I wonder when I can start going to sleep easily again? I thought this movie was terrifying! The shocks, music and suspense was really brilliantly done and I screamed until my throat was sore! I didn't like the ending and I don't think it's a good idea that they're making a sequel, but this movie is excellent! And scary!
"Since we've been here, I haven't heard a dog bark...or a car pass. Nothing. Just us and them."
With a swiftness I find fascinating, the notion of nutjobs violating the sanctity of a family home to commit random acts of violence has evolved from a vague, underground and almost unimaginable horror trend into a highly profitable Hollywood staple. Audiences were first freaked out by the film version of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood a mere four decades and change ago and yet today the home invasion thriller is a full blown film genre.
It's easy enough, I suppose, to understand how this could happen. These films tap into one of our most deep-seated fears - that locking doors and windows might not be sufficient to keep evil at bay. We don't want to admit that our sense of security is largely an illusion. Doors get kicked in all the time and windows are made of glass. A practically paper-thin barrier separates us from whatever outside wants to get in. This is true for everyone, but it's worse for those who realize we're just animals with evolved brains. Some more than others, of course.
What's trickier to fathom is the appeal of these pictures, the psychological function they perform. The catharsis offered by films about unfriendly aliens or skyscraper-size monsters, for example, is simple to comprehend. Human beings enjoy the experience of witnessing terrifying events and then emerging into a world in which they couldn't possibly occur. Home invasion films don't offer that same waking-from-a-nightmare release though. This stuff really happens. That's the thing about random violence: it can happen to anyone, any time, anywhere. I suppose examples in which victims prevail over their assailants - films like Straw Dogs and Panic Room - offer viewers some element of assurance that the world is a just place if not an always safe one. But what are we to take away from the depiction of savage acts committed by intruders in, say, Funny Games, Helter Skelter and now The Strangers?
The debut of writer-director Bryan Bertino, this minimalist, occasionally taut horror film - purportedly based on true events - chronicles the sadistic game of cat and mouse between a young couple, Kristen and James (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) in an isolated summer cabin and a trio of masked psychos. The couple returns home late one night from a friend's wedding. James has champagne chilling, candles lit and rose petals strewn about the place. His plans for a romantic evening have been derailed, however, by the fact that Kristen has just declined his marriage proposal. She's "just not ready" and the where-do-we-go-from-here tenuousness of their relationship lends vulnerability to the characters.
A moment arrives when make up sex appears imminent and it's interrupted by a very unnerving knock. The middle of nowhere. Four in the morning. A sudden, insistent pounding at the door. These are little things that combine to create a good enough aura of dread. Things get progressively creepier throughout the night but the first-time filmmaker displays excellent instincts. He doesn't rush the horror but rather allows it to take shape suspensefully one detail at a time. Strange noises tauntingly shatter the stillness. Tires on the couple's car are found to have been slashed. Cellphones vanish. A second and then a third figure is glimpsed through windows. One stands unseen inside suddenly just feet away from Tyler only to turn around and walk silently away.
You may have noticed that the plot sounds strikingly familiar, and not just because the film resembles all those 1970s B-films we've all watched at 3 a.m. It's also a near-duplicate of two films - 2006 French-Romanian co-production Ils and last year's Vacancy - and both comparisons do The Strangers no favours. The first is simply a superior film, period. The second gave us a pair of heroes who fought like hell to survive, becoming closer and stronger in the effort. Bertino is a good filmmaker, but his undeveloped protagonists are colossally stupid (him) and frustratingly passive (her).
Still, he does an excellent job building dread, especially during the first half of the film. Every silence, pause and sudden noise startles - and the results are frankly frightening. He shows qualities in short supply in today's gore-geek directors: patience, control, visual naturalism, and expressionism. Much of the tension is created through sound and the simplification of sight in place of hyper-visual shocks (though when the scares get going, the cinematography - by veteran DP Peter Sova - is of the motion-sickness school). Then, he almost ruins everything in the last act.
