"The Strangers" [2008]

[Abishai100]

The Strangers is a 2008 American horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino. Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) are expecting a relaxing weekend at a family vacation home, but their stay turns out to be anything but peaceful, for three masked torturers leave Kristen and James struggling for survival (source of information: Wikipedia).

This is a really eerie modern-noir horror-film and it's both stark and oddly realistic (in its portrayal of the 'everyday safety' our mind seeks when we, say, go to a cabin-hideaway to unwind and kindle a romance).


Movies have changed so much over the ages, with major 'epochs' in 'style' (I'd say):

1. Classic Era --- e.g., "The Birth of a Nation" [1915]
2. Silver Era --- e.g., "The Wizard of Oz" [1939]
3. Cosmo Era --- e.g., "Working Girl" [1988]
4. Neon Era --- e.g., "The Dark Knight" [2008]

"The Strangers" [2008] is a nice creative-exposition of the Neon Era, complete with characters and atmospherics appealing to a new young thrill-seeking movie audience. It's also a presentation of what comprises the timelessness of human fears (e.g., isolation, home-invasion, deception, etc.).

That's why I like referring to this unusual Bryan Bertino film when I'm thinking about the 'evolution of cinema' and of course why Americans seem so darn fascinated by horror-suspense. Is it because America is a sprawled-out nation of sanctuary-dwellers?

"The Strangers" [2008] compels us to ask intriguing questions about American imagination...

That's why I compare this film to Stephen King's Cujo and afford it a decent 3/5 stars (if I, say, afford a revered horror-film gem such as Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window a full 5/5 stars!).



{re-interpretation dialogue}

====

KRISTEN: I think there's someone outside the cottage...
JAMES: Yeah, I see one of them; she's wearing a mask(!).
KRISTEN: It's a female?
JAMES: Yeah. That's odd. Why's she wearing a mask?
KRISTEN: I'm scared. Is there a man with her?
JAMES: I don't see anyone...no wait, yeah there's a dude with her.
KRISTEN: What's he look like (look out the window!)?
JAMES: He's wearing a mask too...
KRISTEN: Alright, now I'm really freaked out.
JAMES: Me too; lemme call my friend.
KRISTEN: Damn, my cell phone's dead.
JAMES: I think mine's working(!).
KRISTEN: If we get out of here, I'll pray more.
JAMES: Yeah...

====

 

[2aguy]

And...of course, they have a gun but in typical left wing fantasy life, they end up shooting a friend with it instead of the attackers....

Had they both been armed in the movie....there wouldn't be a movie....

 

[Abishai100]

Had they both been armed in the movie....there wouldn't be a movie....

I agree, the film-maker chose to go the direction of villain-characterization rather than victim/hero-characterization, which is why it seems he focused on the 'intelligence' of the killers and much less on the wiliness of the hapless victims. This differs I think in the sequel, where there's much more 'action' from the targeted humans of the Strangers/killers.

Also to note is that The Strangers nicely captures a storytelling-angle focusing on the 'contours' of criminal insanity. We don't see Batman (DC Comics) horror-angle storytelling, even though he's the ideal comic book superhero for horror-oriented fantasy-adventure storytelling and his adversaries are do darn eerie. In The Strangers, we're really invited to 'ponder' about the general psychological 'motivations' of the killers. The final line of the killers, when they're asked by the couple (Speedman/Tyler) why they were relentlessly/ruthlessly targeted captures this 'angle' of the story --- the human psyche itself.

While The Strangers is still a horror-film and not a psychological vignette, it certainly invites audiences to think about the general 'visage' or 'psyche' of pseudo-folkloric/mythical killers/psychos. That's why I chose to place it 'comfortably' in the pantheon/timeline of the history of cinema. Personally, I wasn't as impressed with a psyche-oriented horror-film as I was with Alfred Hitchcock's groundbreaking Psycho until I saw The Strangers.

 

[whitehall]

I don't want to hijack the post but there is a movie made in 1946 called "The Stranger" starring Orson Welles and Edward G. Robinson that beats the hell out of the slasher junk that video game raised idiots view as classics these days. In an uncharacteristic role from his usual tough guy gangster image, Edward G. Robinson is a federal investigator on the trail of a Nazi war criminal (Welles) who has assumed a new identity and settled in a quiet Maine town and married a local girl (Loretta Young). It's a B&W classic that's hard to beat.