The Strangers

Inspired by horrific true events, The Strangers marks writer/director Bryan Bertino’s feature film debut. Bertino does more than decent job in capturing the tense atmosphere of a home invasion by three twisted sociopaths. One of the most admirable things about this film is that Bertino allows the story to build slowly instead of immediately leaping into the action. This is a director who clearly understands the mechanics of suspense and knows how to use them.

James (Scott Speedman) had everything planned: After proposing to his girlfriend, Kristen (Liv Tyler), at a friend's wedding reception, he planned to surprise her with a romantic night back at his family's isolated summer house. But Kristen unexpectedly refused and now it's four o’clock in the morning, she's crying and he's humiliated. All the road signs point to a depressing weepy romance. However, the worst is still yet to come.

Someone starts hammering on the door; it's a girl, asking if Tamara is home. Wrong house, James says, and she melts into the darkness.

 James goes out to get Kristen cigarettes, and while he's gone, things get seriously scary: The girl returns,still asking for Tamara; a man in a crudely-fashioned mask appears at the window, Kristen's cell phone vanishes and the landline is dead. She's a wreck by the time James returns, and his mechanically comforting words sound awfully hollow when someone takes an axe to the front door and James discovers that his tyres have been slashed. “Because you were home.” That’s the chilling reason one of the psychotic trio proffers to Liv Tyler for thunderously stalking her.  

We get to know the film’s central characters, an everyday young couple in the midst of a relationship crisis, and see them as real human beings. They aren’t just horror film fodder, as is so often the case in this genre. That’s a key factor in being able to empathise with their struggle for survival against the heaviest of odds. And once all hell breaks loose, Bertino keeps the pulse-pounding momentum going until the final end credits.

Director: Bryan Bertino
Starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks and Laura Margolis
Certificate: 18
Running time: 85 minutes
Release date: 29th August

Adrian McBreen