The Strangers

"The Strangers" is quite simply nicely crafted horror. It starts at a slow pace, introducing the characters (a couple played by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) and really letting the tension between them take center stage. It's enthralling from the start, because writer/director Bryan Bertino allows his audience to truly believe the world he has developed... before the masked strangers enter and tear it apart.

While the film, more so towards the ends, does delve into some unfortunate horror cliches, such as the whole "girl falls, gets hurt, limps/crawls away from villain" thing, the majority of The Strangers is really effective. Playing on the fear of home invasion as well as the helplessness we feel from being disconnected from society, Bertino's film--which, in other hands, would come off as a too long chase scene--allows for enough quiet character moments that make this movie both a scary and surprisingly emotional experience.

I'll take this--slow paced, tense, atmospheric horror--over the torture porn drivel that the Saw and Hostel franchises churn out. In a time where horror is sadly becoming synonymous with snuff films, Bryan Bertino came out of no where and delivered a horrific tale about home invasion that doesn't resort to gratuitous gore.

8/10

I remember watching this movie with some friends the weekend it came out. And well, I found myself laughing throughout this entire movie. I annoyed my friends and probably everyone else in the theater, but I found this movie laughable.

Here's the problem I had with the movie; it was supposed to be "based on true events" and yet these killers are more like Jason in Friday the 13th than they are real people. When they walk, they don't make the sounds of foot steps, they can appear and disappear whenever they want, they can see perfectly fine out of those masks, and they move at lightening speed.

The other problem I had with the movie is the people don't act like real people. When Mike shows up and his car gets it's windshield mashed and he notices that the house has been broken into, why doesn't he call the police? Why does he go into the house alone instead of driving for help? Why do the two little boys go into the house at the end and have no reaction to the dead bodies?

It's things like that, that make horror movies like this frustrating and therefore unenjoyable overall.

But it did have some good suspense so it was good for a rental.

"Inspired by true events".True events.Doesn't say it is based on any one true story.Could be inspired by any number/mixture of true crime events.Anyway,The Strangers is a very good home invasion thriller with a few good jumpy moments due not only to the visual surprises,but also the booming fx soundtrack that compliments them perfectly.It stars the beautiful and talented Liv(luckly-she-got-her-looks-from-her-mom)Tyler, seen recently in "HUlk" and Scott(hey...I'm a werewolf AND a vampire...all rolled into ONE!!!)Speedman, from the "Underworld" movies.They are great as a couple in a slightly rocky relationship.Rocky because he asked her to marry him and she said no.Trust me...having his marriage proposal crapped on was the high point of their evening.It just goes down hill from there.Takes place at an isolated country house at night.Creepy young lady knocks on door and is turned away.This moment sets the tense atmosphere for the whole movie.Creepy young lady returns with other creepy folk, and the terror begins.This is not a horror movie gore fest.It is more of a psychological thriller with blood.The first three quarters of the movie is excellent.You can feel their fear grow as they realize what is happening to them.Not to give too much away, but once the boyfriend(Speedman)gets a hold of the shotgun, you have to...well... question some of his actions.From that point on it tends to get a little typical, with him making some of the cliche movie mistakes.But the actors who play the homicidal,masked home invaders are great in their roles.Very unsettling and well worth watching.

The opinions of this movie seem to be all over the place.Speaking for myself, I liked it and am glad I watched it.

The two leads are very good. The suspense is really well set up at the start. The stranger at the door that early morning is really well set up. I had come to care about the husband and wife, wanting to know what the sadness was about. The way the strangers start breaking into their home and their lives is really well set up. And when the horrors start starting to happen, this too is really well set up.

But along about now, I started thinking well this really well set up film is seeming to be a series of its really being well set up. The torture scene was really well set up, and when the strangers took off their masks were well set up, though we didn't see their faces, which probably made no difference anyway, but was kind of annoying.

The opening narration about these brutal events based on fact, reminded me of the opening of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" for some odd reason--the events that were never explained kind of bothered me--but here we go---

And after about an hour and 23 minutes, the boys with their religious tracts find the dead husband and his seemingly dead wife--though there is a surprise!!!--and the stranger in the truck saying we'll do it better next time. I should hope so, but let's not turn this one into a franchise too, ok?

So as the end credits were rolling, I was still waiting for the pay off to all these really good set ups, and realized I had been the one set up.

It is better than "Black Sheep"--cause there is no way in this world to make a sheep scary--no way, nada, uh huh.