Nowadays, it’s hard to deliver audiences with a legitimately scary horror movie without falling into clichés or copying what’s already been done (remakes excluded). More and more people are harder to scare and have built up a tolerance to certain elements that were frightening in the past. Many people may roll their eyes at the thought of The Strangers, possibly due to Liv Tyler being cast the leading role. But don’t let that fool you, Bryan Bertino's The Strangers is actually worth a chance.
Real Terror
Movies based on real events are also a questionable topic, but The Strangers embodies many creepy aspects that make the movie feel real to the viewer. The claustrophobic effect presents the feeling of nowhere to go, and the fact that anyone can enter a home, a safe haven, is equally as terrifying.
Small techniques were used to create an eerie atmosphere. Some of these include the knocks, bangs, and crashes at the door and outside the house and the smiles ironically painted on the masks of the intruders. Also the old record player looping upbeat country tunes, the moved cell phones and smoke detector, and even the fact that the faces of the threesome are never fully seen, hidden by shadows, blurring, or camera angles.
The Movie Begins…
After a brief flashback to discover who the characters are and what ultimately happens to them, the audience discovers that James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Tyler) are a struggling couple arriving at a summer home for the night.
The couple receives a surprise visit at four in the morning from a young girl asking, “Is Tamara here?” This encounter is the first of many terrifying experiences with the three strangers. After James leaves to clear his head, Kristen is left by herself with the terrorizers. This is where the movie is given credit for its craft and doesn’t fall into cliché.
Not Your Typical Horror Chick
Kristen, unlike typical females in horror movies, does not go investigate noises, she locks the door. She also retrieves a knife from the kitchen and charges her dead cell phone. The only downfall, which seems legitimate enough, is she is unfamiliar with the house. She doesn’t think of checking for any other entrance points besides the front door.
Defying Cliché
After James gets back, he is skeptical, trying to rationalize Kristen’s paranoia; however, his logic is stricken when he finds his car smashed and his phone missing. Again, straying from typical horror where characters forget that weapons exist, James finds a shotgun and hides with Kristen in a closet. Until the arrival of James’ friend Mike, the characters were acting intelligently, a rare thing in a horror movie. But after mistakenly killing Mike, James loses it and slips into cliché, running into the woods overcome with “courage.”
Sometimes Truth is just Weak
Ultimately the movie starts to lose its flair toward the end when James and Kristen are caught. They find out that the threesome was terrorizing them simply because they were home. Kristen desperately pleads for her life as she watches the intruders kill her boyfriend and then move on to her. The quick and predictable ending could simply be because The Strangers was based on a true story and shouldn’t let that negatively affect one’s take on the film. There was an inexorable outcome and the movie was leading up to it. It had to end with James and Kristen dying. The important aspect to reflect upon was the meat of the film. Its overall content and approach embodied what many others lack: real horror. Even with a weak ending, The Strangers still proved to be a movie that can give nightmares.
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