The Strangers (2008) – Film Review

Release Date: 26th August 2008

Director: Bryen Bertino

Cast: Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler

Genre: Horror

Rating: 7

Plot: A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.

Why are you doing this to us?” – Kristan

“Because you were home” – Dollface 

This is one of those horror films that you don’t want to be watching alone, it’s a grounded realistic horror that will leave you afraid of that late night knock at the door. It uses suspense throughout and has some pretty good scares. however I believe that this film could have been shorter, there were some parts that dragged  too much to the point where it became slightly boring, especially during the third act.

The characters in this film Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) are an interesting couple, even though they are going through some complications after a rejected proposal you can still tell that they care deeply for each other. I feel like for the most part these characters were realistic and made some okay decisions, however there is one scene that annoyed me. at the beginning of the third act the two separate so James can go see if the radio works, this just felt like the writers needed them to split up so this was how they did it. It was a plot decision that annoyed me and I think they could have come up with a better way to have them split up.

Music is something that was used to great effect in this film, for example the scene where she is home alone and being tormented and the record is just skipping in the background. I found this very effective for the scene, it made it more intense and creepy to watch.

The ending of this film is done quite well, we see that its daytime outside which in most horror films indicates that characters are safe, however this is not the case here. this just helps drive home how brutal this film can be. I personally liked this ending, its scary and end the film well, as well as keeping the tone dark and disturbing.

Overall this is a horror film that I would definitely recommended, I dare you to watch it while you’re home alone. Even though it can drag slightly its still a fun and scary film to watch that honestly deserves more love than it gets.

Thank you for reading,

-Emily x

Note: Sorry if this review seemed rushed I spent ages writing it and then it all got deleted somehow – so im so annoyed about that right now. Also I have 5 posts on the way probably within the next week.