Movie Review: The Strangers

    

The Strangers
2008, 91mins, R
Director: Bryan Bertino
Writer: Bryan Bertino
Cast includes: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, Alex Fisher, Peter Clayton-Luce
Release Date: 30th May 2008

The Strangers is remarkable for how much it resembles last years Vacancy. The DNA of both films is stunningly similar to a degree that I was shocked the movies came out within a year of each other, especially given that Vacancy performed to such a tepid degree at the Box-Office. Neither is a bad film but your appreciation of one over the other will largely depend on which you see first and for me that was Vacancy early last Summer. One has to give backslaps to director Bryan Bertino for attacking his material in as intimate and tense a fashion as he could and for recruiting an excellent leading lady, but for me the feeling of having seen it all before tainted the experience ever so slightly.
The Strangers claims to be inspired from true events, and revolves around the story of James Hoyt (Scott Speedman) and Kristen McKay (Liv Tyler) a couple who whilst staying at the Hoyt Summer house where attacked and killed by unidentified entity’s. One would assume that the “True Events” claim is a subtle way of garnering attention and in reality the “events” The Strangers claims to revolve around have little in common with whats on screen. Kristen and James have just returned from a wedding though neither is in a good state of mind, as Kristen rejected Jame’s own hand in marriage at the parties climax. Kristen states she’s just not ready but obviously James takes it hard and due to his upset nature Kristen is forced into a feeling of guilt. The pair are continually estranged as the evening goes on and they return to the Hoyt Summer house, but growing feels of mutual unrest have little time to develop as they are interrupted by a girl looking for someone called Tamra in the early hours of the morning. The two think little of it until it occurs again and within a short space of time it appears that a group of masked individuals are circling them and have found a way to access entrance to the house. The film then thrusts the viewer into Jame’s and Kristen’s attempts to best and escape the masked attackers as their hostile nature grows more evident, before they’ve tormented the pair to a point where all they have left to do is kill them.
Anyone who’s seen the already name checked Vacancy, will already have put together the highly notable similarities, masked attackers, troubled couple and claustrophobic circumstances make up the majority of both films central themes- indeed if you where to insert reference to snuff films then I’d swear I was watching the same flick. Still luckily for debut helmer Bryan Bertino I enjoyed Vacancy and whilst familiarity works against him on occasion, by attempting the same brand of close, scary and intimate terror he’s at least done something right, and that something happens to be very important for this sort of picture.
The performances in The Strangers are really only made up of two camps- one is goods and the other a little more generic and standard. Tyler takes up the majority of the screentime and it must be said makes for a very engaging and sympathetic lead, as an actress Tyler has usually been competent but in The Strangers she ups her game another gear. It’s through her fear that we experience the tension and reality fuelled situation in as gripping a manner as it frequently is and several little touch’s that Bertino peppers throughout his picture are wonderfully well complimented by Tyler’s paranoid turn. Speedman on the other hand isn’t quite as efficient or compelling as the other half of this tortured pair, to often resembling a grimacing cardboard cut out for a genuine connection to be established with the audience. He’s not terrible and seems to have a basic understanding of how to play each scene but he lacks the natural ability or talent that Tyler is able to strike up when she enters the stage.
For a film made on the cheap The Strangers evokes the likes of Halloween in how wonderfully it creates a set of imposing villains and a suitably atmospheric setting. I wouldn’t call the masked folk in The Strangers unforgettable bad guys but through the brisk running time they create a satisfying air of evil and the unknown so that they remain a constant menace at the back of the viewers mind. Their physical design is pretty nifty and again helps up the screen presence which in turn makes them seem like a strong and almost unbeatable enemy. The house and woodland environment that the movie is shot in is well lit and makes for some good creepy cinematography along with complimenting the idea that these events actually took place.
The sort of fear that The Strangers is interested in creating is the most organic and in many ways interesting type, primal and charged fully by our terror of the unknown, capture and death. I found that during the movies closing 25 minutes these where played out to their fullest and most satisfying, Bertino clearly has an understanding of horror cinema and shows enough here that ensures he’s a name to look out for in the future. The movie has only sporadic handfuls of gore to show and certainly is more interested in shredding the audiences nerves that making them blow chunks.
All this said it is important to point out several flaws that inhabit The Strangers runtime and prevent it from ever becoming more than a “good” film. Firstly whilst the principal of the story works well coming a year after Vacancy it to often seems distracting and predictable and so on those grounds I found myself a little unsurprised on a few occasions. Secondly the central 25 minutes really slack up and lose sight of delivering as many solid scares as possible. It doesn’t represent a bad piece of filmmaking but in comparison to the fast and often furious opening and finale at times the middle segment verges on being a little tedious. It’s all part of the filmmaking learning curve for Bertino who is unlikely to make the same mistake again, but it definitely hurts the finished product on this occasion. Finally a few aspects like the score feel very average and underdeveloped, every great horror movie as at least a solidly memorable slice of music to its name but sadly after watching The Strangers I can’t recall any singular piece of music, indeed all I really remember is that it was there.
Fans of home invasion flicks and to mention it for the last time Vacancy will really want to give this one a go and indeed if you can acknowledge and enjoy a noble genre effort that gets more right than wrong it’s also worth a recommendation. I find more and more that young directors seem to feel gore is more frightening than basic suspense which is simply not the case, and so to see Bryan Bertino attack a horror film on his debut effort in the right mind is an encouraging sign. A flawed and somewhat unoriginal picture The Strangers still does the horror fundamentals well enough to ensure it’s at the higher end of the years genre output.