Time: 86 Minutes
Age Rating: Contains horror scenes and violence
Cast:
Liv Tyler as Kristen McKay
Scott Speedman as James Hoyt
Director: Bryan Bertino

After returning from a wedding reception, a couple staying in an isolated vacation house receive a knock on the door in the mid-hours of the night. What ensues is a violent invasion by three strangers, their faces hidden behind masks. The couple find themselves in a violent struggle, in which they go beyond what either of them thought capable in order to survive.

The Home Invasion genre is a very notable subgenre in horror. One of the biggest examples that comes up is The Strangers, often being referred to as being realistically terrifying. I must be missing something because I really don’t like this movie. Its not particularly scary or effective (not really sure why so many people find it scary) but it’s also just got nothing else going for it. It’s just such a mediocre movie which nothing really special or unique to make it stand out from any of the other films from the genre.

The thing about The Strangers is that there really isn’t much to say about it. It is every other home invasion movie in the history of anything ever. Most of the movie is just these invading characters randomly passing behind our protagonists but not actually doing anything, only just being there to ‘scare’ the audience. Supposedly this movie is supposed to be realistic but its very much like a lot of other horror/slasher movies. For every somewhat realistic moment there’s a cliché horror moment that follows it. It’s not particularly interesting or gripping, it’s rather bland and flat in fact. The film is predictable, it’s very easy to tell which direction it goes in. Even the way that the film ends is insultingly predictable and horror-like. I’ve got nothing much to really say about this movie, it’s not horrendous but it is incredibly bland and typical.

The only two notable actors really were Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, who weren’t really given anything to work with in this movie aside from just acting really scared but they were good. There is a romance between them and it was done fine I guess. Tyler and Speedman tried their best, the writing let them down. As for the intruders, they weren’t anything you’ve seen before. Just generic masked killers.

The direction is fine but it isn’t ever scary. As I said the film a lot of the time is just people walking behind our protagonists, most of the time not posing any form of any actual threat to them directly. The film tries to have scenes of suspension but I don’t remember every feeling tense, scared or anything like that. The way that these people are portrayed at times makes them look like superhuman. For example there’s a scene where we can clearly someone touching Scott Eastwood from behind and when he turns around, no one is there. So it’s not a particularly ‘realistic’ movie, The Strangers doesn’t even have that going for it.

The Strangers is yet another mediocre attempt at a Home Invasion movie. There’s nothing really that great about it. It’s not scary, it isn’t full of tension, its predictable and it isn’t anything we’ve seen before. I guess the acting is fine but that’s about the only really good thing about The Strangers. What really gets me about this movie is just how nothing about it stands out. It doesn’t have a particularly special or unique style or story, and I have no idea what some people like so much about it. I guess if it interests you enough, check it out. But to me it’s not really effective as a horror movie or as a movie in itself.