"Dinner parties: they're lots of fun until suddenly, at a certain point of the night, they're not anymore. They're awkward until they're comfortable, or comfortable until they're awkward. It's not surprising that so many horror movies are set around a dinner table because it's a place where social conventions are heightened, and the status quo reigns supreme. What better way to subtly hint that a character is sinister than by making them push our hero out of their comfort zone, asking them to stay longer when they're ready to go, or forcing them into a conversation that reveals their true intention?
The dinner table is where the nuclear family is imagined to naturally gather, and therefore, it's the perfect symbol to disrupt on screen in big ways and small ones. Here are ten horror movies that skillfully employ the dinner party as a gateway to horror."
