‘Strangers’ strangle horror genre
The most terrifying part of “The Strangers” is not the people in creepy doll masks or the torture sequences: it is the fact that this one-and-a-half hour film is one hour too long.
Liv Tyler, bottom left, and Scott Speedman, bottom right, face the three masked stalkers/captors that plague the young couple throughout this psychological horror film.
Based on true events, “The Strangers” is the Hollywood version of what happened to James Hoyt (Scott Speedman, “Underworld: Evolution”) and Kristen McKay (Liv Tyler, “The Incredible Hulk”) at the secluded Hoyt family summer home. After returning from a wedding reception, the couple struggles to stay alive while three strangers in masks terrorize and torture them.
In one of the film’s special features, production designer John Krethschmer said, “This is more of a terror film, as opposed to a horror.” That statement is 100 percent correct. “The Strangers” is a truly terrifying and disturbing film in its first half hour.
When the intruders start appearing in random places, it is generally creepy. After the 20th time a masked person pops out of nowhere, it simply becomes silly. It’s not scary anymore and, it becomes quite annoying watching the poor couple scramble around hopelessly.
One of the main goals a serious horror film is making the audience care what happens to the victims. “The Strangers” fails miserably in that respect by purposely avoiding character development for random scares. While Tyler and Speedman do not create obnoxious characters, it just become hard to care for them when they start making idiotic mistakes.
One example in particular is when the couple realizes that the strangers have broken into the house. James decides it would be best to try and find a radio in the barn outside and tells Kristen to stay put inside. Scared stupid, Kristen listens and waits while James runs outside with the couple’s gun, their only source of defense.
Out of all the nonsense that occurs in this film, the worst part is the meaninglessness of it all. When Kristen asks one of the intruders, “Why are you doing this to us?” the blonde-haired girl with the big doll-eyed mask replies, “Because you were home.”
In similar fashion to this year’s other ‘when strangers attack’ film, “Funny Games,” it seems the villains terrorize these unsuspecting victims just for the hell of it. While director Bret Bertino might have been going for a creepy Manson family feel, the whole ordeal comes off as a lame attempt to generate clichéd thrills.
For the DVD’s special features, viewers are treated to two deleted scenes that actually would have been beneficial to add into the final cut. Believe it or not, the scenes actually included character development!
There is also a making-of featurette entitled “The Elements of Terror,” in which Tyler explains how surprised she was when she realized she could actually scream.
With Halloween just around the corner, most should find more terror in their local spook houses than in “The Strangers” pointless story.
‘The Strangers’
Release Date: Oct. 21
Director: Bryan Bertino
Starring: Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rating: R for violence/terror and language.
Grade: D
Jay Brissenden can be reached at jbrissenden@nevadasagebrush.com.
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on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 12:11 am and is filed under Arts & Entertainment, Film Reviews, Vibe.
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