The Strangers

If you thought The Happening was slow, this one moves at a glacial pace.

One big question - where do these people live, with no neighbors who call police after hearing screams, shotgun blasts, splintering wood, and exploding car windows? If they live in the middle of nowhere, it would have been nice to tell us that. Instead, any city-dweller viewer is going to wonder when the police are going to show up.

Behold the stupidest human being on the face of planet - the friend of the lead actor. If you arrived at a friend's house, and a second after shutting off your car, your rear window explodes accompanied by a shotgun blast, would you:
a) Start your car and hightail it out of there
b) Duck under the dashboard and phone 911 on your cell
c) Get out of your car and walk cautiously walk toward your friend's house asking "is anyone there?".
If you answered C, then it's only a matter of time before the Darwin Theory does what it's supposed to do and removes you from the food chain.

Note to horror film makers - if you want to make people empathize with characters that are going to die, make them likeable and interesting. We get to know little or nothing about the two leads in this film, and therefore we don't care what happens to them.

I went to the theatre to see this movie, and I found myself constantly jumping. The acting is great. The lighting and music are scary. The pace is perfect. The "strangers" are terrifying. I bought this dvd as soon as it came out. It was definitely worth the $20 I spent for it.

The Strangers started off terrifying throughout the beginning and the middle, with the elements of being stalked at night with 3 killers. That's scary, but trust me towards the end, the film lost it's horror element. Don't see this film if you loved VACANCY, because this was supposed to be absolutely terrifying.

There isn't much plot to speak of regarding this film, but that doesn't mean there isn't an intense film here to be viewed (and not alone I might add).

Amazon's description of the film is enough let me just get to my hits and misses format on this one:

The Hits:

1. This film is very atmospheric and those are the best kinds of horror flicks for this horror movie fan.

2. In spite of a bare bones plot of a couple whose relationship is at a crossroads when they are held captive and tortured for a night, this is quite a lot to this film. The dialogue is often believable, considering the situation, and the use of noise/sound is expertly done in the film (I can't give you more here without giving away too much of the story).

3. The film is very deliberately paced with excruciatingly slow moments that build suspense to fast-paced moments that you wish would slow down.

4. The acting is first-rate.

5. The direction is solid and confident.

6. The setting is extremely claustrophobic in spite of the few outdoor scenes that are juxtaposed to the inside shots and where most of the action takes place.

7. The faceless "strangers" are a throw back to the Halloween and Friday the 13th era of slasher films.


The Misses:

1. The ending is vague and stupid. This seems to be my usual complaint with movies today. You get an intense story, believable and likable characters, and solid writing and directing until you get to the end where you stare stupidly at the screen and say, "That's it? You're ending it there? You're kidding, right?"

2. My attitude is if you are going to push the "based on a true story" form of advertising and prologue statement, then you dang well better tell me what the resolution was and not leave me hanging. Just how did the "true story" end?

I had been waiting anxiously to watch this, since it was released at the theatres, and never got a chance to go. Finally, I was able to rent it, and.......... wow. Bummer. It felt like I kept waiting for something to happen. Very disappointing, in my opinion.