The Strangers

First off, let's start with a note. It was 'inspired' not 'based' off true events. People need to learn the difference between the two. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is 'inspired' by true events, but still people believe it really happened. It never happened... it was inspired by the story of the serial killer Ed Gein who would take body parts off of women and make furniture out of them, and other forms of cruelty.The Strangers was 'inspired' by true events which means they probably took similarities from stories of The Manson killings and other killings of the same sort. So really the director had free range to do whatever the hell he wanted at the end, and I believe he failed.

I heard about this movie a long time ago and was so excited that it was finally being released that I saw it at the first midnight showing. At first, I was enjoying the set, costumes, and I believe the acting was pretty well done. I believe the director achieved a very creepy feeling, but too many times did he use to obvious cop-out of making loud noises to 'startle' the viewer instead of genuinely 'scaring' them. The site bloody-disgusting.com made an excellent article describing the differences between these.

In the end, I remember about two scenes and the rest is a vague blur. The scene with Glenn Howerton (of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia! fame. Woot!) was probably one of the most tense and unsettling scenes of the film. The other being the portion where the record is skipping.

This movie is a strong example of anti-climactic. The ending was a cliché. I won't give it away but I will say that it did not leave me feeling disturbed nor did it leave me with a sense of accomplishment. Two things I look for in an ending to the flood of "home-invasion" horror flicks. I believe two recent films do a great job of accomplishing these factors. The recent VACANCY and FUNNY GAMES are leaps and bounds greater than this film. They do a much greater job of making the protagonists feel helpless and I strongly suggest both of them.

Hopefully, I could help some. I know many will disagree with me, but quite honestly that's fine. Many of today's moviegoers enjoy paying $10 to jump out of their seat because someone's face appears in a window or a sound guy hits a wall really loud. It's the sad truth and Hollywood banks on crap like that. So it isn't going to end anytime soon.

Thanks, Alex

Not sure why it has,numerous negative reviews? Was enjoyable,suspenseful in places & of course typical clichés. You can't help but feel uneasy,because this could happen.. A stranger pulls into your drive or knocks on your door,what's their motive? When October comes around,it's always one that gets played.

We all know the plot: young couple, isolated vacation home, people in masks. Yet from the start of 'The Strangers' it's clear that this film is a different. In today's bloodthirsty society, horror films are often reduced to nothing more than gore-filled gross-out fests. While many young teens may rejoice at such films, many of us still long for original, suspenseful, and, yes, terrifying horror movies. 'The Strangers' came so close.

There is plenty here to recommend: Director Bryan Bertino shows himself to be a patient and smart director. Rather than going for just cheap thrills, he wisely builds tension up to near-breaking point. The feeling of suspense and dread that covers the whole film is classic. Both Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman do well in their leading roles, and the strangers themselves are things of pure terror... yet that's where the film loses some of its commendation. The strangers at times seem that they can't possibly be human because they are made to be almost supernatural in their abilities. They appear and disappear seemingly at will and instantly- a power the young couple probably wished they had but don't because they are, after all, HUMANS. It's a simple mistake used to give the audience one of those cheap thrills that were otherwise so wisely avoided. What makes it sad is that in every other aspect, 'The Strangers' is chillingly realistic and terrifyingly possible. Every time those strangers come and go like ghosts of some kind, it makes the audience sit back once more and say, 'Ah, well, it's just a movie." That's too bad.

Still, 'The Strangers' is much better than your average horror fare. It's at last a new movie that realizes what you don't show can be even more scary than what you do. Still, one hopes that Mr. Bertino can touch up the mistakes from this film and , and deliver a really great horror movie next time around. 7/10 stars! Jay Addison

It would be so easy to dismiss the very deliberate pacing of this film as pedestrian, but in this day and age of gratuitous violence and constant gore, this film relies on the ability to slowly torment you, as toy watch the hideous way in which the young couple are subjected to the night from Hell.

At the time I genuinely did find this a very unsettling, unnerving watch, going home to an empty house after this was unsettling.

Ignore those that call it boring, trust me, it isn't, it's paced in a way that throws you off guard.

No clear begining, or end, just a series of random events. It's a grim movie. 7/10

The first 45 minutes are quite intense, the whole setup just works fine and the simple but effective cinematography is nice to watch. Though I was not really convinced by Speedman's attempt to reflect intense emotions, you can always rely on Liv Taylor, who is - given a rather thin piece of script - really working her ass off to get the most out of it. Congratulations for that. The mocking "Strangers" start off being quite scary and the concept seems to be somewhat more original then we probably got used too, so it all seems like we're going to have a good time, but then suddenly everything freezes in the most inelegant manner, as the makers seemingly just ran out of any kind of idea how to continue this promising movie. That means, there is almost literally NOTHING new happening from around minute 45, it feels writer and director Bryan Bertino had half a decent script and then needed to finish it in about 2 hours due to a deadline or something. So the other 45 minutes are basically prolonging 2 jump scares and 3 lines of really basic dialog with minimum creativity, like lights turning off and the after a few minutes on again for no obvious reason, till the point where some kind of climax should occur, which then never really happens. Instead we get something really unrefined and boring featuring not a bit of fantasy, it's just like no one really cared anymore.

I'd recommend though watching the first half of the movie and then striding around in some dark forest for a while, that surely does the job much better. 4/10