As the couple's terror and confusion escalate, the intruders tire of playing with their prey and prepare to get down to bloody business. Tyler and Speedman, while certainly not great actors, ably convey their helplessness and panic, and Bertino resists resorting to cheap shocks or contrived developments (though the film does resort to both more than once). Ultimately, The Strangers does succeed in the sense that it offers a riveting, vastly credible enactment of everyone's worst nightmare. You will get your money's worth of meaningless mayhem. I'm just not sure there's much of anything more to get from a film this unoriginal and artfully heartless.
well this was an ok film but could have been so much better, so you have this young pretty couple getting all hysterical and crying alot hardly any gore or blood at all lots of snot mind lol
it was the ending that ruined it for me honestly you have them tied up haow do you kill them oh stab them in the gut how droll get inventive people really think of it if you was the one on the mad killing spree totally isolated you would be doing some weird ass shit.
This film was pointless. While the majority of performances are acceptable, the rest of the film is an absolute shambles. The character development cannot be called development since the characters went from point a to point a. There is one massive plothole and the antagonists masks serve no purpose other than aiding in a cheap scare and making nice posters. The writing is terrible, the characters unbelievable and the audience is left uncaring.
The first 20 minutes is some of the most boring cinema I have ever witnessed and that is the extent of the character psyche that we delve into. Surely that should be the most interesting point of the film.
Once the films kicks in at 20 minutues, I thought it was a nice touch not to go for out and out gore and build to a meaningful kill or injury. Well, the build wasn't quite working but I admired the attempt. However, I lost all sympathy for the film with the final scenes. Flat does not begin to describe how poor the ending is.
To summarise, the intoduction ruins the entire film for anyone who has watched a horror film in the past 30 years, the beginning was boring and badly written, the middle had decent intent but was underwhelming in execution then the ending has a severe plothole and to compund this ends on a whimper rather than a scream.
It's quite shocking how poor this film is. I expected much, much more and quite frankly I don't know why. AVOID
The beginning of the film and most of the film is quite good...almost excellent. BUT the towards the end AND the END itself is a disappointment. It does NOT live up to all the set-up of the story. just alright.
A pointless and macabre affair with no direction, no plotting, and no sense. The Strangers fails on many points, but more than anything it feels like a film void of any story telling merit - nothing happens, there are no characters of note, and its plot is paper thin. For what the film relies upon solely is its twisted scares and techniques to thrill, and while there are select moments of tension, it tends to continually distance any chances of story resonance by resorting to the same filming techniques time and again, all the while looking back upon a script that would consist of jumbled notes sprawled hurriedly.
What makes The Strangers an even more infuriating affair is that its supporters will back its lack of direction as being the main purpose of the film. In essence, the fact that is has no point IS the point. To watch a film that has no reasoning to its making aside from cheap, predictable thrills is a quick ride to wasting your time. A film becomes truly gratuitous if it has no leg to stand on, and The Strangers only motive is its sick on screen brutality.
I initially thought The Strangers would be the Vacancy for 2008, Hollywood trying to do a b-moive and failing badly. Ii was actually pleasently suprised by this as it sets the scene well and the setting is good to give you an initial unerving feel but towards the end it starts to lose it and the actual ending isa major let down if only they could come up with a better ending.
This movie was sooo scary but I loved it. the ending seemed stupid but if you took that away it would be good. Although it's not based on true events so don't think this really happened.
went through all the motions of the generic horror. all alone, phone goes dead, cell phone killed, blah blah blah.
im not a horror kinda guy so i really cant rag on it too much... but when you have shotgun against unarmed killers after you accidently shot your best friend... dont leave liv on her own... grow a pair of fucking balls and go to town on the fuckers!
I quite enjoyed this movie. It was just full suspense starting after first 10 minutes and all the way until the end of the movie. It had a small cast, but they all did pretty well. The movie definitely had this good horror atmosphere, though it's hard to imagine Gemma Ward as a scary person. Nevertheless she did an excellent job.
There were a few fun scenes when the action was happening while a relaxed country music was playing. That definitely gave it a strange feel.
