THE STRANGERS is a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. It has a decent but small cast, a low budget, and no splashy special effects. Further, it isn't the least bit original. Panicked, isolated victims fighting for survival against masked sociopaths is a time-honored story that has been told in one way or another in a great many films -- HE'S OUT THERE, HUSH, and YOU'RE NEXT immediately come to mind. But here's the thing about THE STRANGERS. It's not just scary. It's really, really scary.
What sets this movie, written and directed by Brian Bertino (THE MONSTER), apart from the aforementioned home-invasion flicks is hard to define. It's fairly well executed, decently written, and well shot, but so are many other films that don't achieve this level of suspense.
Perhaps it's the good performances by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. Tyler is a talented actress who expertly embodies unnerved, and she plays to that right from the beginning of the movie, setting the stage for nail biting thrills before the real action even starts. Speedman also does a bit more than one would expect, infusing his character's obligatory, horror-movie machismo with just enough uncertainty to make him acutely relatable.
Perhaps it's that Bertino has written characters who do what you or I might do under stress that pushes this effort to the next level. When Tyler hears the plaintive voice of a woman who's knocking on the door, does she open it? No. She throws the deadbolt and finds a phone. When Speedman gets ahold of a shotgun and shells, does he tromp around looking for trouble? No. He gets his back into a corner and waits for the trouble to come to him.
Perhaps it's the measured calm of the psycho-killers that works on our nerves so effectively. As relentless as they are, rather than display the frenetic aggression we expect, these masked savages take their time, savor their own evil, and seem to enjoy standing quietly unseen in the background and simply ... staring.
Whatever it is about THE STRANGERS that's so efficient at ramping up the anxiety, you'll need a little bit of patience to experience it. The first 20 minutes is devoted to setting up an interpersonal dynamic between Speedman and Tyler that arguably isn't altogether necessary to the story but that doesn't hurt beyond delaying things a bit. But once the action really gets underway at about the 20-minute mark, it's white knuckles the whole rest of the way.
When I choose a horror movie, I am looking for one thing: to be frightened. That's exactly what I found with THE STRANGERS. Recommendation: Lock the doors, close the blinds, and watch.
