Before even meeting the Strangers, James and Kristen were already having a bad night. They had attended a friend’s wedding, where James used the reception as the perfect romantic occasion to pop the question to Kristen--only to be rejected by her. She just wasn’t ready to be married. The ride back to James’ secluded family vacation home--located deep in the woods--is an awkward one, to say the least. When they arrive, James immediately leaves a message for Mike, a close friend, asking for a favor. He’ll leave the car with Kristen and leave with Mike, whenever he comes by to pick James up. He tells Kristen to keep the ring that he’d bought, since he can’t take it back anyway.
This intense and well-acted drama is interrupted by a young woman, who knocks on the front door, at four in the morning, asking if another woman is there. When James tells her no, she leaves, calmly stating "See you later." Little do James and Kristen realize what this ominous promise really means. Reportedly based on a true story, The Strangers is a very basic cat and mouse thriller that relies far more on psychological scares than the usual blood and gore--although there’s some of that on hand, especially in the unrated edition, which is included with the theatrical cut on the DVD. But Writer/Director Bryan Bertino instead slowly builds the creepiness factor, so that it gets to the point where the viewer, along with poor Kristen, becomes afraid of banging sounds on the front door.
Scott Speedman (Underworld) and Liv Tyler (The Lord Of The Rings) are both marvelous as the besieged couple, who wonder why they are under siege by these strangers, even while they desperately try to fight back in any way possible. The Strangers themselves are played by a trio--two women, one man--of actors whose faces are never seen. The almost cartoon-like masks they wear while they terrorize James and Kristen make them appear far more menacing; since we can’t see their faces, it’s hard to relate to them as human beings. The only problem is that the Strangers appear to be super human at times, by either always being in the right place at the right time, or somehow knowing what Kristen and James will do before they realize it.
Still, despite this little horror movie flaw, The Strangers is very chilling and gripping. Tyler and Speedman are sympathetic enough to make you root for them from the get-go, and director Bertino masterfully strings along the suspense without it getting ridiculous. And once we finally discover just why The Strangers have been dong what they’ve been doing, this revelation is just as bone-chilling as anything that came before. Vampires and other fanciful monsters that stalk the night may be scary in their own right, but nothing really makes the blood run cold than the sheer banality of everyday evil.
--SF
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