The Strangers (C- or 1.5/4 stars)
"Because you were home". Oooooh {skin crawls}, I will never forget these uttered words when the protagonists in 'The Strangers' ask their home invaders, "Why are you doing this to us?" This is the story (inspired from previous events, of course) of a young couple staying in a woodsy vacation home who are terrorized by 3 masked assailants. Newcomer director & writer of this film, Bryan Bertino, knows how to set an eerie mood. The first 20 minutes or so of his thriller is very spooky and highly provocative. But how it all ends is both vile & cheap. Leaving the theater, I wanted to both love and hate this more than I do.
Let me set the stage: its 4 am. Kristen & James (Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman) pull up to a cabin in the woods. They've just returned from a wedding reception, and she appears to have been crying. You see, she has turned down James' marriage proposal, and his elaborate plan to celebrate in the cabin (champagne, the ring, red rose pedals strewn everywhere) is ruined. Inside, uneasy silence fills the air. Not knowing what to say to each other, they begin to prepare for bed. At this point, my interest is piqued and I'm ready for what's next. What's next? Ah hah, the inevitable knock on the front door. Who'd be knocking at 4 am in the middle of the woods? It happens to be a young girl who seems to be confused about 'this' home's occupants. They close the door ... but the night was just beginning.
After seeing that she won't leave the property (mysteriously standing in the front yard), Kristen & James experience an evening that we'd only find in our darkest nightmares. All night long, they are harassed by loud booms at the front door ... hard, driving noises; like wood. Bumps, pounds, slams, rattles, the breaking of glass, scrapes ... all echoing throughout the house. James' car has been torched, & the cabin has been breached. What commences over the next hour is a hide & seek, cat & mouse chase btwn. the creepily masked antagonists & our vulnerable couple. What was thought to be a calm, soothing, fun weekend has turned out to be a true terror in the night. That said, we don't have to guess if they'll make it out alive. SPOILER ALERT:
The prologue basically tells us their unfortunate, bloody fate in the first place! Why make a film 'like this'; set a mood; create suspense; make us jump; make us scream; make us LIKE the protagonists (unlike other slasher flicks where we laugh at the idiotic victims) ... only to have the film end as it does? We know how hopeless their situation is, but THEY don't. And that's not fun. Furthermore, the film really could have benefitted from a twist or two. 'The Strangers' is an incredibly linear piece of work. 20 minutes sets us up with the characters, things go boom, people scurry throughout the vast yard, repulsive things happen (all very cliched), and then the movie ends out of nowhere (credits roll). I was just getting revved up for something ... else to happen. END SPOILER.
But for as much as I didn't like the story, all is not lost. Director Bertino knows how to craft a horror flick. He nails everything we love to experience IN the theater. For horror fans, what's better than home invasions, masks, shadowy figures, axes, knives, hand-held camera shakiness, hiding in the closet, or a record player constantly skipping on a sad country tune? I also like how 'we' get to see a lot of what the characters don't quite see ... yet. Watching this movie induces a feeling of paranoia. But again, all of this occurs in the first (superior) half of the film. The beginning builds a sense of dread, only to peter out after the umpteenth time we see a face pop up in a window. 'The Strangers' is not groundbreaking. Yet it's good enough that it doesn't deserve the flat resolution that it has.
Let me set the stage: its 4 am. Kristen & James (Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman) pull up to a cabin in the woods. They've just returned from a wedding reception, and she appears to have been crying. You see, she has turned down James' marriage proposal, and his elaborate plan to celebrate in the cabin (champagne, the ring, red rose pedals strewn everywhere) is ruined. Inside, uneasy silence fills the air. Not knowing what to say to each other, they begin to prepare for bed. At this point, my interest is piqued and I'm ready for what's next. What's next? Ah hah, the inevitable knock on the front door. Who'd be knocking at 4 am in the middle of the woods? It happens to be a young girl who seems to be confused about 'this' home's occupants. They close the door ... but the night was just beginning.
After seeing that she won't leave the property (mysteriously standing in the front yard), Kristen & James experience an evening that we'd only find in our darkest nightmares. All night long, they are harassed by loud booms at the front door ... hard, driving noises; like wood. Bumps, pounds, slams, rattles, the breaking of glass, scrapes ... all echoing throughout the house. James' car has been torched, & the cabin has been breached. What commences over the next hour is a hide & seek, cat & mouse chase btwn. the creepily masked antagonists & our vulnerable couple. What was thought to be a calm, soothing, fun weekend has turned out to be a true terror in the night. That said, we don't have to guess if they'll make it out alive. SPOILER ALERT:
The prologue basically tells us their unfortunate, bloody fate in the first place! Why make a film 'like this'; set a mood; create suspense; make us jump; make us scream; make us LIKE the protagonists (unlike other slasher flicks where we laugh at the idiotic victims) ... only to have the film end as it does? We know how hopeless their situation is, but THEY don't. And that's not fun. Furthermore, the film really could have benefitted from a twist or two. 'The Strangers' is an incredibly linear piece of work. 20 minutes sets us up with the characters, things go boom, people scurry throughout the vast yard, repulsive things happen (all very cliched), and then the movie ends out of nowhere (credits roll). I was just getting revved up for something ... else to happen. END SPOILER.
But for as much as I didn't like the story, all is not lost. Director Bertino knows how to craft a horror flick. He nails everything we love to experience IN the theater. For horror fans, what's better than home invasions, masks, shadowy figures, axes, knives, hand-held camera shakiness, hiding in the closet, or a record player constantly skipping on a sad country tune? I also like how 'we' get to see a lot of what the characters don't quite see ... yet. Watching this movie induces a feeling of paranoia. But again, all of this occurs in the first (superior) half of the film. The beginning builds a sense of dread, only to peter out after the umpteenth time we see a face pop up in a window. 'The Strangers' is not groundbreaking. Yet it's good enough that it doesn't deserve the flat resolution that it has.