotic vampires is the true horror – the kind that finds its way into our homes. They say that home is where the heart is – it's where we feel safest from all the horrors of the outside world, but it's also where we're the most vulnerable. And the most effective horror movies demonstrate this. The horror-themed TV shows and movies of today know just how to hit us where we live, showing us that nowhere is safe when death comes knocking. Even Alfred Hitchcock himself once said "TV has brought murder back into the home where it belongs."

Indeed, truer words were never spoken regarding the effectiveness of horror on the home front, but have you ever wondered just what you'd do in such a (hopefully) hypothetical situation? Have you ever watched Jason or Leatherface chasing down their prey and scoffed at how poorly the victims hid themselves? We can learn a lot from these movies and, below, are some hiding places you should avoid if a killer ever decides to make a house call:

Under and in the bed

When you're little, you're told that the bed is a safe place. When something outside your window scares you, you pull the covers over your face and, if things get really bad, you take a trip down under. Unfortunately, that doesn't work with most killers capable of bending at the waist. Ginny from Friday the 13th Part 2 tried this and barely made it out alive.

In the oven

If Jurassic Park and Deep Blue Sea were anything to go by, it's pretty safe to say the oven is a bad idea. Both movies featured rather unconventional murderers pursuing their victims into what some might consider unconventional hiding places. While it worked out okay in these movies, do you really want to test a killer smart enough to hit BROIL on the oven?

Behind the curtain

Not only is it hard to remain perfectly still without your body bulging out of the curtain, killers in movies have used this method when evading the authorities. The 1982 cult classic Pieces demonstrated this when the killer did that very same thing. The point is that if killers can fathom it, it's probably off the table when it comes to safe hiding places.

On the Roof

So you lead the killer up to the roof and now you think you're golden. You've got plenty of space to move around up there and there's only one of him. Heck, you might be able to turn the tables and push him off, right? Perhaps in some fantasy world where his chainsaw runs out of gas and he drops his machete. World War Z and many movies like it demonstrated the inherent flaw with escaping to the roof. After all, when you're up that high, you're stranded and there may not be a chopper coming to save you.

Down in the Basement

Anyone who has seen the original Night of the Living Dead knows that one major point of contention between the survivors was whether to hole up in the basement or reinforce the upstairs. In the end, the basement proved to be a poor decision and regardless of whether your tormentor is of the undead or living variety, the fact remains that the basement is the easiest way to get cornered.

Honestly, the last place you want to be is anywhere near the house when a killer decides to swing by. Unfortunately, death doesn't send a card and you never know whose knocking from the other side of that door...

AUTHOR: Adrian Rawlings; @adrianrawlings2

BIO: Adrian Rawlings is a TV and horror blogger. Look to him for the scoop on hit movies and TV shows, horror films, tech reviews, how-to guides, and more.