The Strangers (2008)

45% of critics liked it
(148 reviews)
48% of users liked it
(294,157 ratings)

A suburban couple returning to their semi-secluded house after attending a wedding finds their lives suddenly thrown into chaos with the arrival of three malevolent, masked strangers in director Bryan Bertino's tense tale of survival. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman star as the couple forced to resort… More A suburban couple returning to their semi-secluded house after attending a wedding finds their lives suddenly thrown into chaos with the arrival of three malevolent, masked strangers in director Bryan Bertino's tense tale of survival. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman star as the couple forced to resort to violence they never thought themselves capable of as they struggle for their lives, and model-turned-actress Gemma Ward continues her transition from the catwalk to the silver screen as one of the merciless masked invaders. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Bryan Bertino
Written By: Bryan Bertino
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Horror

In Theaters: May 29, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Oct 21, 2008
Studio: Universal Pictures

Critic Reviews

Claudia Puig, USA Today
The Strangers has a couple of scares, but it's not anywhere near as frightening as advertised. The creepy folks of the title are more fumbling than fiendish.
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle
At least it's short.
Bob Mondello, NPR.org
A sadistic, unmotivated home-invasion flick.
, Ebert & Roeper
Don't let the attractive cast, the slick look or the 'inspired by true events' nonsense mislead you. The Strangers is a despicable and mean-spirited practical joke.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
Kind of like what The Shining might be if you took out the ESP. And the ghosts. And the chilling atmosphere. So call it The Sucking.
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
I like watching snakes eat mice just as much as the next fella, maybe even more, but The Strangers turns the gobble-'em-up into an ordeal. It's a fraud from start to finish.
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
Writer-director Bertino just wants to scare our pants off, and succeeds admirably.
Nick Rogers, Suite101.com
There?s no better feet-on-the-seat execution for the home-invasion genre than this. "The Strangers" twists the knife with scenes lasting a beat longer than normal to maximize dread and sound design excavating a hole in your cortex and nestling there.
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
Grinding and suffocating
Tom Meek, Boston Phoenix
Bryan Bertino's psycho-thriller gets the job done for nearly two-thirds of its length. But when it shows its hand, it folds.
JoBlo, JoBlo's Movie Emporium
An extremely effective claustrophobic horror picture that starts slow but ultimately provides us with plenty of suspense all the way through to its very dark ending.
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
I can't say the new ending is any worse than what you already saw in the theaters from a violence standpoint, but the brief addition seems a little more satisfying.
Brent Simon, Screen International
An effectively grim, exceedingly well-made horror thriller.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Nerve-jangling horror flick that wrings maximum scares out of its simple premise, thanks to strong direction and superb performances from Speedman and Tyler.
David Medsker, Bullz-Eye.com
You have to admit, it's a unique approach to a horror film, though not ultimately a fulfilling one.
Pete Hammond, Boxoffice Magazine
A retread of just about every home-invasion movie of the past 50 years mixed with elements of torture porn and chick-flick romance.
James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
When the film is this effective, it's hard to complain.
James Verniere, Boston Herald
[A] cheapo, shaky-cam knockoff of a horror film from foreign shores.
Charlotte O'Sullivan, This is London
A good-looking, sophisticated, if somewhat pointless addition to the slasher-horror genre.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

John M

Pretty creepy movie but watch the movie Them (ills) for a better version. I like it but just really could have been better.
BG Movie Reviews 2

To briefly sum up the film for those people with little time or short attention spans, here is a brief summary: it's an average flick with some jumpy moments and a lack of story. Now, for people with more time and are happy to read that little bit more, here is the usual more… More
To briefly sum up the film for those people with little time or short attention spans, here is a brief summary: it's an average flick with some jumpy moments and a lack of story. Now, for people with more time and are happy to read that little bit more, here is the usual more detailed review! The Strangers is just one of those films you wonder what was going through the director's head when they made this! The Strangers is a sort of Slasher film about a night where a guy proposes to his girlfriend, is rejected, and then they all start getting attacked by people with masks on their faces, as you do! Really, it's not that great a film; it provides few scares, little point and a lack of violence as well! It would probably have been acceptable had it actually had more of a story to it, other than the random terrorisation. The story is sort of believable, but leaves you thinking of a few questions you would want to ask the main characters: "If you could run out of the house, why didn't you run away from the attackers?", "Why didn't you leave earlier when things began to get weird?" and "Is there a possibility that the events would have been different had she said yes to the proposal?" But we can only wonder, and what I would like to leave you with is this: don't watch it, unless you need a little bit of light entertainment to pass 1 hour and a bit!
Melvin W

