The Strangers

Yet another movie I graciously commend for sticking to intense suspense and not graphic exploitation. When I first watched the trailer for this film, I just about flipped. The first run one-sheet made me squeal with joy. I really thought, "This could be a great little horror movie." It had several things going for it. First, it focuses on two mature adult characters and not 2 whiny teens. Second, it's claustrophobic as all hell. Third, the image on screen is simply beautiful! And fourth, there is a creepy guy with a cloth sack on his head. Creepy! Well, I saw the film and even though there are about a half dozen things I felt were wrong about it, I did enjoy myself. Let's start at the beginning shall we? Obviously this guy (the director) likes classic 70's horror suspense films. From the opening Texas Chainsaw-like disclaimer to the Michael Myer's-like ghostly baddies, he was obviously influenced...and in a good way. The film works solely as a suspense film! There is not a lot of substance in the film; no deep meaning or plot really. It's a situational film and it works as that. I would have been deeply disappointed if it tried to be more and you know why? Because it is refreshing to see a peripatetic horror film with no hidden agenda that can just plain scare you. The obvious classic example is the 1974 "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." The idea that three thrill killers with no back story decided to pick a house and make it their project is frightening. Due to the recent marring of backstory driven horror films, I waited and waited for the reveal that the 3 killers were old friends of the boyfriend or something stupid like that. It never happened. It made me happy. The use of the record player is always a favorite of mine and the vice was used tastefully and properly. Skipping records are great. The long drawn out moments of quiet suspense made up this films best moments. And surprisingly, the drama and character set up was unexpected and handled really well. It didn't feel like the typical indie film dysfunctional downer characters story, yet it wasn't the, in your face "way to happy" characters that you know are going to meet a sad demise kind of set up either. I bought it and it felt kind of fresh. Now with all that said, there were some problems. The major problem I had with the film was the use of music to create tension or lack of. For a movie who's scariest moments were the most silent, the choice of music cues was very disappointing. I thought the Tomandandy stuff was fine, but the placement was very poor and started to fall into patterns. My first big quib is the use of SPOOKY music when the couple hears the first knock at the door. WHAT? WHY? Why are you telling us that a first knock at the door should be scary? It's a knock at the door? Well actually it's a BANGING knock at the door at 4 in the morning. Isn't that scary enough without music? I think so. Also, let's put a music sting everytime we see Dollface or Pin Up face girl. I can see it happening occasionally to cause a scare, but every time? Another thing that got to me was the villains toying. It just became less frightening as the film went on and more horror movie-esque. As for the music falling into a pattern...it became a warning light and a safety badge. Once the music started it put you on edge, right? It pretty much told you something was scary. Alright, well the film got to the point where once scary music was used, you felt safe and once it stopped, you felt in danger. And that was the pattern...throughout the rest of the film! It completely took away it's frightening ambiguity for most scenes! Granted the filmmakers nailed it on a few occasions, most of the time the music interrupted that. I could go on and on. But I won't. Finally, the ending. Whereas it was unglamorous and realistic, it wasn't entirely satisfying. Not to mention I was a little upset that the killers didn't get just a little battle damage.
Overall, the film was an enjoyable horror film with some thrilling moments and good direction.