They were just playing - Ils (2006)

AKA Them

We begin one night in Romania. A mother and daughter are arguing on the drive home. The mother has to swerve to avoid something in the road and she crashes the car in to a lamp post. The engine won't start so she gets out, lifts the bonnet and asks her daughter to try the engine. It doesn't start. She tries again. Her mother goes silent. She gets out of the car and her mother has disappeared. She hears something in the woods so she gets back in the car but someone has taken the key and they've locked her in.

This opener, and much of the other scenes, would not look out of place in Scream. Except without the music and jokes...and they're Romanian. And French! Now we meet our main characters; a French teacher, Clementine and her writer husband, Lucas. They settle down to a nice evening of frolics but they don't realise that all the while, the door was open.
Clementine goes down stairs during the night and she receives a 'silent' phone call. Later, they hear noises outside and someone steals their car. After they report it to the police all the lights go out.

Super clever directing with a 'now you see them, now you don't' approach. In one scene Lucas is hammering on the door, begging to be let back in. He keeps looking over his shoulder, nothing there. Looks again, nothing. Clementine gets the door open and then you see behind Lucas. One of Them is standing there.

Ils is scary because it plays on a basic fear. It says it's based on a true story but I assume it is merely loosely based on several stories much like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There are more obvious similarities too, between this and The Strangers or Funny Games. Certainly almost as disturbed as the latter. The emphasis on being played with by calm, amused lunatics and the growing popularity of the home invasion film. Here though there is another aspect of innocence, without giving too much away.

And what could be more scary? Your home is the one place you can feel safe and relaxed. Shut the door and people assume no one will come in. Sometimes people are wrong.