The masked bad guys stare down the not-masked good guys in The Strangers.
by Gary Sundt
I would like to preface this review by simply stating that I have chosen not to review Sex and the City: The Movie, which is being released in theaters worldwide this weekend. This decision is based on the fact that I did not avidly follow the show, thus am not the intended audience, and nobody in my general vicinity is remarkably excited to see it either. It simply isn’t my kind of movie. In contrast, I like horror films, and am reviewing The Strangers because it is my kind of movie.
The Strangers is the first writing/directing effort from Bryan Bertino, and it is an exercise in fear. The blood and guts are not heavy until the finale, and the flick is a stalker movie that is really about the stalking process. Accordingly, the movie spends a lot of time building, a lot of time watching and a lot of time waiting.
Consider, for example, the lack of legitimate scares during the opening scenes. The story begins on a dark road in the middle of the night. Two people sit in their car at a red light. They are Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman), and they are have just come from a wedding reception. They reach their destination, James’ summer home, and enter stressed and disconnected from one another. Flowers are scattered and candles are lit. James has proposed to Kristen, and she has declined.
This is not scary stuff, at least not in the way we’re expecting. But terror does build. The camera is always moving slightly, as if these people are being watched. And indeed they are. Soon, there is an ominous knock on the door, and a creepy girl (Gemma Ward) stands in their doorway.
“You have the wrong house,” says the couple.
“See you later,” says the girl.
Shortly thereafter, the couple is laid siege by the girl, another woman (Laura Margolis) and a man (Kip Weeks). The three are clad in some creepy-looking masks: the girl wears a doll mask, the woman wears a pin-up girl mask, the man wears a featureless hood. IMDb.com has noted that these three have names (Dollface, Pin-Up Girl and The Man in the Mask), though nobody ever refers to them as such. Regardless, when they get down to it, they spend much of their time watching, banging, writing spooky notes and generally terrifying the couple.
Bertino has said that he was inspired by the grindhouse films of the ’70s, and he isn’t kidding. The similarities to old shock cinema, including the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, cannot be overlooked. Both The Strangers and Texas Chain Saw claim to be “based on actual events,” but are really completely fabricated. Also, I have read several reviews claiming this to be a pretty violent movie. However, The Strangers doesn’t get especially gruesome until the end. It’s the intensity of the film, much like old ’70s horror, that makes people think it’s more violent than it actually is.
The Strangers is a repulsive little film, but I doubt that cancels out a recommendation. It’s designed to be mean. It’s designed to be scary. And it succeeds to its end. Cinematographer Peter Sova knows how to frame a shot, and makes the couple vulnerable with every camera angle. The bad guys are thoroughly creepy. However, the stalking gets a little much after a while, and we start to crave the finale. Some people will be disappointed/pissed off by what they get from that ending, but you can’t say the movie craps out. It sticks to its roots and does what the genre insists, which is more than I can say for most horror flicks these days.
I enjoyed The Strangers as much as I could enjoy a movie like this. The truth is, I watch horror films like I eat lemons: far more often and with more enjoyment than I rightfully should. I think I liked Bertino’s film because I like horror movies, but also consider this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. The tension built by the first act is easy to appreciate, but the rest of the movie is the stuff nihilistic nightmares are made of. Maybe you just gotta like horror movies.
With this new thought, I don’t know if this is a film for non-horror fans. It might be a little too mean for most people. However, I think people who dig the genre will dig The Strangers. Is it perfect? Hardly. Will it probably scare you? Yup.
Running time: 90 minutes. Written and Directed by Bryan Bertino. Produced by Doug Davison, Roy Lee and Nathan Kahane. Starring Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Laura Margolis and Kip Weeks. A Rogue Pictures release.
