People are Strange

Stock scares and abrupt ending hurt The Strangers
  by Morgan P Salvo

The Strangers will piss off a lot of people, but probably not for the same reasons as me. It has its moments as it’s an odd twist of a film. It’s all about a victimizing, murderous act and any substance beyond that is all but lost. Relying only on scare tactics it virtually has no plot. Now, this can be a good thing and many times it is, but in this case it leads to is an unredeemable finale with a supremely uncalled for ending.
The beginning has that good ol’horror movie promise with narration and facts “inspired by true events” straight out of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the first and only good one). Strangers keeps the suspense up and undeniably will creep you out – the sound of a knock on a door might never be the same for you again.
Kristin (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) are back from a party early because Kristen has re-buffed James’ marriage proposal and they are in a sad quandary as to what to do next. Staying at his folks’ remotely situated house, they receive a knock at the door from a seemingly lost girl. They send her on her way figuring that’s the end of it. Then the trouble begins. Knocks turn into pounds, windows break, and masked figures begin to appear. Awards must go to the creepiest masks ever: Doll-face and Pillow-head.
I assume we are supposed to be frightened right along with the characters but it’s more voyeuristic, as we watch them being accosted by bad things. The “what-will-happen-next” and “jump-at-you-from-out-of-nowhere” scare-tactics prevail.
There’s a good choice of music - another movie wherein everyone is retro enough to listen to vinyl. But then how else could one get that cool record skipping effect in a scary scene? The soft-lensed cinematography gives it a nice and warm look—the polar opposite of what the characters are feeling. The acting is okay; everyone acts duly frightened out of their wits and on the flipside, calm and rational when forced to keep their wits about them. Even Speedman is pretty darn deft with his character and Liv is good at portraying a frightened sense of “why us ...why… why?”

First-time director Bryan Bertino draws from some obvious influences: The Town that Dreaded Sundown, Ils, Straw Dogs, even the original Halloween. He maintains a real dread and terror edge-of-your-seat ambiance. But the movie is most easily compared to the recently released Funny Games about people victimized in a remote house setting. Whereas Games overly sensitized the viewer, Strangers wants you to take the ride with the characters exclusively in fear mode. There are some genre-busting scenes that really work in mood and action. One effective scene shows the pillow-head dude tiring of the predatory antics, sitting down to rest while Kristen cowers in a closet listening to his asthmatic breathing. The old scary movie conventions are deconstructed and re-invented in refreshing and required sick ways: no phone lines cut--cell phone chucked in the fire, no flat tire--busted windshield and burning car.
The movie ends too soon after the disturbing buildup to the inevitable sadistic slaughter. Right when they had a chance to give us a little more info on the three masked characters they stop short, ripping us off. Any rationale pertaining to the ones behind the masks could’ve worked: psychotic hillbilly inbreeding, a kooky cult, a demented family or wacky prank gone awry. Anything would’ve provided more entertainment and less frustration.
When the climactic moments come the generic horror movie ending coupled with the “is that all there is?” sensation had me shaking my head muttering to myself, I can’t believe I almost bought the whole thing. Come to think of it I am pissed off at Strangers for all the SAME reasons everyone else will be.

The Strangers
Starring Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman
Directed/written by: Bryan Bertino
 2 stars