31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: The Strangers

The Strangers (2008)

Directed by Bryan Bertino

Starring Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Glenn Howerton, Gemma Ward, Laura Margolis, & Kip Weeks

Kristen and James are staying in the summer vacation home of James’s parents after attending the wedding of a friend. While at the reception, James asked Kristen to marry him. She said no. the couple try talking about where their relationship will go from here and how to go on after this, when suddenly there’s a knock at the door. A girl is asking for someone who doesn’t live there. The couple closes the door and thinks nothing of it, but this is only the start. Their night will bring them closer together as three strangers enact a volley of mental and physical attacks on them.

For everything The Strangers does right, it also does something stupid. The first bad move comes right at the start of the film, when a narrator reads and an accompanying text description informs the viewer that the movie is based on real life events. Given how horror movies have used this terminology loosely to squeak extra money out of the curious and people who only want to see “realistic” horror, this is a big red flag for two reasons. First, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the original film to use this kind of line. Second, it hasn’t been topped in effectiveness or in quality.

For me, the real problem with The Strangers is just how dull it can get. For all the times Bryan Bertino allows the natural sound and his foley department create some genuinely unsettling cacophony, there’s just as many times where an unneeded musical note in the score creates jump scares out of knocks on the wall. It’s annoying how the movie switches between those two aesthetics; jump scares and quite observational terror. Bertino certainly can do one of these better than the other and it’s a shame that the movie is a near even split for styles.

There’s also the issue of character development, by which I mean there isn’t any after about twenty minutes. Kristen and James are dealing with a lot right when the movie starts and their woes as a couple are well covered. Then there are noises from outside and strangers knocking on the door, and that’s when everything character wise grinds to a halt.

Perhaps the movie is trying to establish some sense of realism and that nobody would continue that discussion after things like this go down. But everything leading up to the attack of the strangers is tense and interesting. It’s still tense when the couple has to fend for their lives, but the human drama element is sorely needed. As is, most of the psychological and physical attacks involve Tyler and Speedman standing around or crouching in the dark or fiddling with the car. The action and scares are fine, but not enough to sustain scene after scene of standing around waiting for someone to try and kill the leads.

The cast is actually pretty good all things considered. Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler are both very capable actors that elevate the material when their characters aren’t going anywhere. The pair has some good chemistry and painful tension which helps sell the dire straits of their relationship. Even the actors playing the three strangers (Gemma Ward, Laura Margolis, and Kip Weeks) are terrifying. Their body language sells who these characters are when their faces are covered. If anything The Strangers has a better cast than it deserves.

The Strangers could be a good movie with a tighter runtime or more character development, or by not being such a hodgepodge of aural styles. There’s something decent under all of the problems, it just doesn’t get the chance to show up.

5 out of 10