The strangers opens with a somewhat creepy narrative where the narrarator tells you there are so many violent crimes each year in america and about the events that in particular happened to Kristen and James,played by liv tyler and Scott Speedman. The opening with the narrative is eerily reminscent of the texas chainsaw massacre's opening. From that moment on you think ok this could be creepy.
Kristen and James arrive back at a secluded house after attending a friends wedding. And I mean secluded,doesn't look like there is a house anywhere near this one. They are in the midst of some relationship troubles. In the middle of an intimate moment there is a very loud knock on the door, that only gets louder and louder. Eventually they answer and there is some girl who aks them if tamara is home. They send her away thinking she is confused. After this James goes out to pick up some cigarettes leaving kristen alone in this huge eery house. While gone the knocks on the dooor happen again and pick up even more intensity. Eventually Kristen becomes convinced someone is in the house after she finds a smke dectector she took apart put back togther. Pretty creepy moment right there. When James returns Kristen is hysterical, convinced that someone is still in the house. They soon both realize they are both in grave danger. There are some genuine creepy moments in this film from the loud pounding knocks on the door that become so intense it even startles you, to a case of mistaken identity, and to the masks worn by the people doing this. One burlap sap mask in particular is the best. Also the way these "strangers" terrorize and at times just mess with and scare kristen and james is quite saidstic. The ending while simple is quite frightening.
Drected by Bryan Bertino this fim shows that all it takes for a scary movie is simplicity and realism. You don't need torture or even blood or convuluted plots to make a movie truly terrifying. There also is no cgi or big budget effects which make this seem even more organic. Both Tyler and Speedman give good performances that are not to over the top that they are unbelievable. Honestly one of the scariest things to me is knowing that someone is in your house unwelcomed. What is simpler and scarier than that?
