The Strangers

"The Strangers" is a movie that I had never heard of, and had passed by countless times in the discount bin one of my favourite second-hand video stores. Then a friend came along and told me that it was so scary that she couldn't finish it. 'Could it be' thought I, 'that I have been duped by my own snobbiness into passing by a brilliant piece of filmmaking?' After watching it, the next time I see this friend, I plan to look her straight in the eye, then shake my head, as I do a slow turn and walk away into the sunset.

What was so absolutely frustrating about "The Strangers" is that it knows that it's a "suspense thriller" and doesn't bother to pretend that it's anything but. To set the stage, the movie takes place in the isolated family home of James Hoyt (Scott Speedman) after his marriage proposal to Kristen (Liv Tyler) gets shot to hell. They arrive at the house, unsure of the salvageability of their relationship. It all stops mattering, however, when three random people decide to stalk and terrorize the young couple. The whole process of them making first contact, breaking in, capturing and *doing what they end up doing*, takes over an hour, when in reality, it should have taken about ten minutes. The only reason it doesn't is because it's a movie.

Now, I am by no means a master criminal, particularly when it comes to murdering people (cat's out of the bag). But it seems to me that there is no real benefit to acting like a movie serial killer. If your ultimate goal is to take out a sad, confused couple, I can understand getting rid of their ability to communicate or escape (via the destruction of cell phones, land lines, radios, and cars) so that you'll be able to get the job done and get away with it once you have, but is it really crucial to wait until your victims are just about to use these devices before you smash them? At that point, you're just playing with them. And even that, I can understand. Some people are sick. What I cannot tolerate is having one of the three killers stalk our heroes by simply standing in the background of the shot looking creepy. At that point, you're not doing anything to intimidate or terrorize your victim, you're only standing there so that audiences will squeal. At nearly any point, the killers could move forward with their plan, but instead, they stalk, and they stalk, and they stalk, because short films don't make a lot of money.

The killers also spend almost all of the movie masked. They only remove their masks when they get down to the shanking, and even then, there's a downward tilt of the camera, only allowing a view of their torsos. It's a frustrating experience, although not necessarily a bad choice, as it allows the focus to be on the suffering of the victims, rather than the identity of the killers. That is, except for the fact that we're distracted because we really really want to see their faces. The tilt itself is also a very deliberate attempt to keep their faces hidden, and once again, makes the movie scream out "I'm a movie! Watch what I can do!"

While this whole experience is painful to experience, it is also possible to get caught up in it. The first time we see the guy with the bag on his head, he is standing in another room, creeping on Liv Tyler, and I squirmed. Then I was ashamed. The suspense may be forced, but it's still there.

I guess that's enough ragging on the painful self-awareness that the movie has, so let's pick on something else. For one, there's nothing that happens that is unexpected, while the tropes (dead cell phone, etc.) are familiar and tired. The characters of James and Kristen are frustrating and stupid. James fulfills all of the tough guy cliches, while Kristen cries a lot. And don't get me started on the pointless scene at the end where two Mormon kids meet the killers as they're driving away from the scene of the crime... Nothing says "don't focus on the killers, just pay attention to the trauma these people have undergone" like watching your mystery murderers take pamphlets about Christ's vacation in Peru.

Despite claiming to be based on a true story, writer/director Bryan Bertino later stated that his inspiration came from a time that someone knocked on his door, and because he answered, his house didn't get broken into. Apparently this scared him enough to write a movie about it. I wonder what kind of a movie he'll write when I knock on his door to ask for my $5.99 back.

Rating: 1.75 stars