I'd say this is definitely one of the better horror films out there and if you like a good horror then you must definitely watch this. This is definitely among top films suspense-wise.
a lot of mixed reviews about ending. but is it just me thinking this or was that not a child's high pitched voice at the start calling in the murders? everybody seems to think it was liv tyler, maybe i'm wrong but as i walked out of the cinema i was thinking that those kids didn't seem too phased by seeing dead bodies all about the place. were they a bit nuts themselves? i actually thought those little religous freaks finished off poor liv. they were too calm. and that scream from liv. was the kid holding a knife. i hope that's the way it was supposed to be. better ending for me anyway.
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Of course there are the traditional jumpy aspects; however, the best part was an entire theatre gasping/seat shifting by just having a masked person standing in the background of a shot. Creates the sort of tension you expect from a well put together scary movie.
"Why are you doing this to us?"
"Because you were home."
it could have been alot better. alot was missing like a real storyline it was confusing a regular B-rated movie. this movie will not create a B-movie following like Jeepers Creepers did
A young couple return home from a party in the early hours to be terrorized by masked strangers. And that's it. This film reminded me of Open Water, in that it's "based on true events" about a couple in a scary situation, but the fact is that no-one really knows what happened. And according to the script writers of both films, the answer is: nothing much. The Strangers is a purely by the numbers slasher flick that uses all the usual devices of shadowy figures appearing and disappearing in the background, faces appearing at windows, menacing bumps in the night etc etc etc. The characters do all the usual cowering in wardrobes and falling flat on their faces as soon as they try to run anywhere and do nothing but whimper in corners and shout "Why are you doing this to us?!!" like good little victims. But I couldn't help thinking that if I was up against a couple of girls and a bloke with a bag on his head armed with what he found in my tool shed, and I had a pump action shotgun, I'd fancy my chances. It's adequately directed and there's some nice use of sound effects and music but as a whole it's a more like a plotless film student's exercise than a film. A cinematic ghost train ride for pubescent teenagers weaned on Saw.
a nice try, it was okay but the storyline wasn't great. the maskes were good but three people die one of them is not confirmed. liv tyler and scott speedman were both good but its annoying to have the film cut away at the best bits and wasn't scary, using bad old fashioned mystery and "suspence" in an attempt to keep you gasping when all it takes is blood and guts. still its better than psycho, exorcist, shining, return, messengers and all the horror movies made in the 30s to 60s.
This was without a doubt the most terrifying film I have ever seen in my life. I love horror films and I could watch lots and lots of them in a run but I could never, ever see this film again. The night after seeing it I was so scared of opening curtains and walking through dark halls. Don't get me wrong The Strangers was a very good film, however it was truly terrifying. An incredible film, would recommend it for the strong hearted.
a well mde shocker, some good jumps throughout, with the tension, the setting of house is used well, and creepy bad guys, and plot points to rack up tension more, the brother coming to the house is a very good example,,the two leads scott speedman, and liv tyler are good to watch, and certainly bring something to the portrayal of the couple under siege, watching the last scenes, you genuinly feel for the charactors, and there predicatment, if your after a film with answers this isnt it, as they potray the bad guys as people with litttle motivation, which if life i guess, and certainly this film is commentating on violent america, the film does dip in suspence sometimes whenever set outside with the couple making a play fr escape, but we always end back inside, which is a winner
This one was great.
Scary as shit, and its a true story so that makes it event more frightening...
I absolutely recommend you to see this movie!
IMDb info:
After returning from a wedding reception, a couple staying in an isolated vacation house receive a knock on the door in the mid-hours of the night. What ensues is a violent invasion by three strangers, their faces hidden behind masks. The couple find themselves in a violent struggle, in which they go beyond what either of them thought capable in order to survive.
In the cinema this film had me jumping so much. The story-line isn't too great, but it does have its scary moments. The masks are really good, and Liv Tyler is brilliant.
This movie is one of the few that I can truely say scared me. Instead of the all to cliche special effects, scary monsters and ample amounts of blood and guts, this film uses good old fashioned mystery and suspence to kepp you gasping an clenching your seat. The one thing that dissapointed me in this film was its ending - this is where it went from a uniquely scary film to a trashy and cliche hollywood horror flick. The ending was much to be desited and was nothing more than typical of the genre
MCT:September 7, 2008
MCT:September 7, 2008
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MCT:September 6, 2008
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