Kristen: Why are you doing this to us? Dollface: Because you were home. "Lock the door. Pretend your safe." When I originally watched this in theaters a few years back, I remember really liking it. Watching again, I don't really see why I liked it so much. It… More
Kristen: Why are you doing this to us? Dollface: Because you were home. "Lock the door. Pretend your safe." When I originally watched this in theaters a few years back, I remember really liking it. Watching again, I don't really see why I liked it so much. It isn't nearly as good as I had it built up to be. Still, it is a fairly decent horror film. The villains are well done; but the story really isn't. There are some good individual scenes that have a few scares, but for the most part it is just a more violent episode of Tom and Jerry. The biggest problem I have with this is the fact that the director didn't believe he could scare us without constant jump scares. One or two, okay; nine or ten, it is just getting obsessive. The story takes place in a country home. Soon after returning home from a wedding, James and Kristen begin to hear knocks on their door. Then they start seeing people in masks, "I don't know, fucking masks!" Then the events start to escalate. It's pretty similar to Funny Games, but way better because it knows what it is and isn't a pretentious piece of shit. I would have liked the movie more had the writing been slightly better. The characters are written like they are a couple of twelve year olds and not fully grown adults. For the most part this is an average home invasion horror film. There's been better, there's been worse. It's not a movie that needs to be watched, unless you're a fan of horror films and you want to see it just so you've seen it.
J P

I didn't really like it. It was kind of boring and the storyline was really pointless. A group of random people torture a couple without a legitimate reason, then some religious boys give them a brochure? Whaaaat theeee fuckkkkk? I guess the movie was purposely trying to not make… More
I didn't really like it. It was kind of boring and the storyline was really pointless. A group of random people torture a couple without a legitimate reason, then some religious boys give them a brochure? Whaaaat theeee fuckkkkk? I guess the movie was purposely trying to not make sense. It was a dull movie and really cliche.
Cameron S

The Strangers is a house invasion film about a couple who return home after a wedding to find three masked strangers ready to torment them. If the cover was anything to go by 'The Strangers' had promise, not only because of the mysterious title but because of the cool masked… More
The Strangers is a house invasion film about a couple who return home after a wedding to find three masked strangers ready to torment them. If the cover was anything to go by 'The Strangers' had promise, not only because of the mysterious title but because of the cool masked man sandwiched between two masked females also wearing pretty cool masks. On closer inspection I noticed the font being used is the same as the font used in the 'Twilight' series, I should of taken this as some kind of warning about the film but I chose to disregard it as an insignifigant detail. The two main characters in the film are a couple going throught some rough times, it's not really a spoiler to say the man of the relationship proposed and was declined by his 'loving' girlfriend. I'm guessing the reason for this development is for the viewer to feel some sympathy or connection to the characters, I think however it takes away from the film, I mean, what would you care about more: Some sad ass bitches who you don't even like being tormented or a happily engaged couple getting their precious lives destroyed? Personally I'd choose to torture the happy fools as they have more too lose, but maybe that's just me. The unlikable characters is just one of the many probems I can think of within 'The Strangers', the second is how un-scary it is, you can see most of the scares coming and even if you can't they don't work (although Harry Ward did jump at one). Another problem with the film is the running length, although it's only 90 minutes or so it's feels far to long and has many un-needed scenes that could of easily been removed. For all it's faults though 'The Strangers' isn't a horrible movie, it was a fairly enjoyable 90 minutes although it would of been a much more enjoyable 70 minutes, the final scene featuring the couple and the strangers is the best in the film as it gives you a little insight into the strangers mentatility, even if it does try a bit to hard to get you thinking.
Eric A

The Strangers, oh The Strangers......I had so much hope in you! This movie started out very well and even proceeded to be okay until the sudden ending. I was really surprised at how short the movie was, and because of it's short length it makes everything seem rushed;… More
The Strangers, oh The Strangers......I had so much hope in you! This movie started out very well and even proceeded to be okay until the sudden ending. I was really surprised at how short the movie was, and because of it's short length it makes everything seem rushed; furthermore, with that comes few scares.
Lady D

So bad, I couldn't last any longer than 50 minutes with this. It's slow, too dark and lacking in suspense and thrill.
Bethany M

Horrifyingly jumpy and extremely scary!
Jeff "

