Release Date: 30 May 2008
My Rating: A
Good for: Horror junkies, those wishing to see a horror film with fear and suspense
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482606/
When this film hit theaters I was a bit skeptical. Hollywood had taken their sweet time to come up with a true horror film. For me, a true horror film is one that makes you think twice before you turn out the lights. The bottom line is that no film had been made in the past five years (maybe longer) that scared the pants off of me. This was it. The Strangers is a good old-fashioned terrify you kind of film that still haunts me every now and then.
The plot is pretty typical- guy and girl are in a topsy-turvy relationship, they head out to his family's vacation house and are terrorized by three unidentified people in masks. This has been done before, the plot is nothing new. However, the writer and director Bryan Bertino added his own flavor in the way that our masked assailants strike fear into the lead characters James and Kristen (played by Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler respectively).
One of the first psychological conflicts for the viewer is at the beginning of the film. There is a narrated portion that claims the film is "inspired by true events" and then leads into information from the FBI about violent crimes. There were rumors that Bertino had experienced something similar to the events preceding the attack. Before the masked attackers begin their torture, one of the masked people (Dollface- Gemma Ward) knocks on the door and asks if a girl named Tamara was home. According to several different sources, Bertino was home alone one day and a couple of people came to his house asking if a specific person was home. These “real life” people were petty thieves looking to rob houses. If no one answered the door, they would break in and steal from the home. If someone did answer the door, the robbers would leave and go to the next house.
The Strangers thrives on obvious illusions. Simple cues from the score allow the viewer to take in more of the surrounding features than just the main focus on screen. For instance, the viewer would hear the cue music for something scary and would look around for whatever was supposed to be frightening. Most horror films like to have lots of terrifying events all at one time or events that pop out at the viewer. The Strangers is not like that at all. Throughout the entire film there is a constant state of suspense. Bertino plays with your mind by changing the surroundings and keeping the characters in a constant state of flux.
Another frightening factor is that we, the viewer, are never allowed to see the assailants’ faces without their masks thus keeping them unknown to us. Shaky camera work and creepy music played on an old-school record player add to the overall effect.
Overall, The Strangers kept me, and the two people I saw the film with, on the edge of our seats. This film will keep you in suspense and force you to think a little harder than some other “horror” films.
The reason I decided to review The Strangers is because The Strangers 2 is currently in production and set to be released in 2011. Interested? I am!
Happy Watching!
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