The Strangers

Bryan Bertino's debut film "The Strangers" is among the most frightening American horror movies I have seen released since 2000.

Starting with a serious disappointment in "love", young almost newlywed Kristen McKay (Liv Tyler) and her amazingly stoic would-be fiancee Scott Speedman (James Hoyt) retreat to their vacation home in a remote wooded area to get it together. After a close friend's wedding, Scott proposed to Kristen and was rejected.

The symbolism is appropriate for the events to come--rose petals scattered around champagne bottles, the now humiliating box in which a marriage ring is held--beauty and security rejected and destroyed. And me oh my, is it.

The only time the viewer gets a close shot at one of the "Stranger" when both characters are home: a nondescript blond woman pounds on the door and asks: "Is Tamra home?" When Scott answers no, she smirks a bit in the darkness and replies "Are you sure?"
Using the eerie backdrop of vinyl records skipping and ceaseless pounding at the door, the nameless killers (who wear childlike Halloween masks) launch an all out assault on the senses, souls, and physical safety of the two. I was convinced that at some point Bertino would make a mistake and reveal the identity of the family? doing this: he never drops the ball once. Even with the predictably stupid decisions made by the two protagonists, this is a great horror movie.

QUICK PLOT - Young couple is terrorized "By Strangers" in remote summer cabin.

Extremely well made movie about a young couple that is staying in a remote summer home, when suddenly there is a "LOUD" bang on the door at 4 AM. A mysterious creepy girl is at the door asking for an unknown person - and everything for this couple goes downhill from there!

Much of the thrill of this movie is the INCREDIBLE tension it creates through the effective use of darkness, music, creepy sounds, and the "unknown" of what's next.....

This movie will stick with you - and will make you think about being careful when being in places that are too dark or remote.

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.