Kristen McKay and James Hoyt (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) return home from a friend’s wedding, with an awkward silence between them. This is because James has proposed to Kristen, only to be rebuffed.
As the two ponder their future together in the early hours of the morning, they are set upon by masked attackers who terrorize them for no apparent reason.
The Strangers Summary
That really is all there is to the film’s plot and fair enough; the premise is never as important as the execution of the details.
The film is a slow starter, utilizing limited dialogue between the two characters. Also fair enough; in any film, particularly in horror, it is crucial to create a grounded sense of reality, which the methodical pace does effectively.
Once it’s evident that there are people outside, and possibly inside, the house, we are left watching a pattern of search & suspence that increasingly suggests there’s not going to be much more to the film’s ambitions other than to make it’s audience occasionally ‘jump’ in their seats.
And there isn’t much more than that. Past the very first sighting of someone in the house, it shouldn’t scare anyone unless they’re six years old or have never seen a horror movie before.
Criticism of The Strangers & Shortcomings
The Strangers has received a medley of reviews, seemingly as much in favour of it as against, and this is somewhat baffling. How did this film get any positive reviews?
The film’s opening states that it is factually based upon dozens of such incidents. In retrospect, this can only be seen as a transparent and feeble attempt to add some gravitas to the early atmosphere.
It tries very hard to create tension and preserve the silence for moments of drama, but soon abandons all hope of being a serious attempt at film-making. Instead, it resorts to every form of the cheapest and oldest tricks in the book to scare it’s audience. Every so-called ‘fright’ can be seen making up it’s mind, packing it’s bags and hailing a taxi, before coming your way.
Mr. Bertino even resorts to seeing the attackers reach out to touch a shoulder, only to have disappeared without a sound by the time someone can turn their head. That’s all very well if there’s a ghost or some other supernatural being behind you (or Batman) but not if the antogonists are just plain human. It’s dirt-cheap and bereft of any imaginative effort whatsoever.
The Stranger’s Cast and More Shortcomings
Besides their choice of movie, the actors are not to be blamed. Scott Speedman does what’s needed of him and we all know by now that Liv Tyler is a very capable and emotive actress, who deserves to be involved with material of far greater quality than this. She should fire her agent forthwith and, preferrably, hire a new one from the film & tv section of Suite 101.
All the film’s shortcomings are derived from Mr. Bertino and whatever modifications he may or may not have made according to the will of the studio producers.
The Strangers does not have the artistry of the Japanese Ring, the suspense of a Devil’s Backbone, the brutality of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the subtlety of a Sixth Sense, the terror of an Audition…the list goes on and on, because it really has nothing to offer.
Bryan Bertino: Director or Secret Salesman?
Forgetting the details of the film leaves us with the premise. Had there been any exceptional details then the premise could have been forgiven. But there weren’t so it isn’t.
Bryan Bertino’s ‘hook’ then, is little more than to remind us that any number of deranged psychopaths could turn up on our doorsteps at any time to threaten our lives. What a visionary he is.
Here’s a theory: Bryan Bertino is actually working for a home security company – the sort who will send people to your houses to tell you how easy it would be for someone to break in, steal all your things, and physically assault you, because this film is exactly what these people would want to show you and, frankly, it’s pathetic.
The only real surprise was that the credit sequence of The Strangers didn’t involve a sales pitch.
And the only saving grace is that the film cost just $9 million to make (though you might still wonder where all that money went aside from equipment and the actor’s fees). Then again, there’s already rumours of a sequel.
So much for a saving grace.
- Producers: Nathan Kahane, Doug Davison, Roy Lee
- Director: Bryan Bertino
- Screenplay: Bryan Bertino
- Starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Glenn Howerton, Gemma Ward
- Released: May 2008 by Rogue Pictures
- Running Time: 85 mins.
