The Strangers (2008)
NETFLIX SYNOPSIS: In this heart-pounding thriller, young suburban couple James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) welcome the peace and quiet of a secluded family vacation home — that is, until three masked home invaders make them realize how dangerous isolation can be. Written and directed by Bryan Bertino, the film also stars Australian supermodel Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, Glenn Howerton and Laura Margolis.
REVIEW: ***SPOILERS***
There’s a scene early on in “The Strangers” when Kristen (Liv Tyler) is alone in an isolated house in the woods that is just about the most terrifying 12 minutes of film I’ve ever seen. There’s absolutely no violence, in fact hardly anything actually happens at all. It’s all about suggested threat and the menace of the unknown. Writer/director Bryan Bertino makes innovating use of sound to scare the bejesus out us during this scene. It’s a superbly directed sequence with moments of tension that are just about unbearable. And Tyler really sells it. It wouldn’t work if the acting was off but she not only portrays Kristen’s terror, she also conveys her bewilderment and confusion; her disbelief that this is happening to her makes the scene believable to us. It’s a fine performance.
Unfortunately Bertino cannot sustain that level of tension, but then who could? At some point the unknown must become the known and then it’s just not as scary anymore. He does manage to stretch it out as long as possible, his villains wear creepy masks (and it’s somehow more frightening that two of the three “strangers” are female) and we only see glimpses of them until well into the film. There are still some good scare scenes throughout, but at some point it becomes repetitive – Kristen and her boyfriend James (Scott Speedman) run inside, they run outside, they hide here and there. It would have worked better if the film had been cut by a few minutes at least.
For a horror movie it’s mostly devoid of the “stupid things characters do in scary movies” syndrome, with one exception, but it’s a doozy. Kristen and James are safely inside a room in the house with a shotgun and plenty of ammunition, then something horrible happens and James inexplicably decides to go outside with the shotgun, leaving Kristen alone and unarmed in the house, even though the killers have shown they are able to get inside. It’s makes absolutely no sense, it’s just a stupid plot device to separate them and that’s exactly how it plays. I also didn’t care much for the climax, it seemed unnecessarily brutal.
The movie starts off with a joke on the audience, telling us that it’s based on true events (much as the 70’s b-movie “Macon County Line” did) but according to IMDb the only thing remotely related to real life is that Bertino was “inspired” by the Manson killings, which really has nothing to do with the movie.
3 stars
Harold
