The Lonely Villa

Surprisingly suspenseful home invasion film.

Has all the basic elements of good pacing and suspense so no wonder it still holds up well. Quite a few funny elements like the using carts when the car breaks down. You can almost feel like you are watching a live action version of tom and jerry.

Hardly Griffith's first suspense picture, and not as good as some of his later ones, but the iconic early hit of the genre. Last-minute-rescues had been the hot new thing for a little bit already, as had crosscutting. Really, the main thing that Griffith brought to the table was a much better sense of pacing and how to orchestrate the parallel action to drive the tension of things. It's one thing to show that more than one thing is happening, it's another to *use* that for good dramatic effect.

Probably the first home invasion movie. It's primitive, but it works, the same way PANIC ROOM or FUNNY GAMES or for that matter HOME ALONE works. Griffith was the first film guy to really figure out how to push our buttons.

It's a bit silly and over the top, but still effective at conveying an urgency that few films of its time managed to do.

It only just occurred to me that Griffith was making horror movies long before anyone knew what that meant.

One of the earliest examples of Griffith's love of crosscutting, and it's pretty effective. Short length also makes it worth a watch.

Gotta love the invention of intercutting. Dramatic as hell still today