THE STRANGERS

1 out of 5 stars

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Well, the trailers sure made it look interesting.

"Based on true events."

Quick cuts of a young couple alone inside a house in the middle of nowhere.

Scary looking "Strangers" with sacks over their heads, some wearing creepy Halloween masks stuck in a plastic smile.

The lone bit of dialogue: "Why are you doing this?!"

"Because you were home."

Turns out, that bit of dialogue is the ONLY thing "the strangers" have to say for themselves. Which I was sort of expecting.

I figured this wasn't going to be the type of horror movie that gave you too much information. I didn't want, or need, a long drawn-out back story about how "the strangers" were molested at an early age or used to kill small animals.

They were simply killers, which honestly would have been enough explanation.

What I did expect, however, was a plot of some sort. Even in a silly movie about people just breaking into a house to kill those stuck inside, I want things to at least make sense.

Unfortunately, "The Strangers" just wastes time.

It started out promising enough. James, (Scott Speedman) and Kristen,
(Liv Tyler) are on their way to a lake house after a school dance. But instead of being the typical young-lovers-wanting-to-screw-each-other's-brains-out characters, the film has us join them in the midst of a fight.

Turns out James just asked Kristen to marry him, and she refused.

Once they reach the lake house, champagne and rose petals are strewn everywhere, which serve as a depressing backdrop to the couple's frustration and unease of being reminded of the night that could have been.

This premise is probably the movie's one strong suit. It gives an extra
dimension to the characters and room to breathe a little before the
tension builds.

At first, the sudden pounding at the front door, the knocking that
grows more and more intense, is unnerving. The first couple of times
something slowly moves in the background — one of the masked "strangers" inside the house — will easily give you chills. The only problem is that the film relies on these cheap scares throughout the entire experience. Almost every scene is set up by reassuring the audience that one of "the strangers" is indeed near.

From there "The Strangers" loses its tension, direction and focus, feeling like
a PG-13 movie that added a little bit of blood and curse words to attempt to be "edgy."

Instead the entire game of cat and mouse rarely has any sort of thought or wit behind it. Characters do the stupidest things you can imagine, and you start wondering if they want to die.

Here's the other thing that makes this movie a complete waste: The
strangers are more interested in teasing the victims than
actually killing them.

There is a scene toward the end of the film in which Liv Tyler crawls across an entire yard, into a barn, back outside across the yard, then back into the house. I mean, she's on all fours, unable to walk ... and they just let her continue to crawl away?!

It's enough to make you want to scream, but not in the way the
producers intended.