Reviewed by maroon5gurl88 on Tue June 24, 2008

My greatest fear in life is home invasion and watching Bryan Bertino’s “The Strangers” made me terrified to go home. The movie is probably the most effective horror film of the last ten years and that’s due to its old fashioned feel of relying on subtle horror. Where the movie might falter is due to its marketing, portraying a straight slasher flick when it’s anything but.

Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) have returned to their vacation home after a marriage proposal goes awry. Not speaking to each other the couple is set to go their separate ways in the morning. Everything changes when three masked assailants start harassing the two, eventually entering their home. Thus kicks off 88 minutes of pure terror as the two must try to escape killers whose only motive for attacking the couple is “because you were home.”

I was pleasantly surprised at the end by how much I enjoyed this movie. The horror is where this movie excels and director Bryan Bertino does a phenomenal job of scaring the crap out of the audience. He relies on things such as banging doors, rattling windows, and people just standing in the corner of the viewers eyes. The movie has a very 70’s horror feel that I haven’t seen used well until now. There are no jump scares and there aren’t moments where you know to brace yourself in advance for something to pop out. The movie also doesn’t rely on those standard horror clichés of not having proper weapons or the dreaded lack of cell signal. Bertino gives a logical reason for every way this couple could have escaped…except for one which I’ll get to later. The killers themselves are also used amazingly. You never see their faces and the big unmasking is used to great effect, since killers only allow their victims to see their faces when they…well I don’t want to spoil it. Their motives are also very real-world, they don’t want to rob or have some grudge or vendetta against the couple, they’re just doing it to spread violence. The movie just seems very logical, like it could happen to anyone which I think is the point Bertino was trying to make. There is also very little backstory given on the couple, just enough to give the feel that they are flesh and blood characters that you could know, or even be.

I only have a few quibbles with “The Strangers” that did make me ask questions at the end. The movie does drag a bit towards the middle. It becomes a bit repetitive having the intruders allow the couple to run away before scaring them. It just becomes a rote cat and mouse game after awhile. I also hated the fact that the couple was able to leave the house. Having them confined in a couple rooms made the film feel more claustrophobic, making their attempts of escape even more helpless. When they’re able to leave I just felt a little bit of the fear had been diminished. The film also takes a major shift in tone, abandoning Speedman’s character and following Tyler’s. I saw where Bertino was trying to go with this but I think the movie would have worked better by having the couple band together. One other minor issue I have might be a potential spoiler so if you don’t want to know scroll down a bit. In the middle James’ friend shows up and is dispatched rather quickly leaving his car (in working order). At the end you never see his car again and wonder why the couple never attempted to get the keys and use his car. I’m not sure if Bertino addressed that but I didn’t notice anything done with it.

The acting in this is well-done but running and screaming doesn’t take a rocket scientist. Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler make a great couple during the romantic moments and that’s about it. 90% of the movie is them running and screaming so I didn’t see any major dramatic acting needed. The three masked assailants played by Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks and Laura Margolis were great in the silent killer roles. The masks were easily something I could see being implemented into Halloween this year and they are scary as all hell in the few times they do talk.

“The Strangers” is a rare offering in that it hearkens back to a simpler time with subtle scares, little story and a real-world premise. I give it a 3/5.