Dvd
The Strangers
Starring Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Sterling Beaumon, Peter Clayton-Luce, Glenn Howerton, Laura Margolis
Directed by Bryan Bertino (feature debut)
Written by Bryan Bertino
Thriller, Crime, Horror | 1hr 30mins | Rated (R16) | Contains horror scenes and violence | Origin: USA | Official Site »
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The Talk
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Flicks review
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2
Up until about halfway, The Strangers is a pretty effective home invasion nightmare. "Based on a true story", Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman are a couple with a relationship on the rocks, who become victims of random violence. Despite clichés - the landline connection doesn't work and the cellphone's out of battery - there are some suspenseful moments. And Liv Tyler's always good - we like her, we want her to see out her days.
All this before the film descends pretty rapidly into ridiculousness. Our heroes do all the idiotic things people only do when, really, their ulterior motive is to set up a scary scenario because they're in a movie. Debut director Bryan Bertino hides information from you to annoying, rather than suspenseful, effect. It culminates in an ending so pointless and underwhelming, it's like the film has taken you by the scruff of the neck and said "Hey! See how worthless the last 90 minutes of your life were? Now get back out into the real world. Get a life. I never want to see you again."
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The people's reviews
1 reviews
Press Reviews
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Chicago Sun-Times [Roger Ebert]
The movie deserves more stars for its bottom-line craft, but all the craft in the world can't redeem its story.
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FilmThreat.com [USA]
3
Ultimately, The Strangers does succeed in the sense that it offers a riveting, vastly credible enactment of everyone's worst nightmare.
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Hollywood Reporter
A spare, creepily atmospheric psychological thriller with a death grip on the psychological aspect.
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Is Hollywood so disconnected from its past and bankrupt of ideas that it doesn't even know this movie is a screaming cliché?
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Stuff.co.nz [Chris Schulz]
3
1/2 What you see is definitely what you get: A chair-grippingly scary horror film that might very well make you lock your doors, leave the lights on, and probably seek out a stranger for a comfort hug when you leave the cinema.
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Variety [USA]
It's all efficiently nerve-jangling, with Tyler and Speedman credibly registering every hue of panic. Still, after such a long, creepy, cannily restrained buildup, it must be said the resolution is rather flat, a full-circle postscript rote.
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Village Voice [USA]
Bertino teases with the unknown until he's left no pimple ungoosed. Sometimes avoiding the synapse-raping bad habits of splat packers Eli Roth and Alexandre Aja is its own reward; doing so without also submitting to Michael Haneke–style hand-slapping is nearly monumental.
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