The Strangers is one of the most truly unsettling and frightening horror flicks I’ve seen in a long while. For me it ranks up there with Halloween and The Sixth Sense in how effectively and consistently it gives you goose bumps and makes you muffle startled screams. I watched it right before I went to bed. Not a good idea.
It’s a relatively simple account, written and directed by one Bryan Bertino, of how a couple (Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler) returns home late one night to an isolated vacation home and subsequently endures a terrifying and violent intrusion by three unknown assailants.
The film is an exemplary example of how to build and sustain taut and excruciating tension. Insistent knocks on the front door escalate to banging and then the phone goes dead and the smoke alarm goes off and before you know it, Liv Tyler is stalking around in the silence with a large knife feeling, like us, absolutely horrified.
Of the many scenes where I yelped with fear, the most chilling would have to be when you first see the attacker with the bag over his head. Tyler, in the foreground, is facing the kitchen sink when, in the background and out of focus, we, but not Tyler, see the man step into view. Simple but scary.
Coming in a close second is a true “don’t go in there” moment in which Speedman’s friend stops by to pick up Speedman and goes inside the house to look for him. You know he’s going to die. You just don’t know who’s going to get him first. You’ll see what I mean.
There isn’t really a whole lot of dialogue throughout, but Speedman and Tyler, despite running around a lot and looking terrified, more than earn our sympathy as the victims. In the beginning, you can tell something has soured their relationship by the way both stars communicate it, beautifully, through body language and facial expressions. These scenes are quiet and full of unspoken awkwardness.
It’s interesting to note, too, that the plot is very similar to last year’s Vacancy, itself a perfectly tense little thriller, in which the couple was played by Luke Wilson and, coincidentally, Kate Beckinsale, Speedman’s co-star in the Underworld films.
In the end, though, Vacancy may make you wary of hotels, but The Strangers will make you think twice about staying home alone at night.
Horror/Thriller
Rated R
DVD Release Date: 10/21/08