'The Strangers' Review: A Flawed But Incredibly Intense Horror Gem (2024)

There are several horror movies that claim that they are “based on a true story.”The Conjuring, The Amityville Horror, Fire in the Sky, — the list only goes on from there. Bryan Bertino’s The Strangers is one of those movies, even though Bertino was merely inspired by the Manson family murders and a string of break-ins that occurred in his neighborhood during his youth. Ed and Lorraine Warren were at least actual people, but every single character in The Strangers is a creation of Bertino's. Yet there’s something so effective about The Strangers that makes that “true story” proclamation even creepier. For the most part, it takes a simple approach to things in terms of storytelling, some might argue it’s almost too simple. However, the simplicity is what makes this home invasion story so effective. Its “inspired by true events” claim might be a stretch, but that doesn’t stop the movie from feeling real.

It worked with the audience so well that it gave way to a sequel, The Strangers: Prey at Night in 2018, and now The Strangers: Chapter 1, the first film in a reboot trilogy. People will have their opinions on whether any subsequent film is able to rise to the level of the original but it's likely a lot of these opinions are going to be a firm no. That's because Bertino’s original movie still holds up 16 years later; so much so that I’ve spent the last few days checking every corner of any room I walk into — just in case. As a naturally jumpy person, who leaps at the sound of a “hey” or a random footstep, it's par for the course. It is also why this movie was so effectively able to tap into my fears. The original movie casts a large shadow — and it would take a hell of a sequel to outdo it.

What Is ‘The Strangers’ About?

The Strangers opens with voice-over narration and text, practically warning the audience of what they’re about to witness:

“On the night of February 11, 2005, Kristen McKay and James Hoyt left a friend’s wedding reception and returned to the Hoyt family’s summer home. The brutal events that took place there are still not entirely known.”

See Also

Movies playing in Southeast Michigan, new releases May 24Summer Movie Guide: Virtually all the movies coming to theaters and streaming from May to Labor Day2024 Mini-Conferences

If you’re like me, you probably already assumed that these characters are going to die and that we’re just waiting to watch the carnage unfold. Then the movie cuts to two young boys out spreading the word of Jesus Christ discovering a smashed-up car and a house left as a bloodied disheveled mess. So yeah, whoever Kristen and James are, they’re definitely dead.

The movie then cuts back to the night before, as Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) arrive home in the most awkward way imaginable. James calls his buddy Mike (Glenn Howerton) to come pick him up in the morning, before grabbing some ice cream from the freezer and eating it Bridget Jones style. Meanwhile, Kristen decides to take a peaceful bath, all by her lonesome. We quickly learn that Kristen has just rejected James' marriage proposal, which clearly explains a lot about what's going on. However, their respective pity parties are disrupted by a knock on the door. A strange woman, whose face is shrouded by shadows, meekly asks “Is Tamara home?” to a puzzled Kristen and James, who soon close the door on her.

‘The Strangers’ Is Uncomfortably Tense

James, being the great boyfriend and potential husband that he clearly thinks he is, decides to head out to the store to get Kristen her cigarettes, leaving her alone. The mystery woman returns to the door to harass her, while a tall masked man has already silently made his way into the house, creepily standing right behind Kristen. This scene might not be full of blood, loud noises, or creepy music, but it’s without a doubt one of the movie’s best sequences. The minimalism makes it feel, not like you’re watching a typical horror movie, but a documentary. At this point, your eyes have left Kristen sipping from a glass of tap water and smoking a cigarette, and now you can’t take your eyes off this unwelcome guest silently observing her.

From here, the movie continues to escalate, culminating in James returning home to a petrified Kristen while the record player is stuck looping the same small section of Gillian Welch’s “My First Lover.” This is also the moment where the movie begins to play out exactly how most home-invasion movies play out. While the rest of The Strangers may be predictable, especially since the opening practically spoils the outcome (minus one small tidbit), the build-up is so effectively uncomfortable that it's easy to be more forgiving.

Bertino understands that we as an audience don’t need some long-drawn-out backstory about these masked intruders or their reasoning for doing this. After all, the line “Because you were home,” does enough to send shivers down your spine. While this exact story hasn’t actually happened, the ambiguity makes it feel like it could have. The Strangers isn’t keen on adding in a bunch of different subplots or moments of comic relief (although Howerton’s brief appearance did get a chuckle out of me), its goal is to make us feel like we’re a fly on the wall. Much like Karyn Kusama’s criminally underrated horror movie The Invitation, The Strangers is the horror movie equivalent of watching a middle schooler build a paper-mache volcano, there’s a lot of construction and build-up and while the end result is quick, it fills you with adrenaline.

‘The Strangers’ Still Falls Victim To Certain Horror Tropes

The Strangers does so many things right in terms of building anticipation and fear in its audience. However, there are still certain elements throughout that will occasionally take you out of the movie. The dialogue between Kristen and James is incredibly corny, and neither of them seems all that multi-dimensional. While Kusama’s The Invitation had a compelling story between the characters to take advantage of when ramping up the tension, The Strangers doesn’t have that with its protagonists. In a movie where everything else feels real and immersive, these two characters just don’t feel all that believable.

It is not that Tyler and Speedman give poor performances, they do all that they can with what they are given. It's that the script requires their characters to continually make the most moronic decisions possible. We’re not morbidly rooting for the Strangers in the way that we might while watching a villain wreak havoc in a campy slasher movie, but it's not like we’re rooting for this couple either. This is especially true as they continue to behave like they couldn’t even pass the fifth grade. The movie ultimately concludes by coming full circle, going back to the two young boys as they unknowingly talk to Dollface (Gemma Ward), the youngest of the three masked Strangers, before venturing into Kristen and James’ house. They discover the corpses of the unfortunate couple, but as one of the two peers over Kristen’s body, she suddenly grabs the young boy’s hand and screams, and the film smash cuts to the credits.

Plenty of great horror movies have concluded with a creative jump-scare, take for example Sissy Spacek’s bloodied hand reaching through the grave at the end of Brian De Palma’s Carrie. In The Strangers, however, it feels almost like a cop-out. Bertino spent the majority of the runtime relishing in the art of a slow-burn and that's part of what makes the movie so damn scary. This finale, however, just feels like a studio note, telling him to try to make the audience leap out of their seats from a loud noise at least once.

Thankfully, in the grand scheme of things, this final scene feels much more like a nitpick. For most of The Strangers’ 85-minute run time, I was hooked, although I did find myself reaching for the remote a few times, wondering whether or not I could handle the suspense. But that is clearly the feeling that this movie sets out to provoke.The Strangers might not be the kind of horror movie I’ll revisit time and time again, but it will stick with me, finding ways to freak me out with minimal resources.

REVIEW

The Strangers

'The Strangers' still holds up 16 years later, expertly ramping up a tension-filled atmosphere leading to a violent result.

710

Pros

• Bryan Bertino's minimalist direction makes the audience feel like they're a fly on the wall, making the movie feel all the more scarier.
• The lack of set-up works to the movie's benefit, making for a more atmospheric experience.

Cons

• The movie occasionally falls victim to many classic horror tropes that will sometimes take the audience out of the movie.
• The final scene feels out of place compared to the rest of the movie's quiet and disturbing nature.

The Strangers is available to stream on Max in the U.S.

Watch on Max