The Strangers is a terrific piece of Horror Cinema. The film has gotten unfair reviews by mainstream critics. The Strangers is a film that relies on suspense and tension to steadily build it's horror. The Strangers doesn't have any cheap scares, only old school style… More
The Strangers is a terrific piece of Horror Cinema. The film has gotten unfair reviews by mainstream critics. The Strangers is a film that relies on suspense and tension to steadily build it's horror. The Strangers doesn't have any cheap scares, only old school style suspense. Sure the film is flawed, but the filmmakers manage to craft a film that has more high than lows. The acting by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman is terrific, and you really feel that they're in a dangerous, creepy situation. Their performance make you believe than you're in there with them, and that theres is no way out. I view The Strangers as a better film than most recent horror offerings as the story is quite interesting. The way that director Bryan Bertino builds the tension is truly something that hasn't been seen in a horror for a very long time. Sure we have terrific horror films, but most of them are from the U.K and France. This is one of the first films that doesn't try to fool the viewer by cheapening their viewing experience by having a jump scare. They're might be one or two in the film, but like I've said before, this film relies heavily on building the suspense. Take it anyway you want, in the end, this is a film that you either love or hate. I loved it because elements of old horror and tries successfully at being a different horror film. Considering the remake factor of recent times, The Strangers is fairly good viewing. Speaking of which, they're are similar films to The Strangers, such as Them and Funny Games, but this is an entirely original film, The Strangers is not a remake. With that in mind, you should give this film a shot, The Strangers does have plenty of horrifying scares and good old suspense to satisfy the hardened horror fan. My Favorite Horror film since 28 Days Later and The Devil's Rejects.
Bruce B

I rented the unrated version of this film so I am sure it showed more the version that was at your local theater. It was somewhat suspenseful, but at times pretty gruesome. About a couple who after a friends wedding they go to house for the weekend, while there a strange girl shows… More
I rented the unrated version of this film so I am sure it showed more the version that was at your local theater. It was somewhat suspenseful, but at times pretty gruesome. About a couple who after a friends wedding they go to house for the weekend, while there a strange girl shows up at the door and that's where trouble begins. 3 strangers torture the couple throughout the night until there left for dead. This is right up there with Saw. 3 1/2 stars.
Cassie H

A bunch of stupid people running around acting like idiots.
Jens S

The idea of terror and violence striking down on innocent people without much explanation or reason may not be new but is actually pretty well delivered here. Everyone should be able to relate to the fear of being alone in a house, reacting to noises and threats from the outside and… More
The idea of terror and violence striking down on innocent people without much explanation or reason may not be new but is actually pretty well delivered here. Everyone should be able to relate to the fear of being alone in a house, reacting to noises and threats from the outside and it is actually nicely portrayed here and makes for a couple of nicely uncomfortable scenes. Sadly, at some point, the usual problems with films like this set in: characters start to react unrealistically, the sound effects take it a little too far and the ending is quite disappointing. Especially considering there's already a (lousy) film like Funny Games, that deals with the same themes. Wasting a couple of opportunities, but fans of the genre should check it out anyway.
Stuart B

Remake of a french horror story is very good and very very disturbing.
Leigh R

Pretty good. More gore than scare factor but it was worth a watch. I did get the small chill down my spine in a few spots too. Seriously love that...
Lewis C

If I had to review The Strangers with a single word, it would be frustrating. All the pieces were there for this to be my favorite horror/suspense movie since 1408, but they never connected like I hoped they would. I did love the villains, and their reason (or lack of one) for their… More
If I had to review The Strangers with a single word, it would be frustrating. All the pieces were there for this to be my favorite horror/suspense movie since 1408, but they never connected like I hoped they would. I did love the villains, and their reason (or lack of one) for their actions actually made sense within the context of the movie. Sadly, The Strangers was filled with one too many cheap jump moments that reminded me that I was only watching a movie (and that's unforgivable in horror films). The silly (and constant) disappearing and reappearing that the villians kept doing absolutely KILLED (pun intended) the momentum of the movie. And there may not be a dumber couple in the entire history of horror, than the two protagonists. The awesome creepiness of the first third of The Strangers barely redeems the rest. It could have been brilliant with a few small changes. And I don't think I could give any movie featuring a Joanna Newsom song a bad review, anyway.
KJ P

It had me going when I saw it in theatres! It's a pretty good, new age horrow flick!
Dean !

Run of the mill scare Horror film. All about the scare tactics used to the build up towards the end scene. Very similar to Funny games but more worrying is this is based on a true event. Worth a watch once, more errie than scary.
Jason O

My little brother recommended this one to me, said he loved it. It was ok, but nothing that great, not anything real suspenseful.
Emile T

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Bannan i

I was wondering as to how creepy it would be, but essentially it just bored the crap out of me. And the beginning was waaaay too slow to hold my attention, but I figured...come on it's gotta get better...and when the first little rapping came to the door and that random chick ws… More
I was wondering as to how creepy it would be, but essentially it just bored the crap out of me. And the beginning was waaaay too slow to hold my attention, but I figured...come on it's gotta get better...and when the first little rapping came to the door and that random chick ws standing out there all stalker-like...I held on. It really had some potential, but it was waaaay too predictable for me, and it didn't even contain any campiness enough to make it at least fun. Oh well, perhaps you lot will like it. But, I'm definitely not going to make this a recc in any means. :P