How scary a horror movie is can be very subjective, what scares one person may not scare another. Some people may be terrified by religious or sci-fi horror while others prefer real world threats like serial killers. Objectively, an atmosphere of anticipation needs to be created in any good horror film, keeping the viewer unsettled waiting for what is coming. “The Strangers” creates this breathless anticipation prior to and during a home invasion by masked psychotics. The writer-director Bryan Bertino knows how to take a simple premise and stretch it into a night of terror incarnate. “The Strangers” is an instant horror classic.
Liv Tyler (“The Incredible Hulk”) is Kristin and Scott Speedman (“Underworld: Evolution”) is James, a couple spending the weekend at James’s parents’ summer home. They are in the country isolated from the outside world. A woman knocks on their door searching for a friend. When she leaves strange people begin appearing outside the house. Items disappear from around the home. The options for escape or calling for help are slowly dwindling. How will Kristin and James protect themselves from these home invaders, who seem one step ahead of their every action?
What makes the story even more compelling and creepy is that it is based on a true story. The director successfully creates sympathetic characters from the beginning. We learn about their lives and their relationship in a short span of time. The setting in the house feels old fashioned, with a grandfather clock’s ticking and scratchy country music playing in the background. The tension mounts as you wait for something to happen, the viewer only sees glimpses of the people in masks. The masked invaders stalk the protagonists, seemingly as part of a sick game. There is plenty of sneaking around to fray the most solid of nerves. Whether real-world horror is your thing or not, “The Strangers” is easily the best from the horror genre thus far this year.
Rated R for violence/terror and language.
