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The Strangers

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The Strangers (2008)

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Reviews Counted:142

Fresh:63

Rotten:79

Average Rating:4.9/10

Consensus: The Strangers provides a few scares, but offers little else to distinguish itself from other slasher films.

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

US Box Office: $52,534,295

Synopsis: For his film debut, director Brian Bertino has crafted a fantastically creepy horror flick based on the very simple premise of strangers who come knocking late at night. Kristen (Liv Tyler) and... For his film debut, director Brian Bertino has crafted a fantastically creepy horror flick based on the very simple premise of strangers who come knocking late at night. Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) have arrived at a secluded vacation home in the woods after attending a friend's wedding. It's four in the morning, and they're both tearful and emotionally exhausted after a disagreement about their relationship. As they awkwardly try to navigate the long night together, they are distracted by the sound of a heavy knock at the door. They open it to find a dazed young woman hidden in the shadows. Assuming she is lost, James sends her away, but Kristen is disturbed by the late-night visit. When James leaves to go on a drive and pick up some cigarettes, Kristen is left alone, and we watch her move through the huge house in a painfully eerie silence, all the while knowing that she is being watched. By the time James returns, Kristen is in hysterics, and together they must face the terrifying fact that they are indeed in grave danger. Both Tyler and Speedman give excellent, understated performances that lend the film a truly frightening edge of realism. The story's simplicity is a refreshing change from over-the-top torture films like SAW, and the violence in the film is minimal, and much of it off camera. THE STRANGERS also lacks any big-budget special effects. You won't find any CGI creatures or armies of zombies. The only monsters depicted here are the very real human kind, which is what leaves you thoroughly spooked and shaken, and ready to push a chair against your own front door. [More]

Starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks

Starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, Laura Margolis, Glenn Howerton, Alex Fisher, Peter Clayton-Luce

Director: Bryan Bertino

Director: Bryan Bertino
Screenwriter: Bryan Bertino
Producer: Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Nathan Kahane
Composer: Tomandandy
Studio: Rogue Pictures

[See More Credits]

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1 - 4 of 5

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Reviews for The Strangers

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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The cumulative effect of unexpected knocks at the door, creaking floors, shadows, noises and strange happenings is a heart-pounding experience

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
08/07/08
Louise Keller
Louise Keller
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film's most potent claim to success is its lengthy and cleverly edited stretches of spookiness, which it tends to extend to almost breaking point, keeping us in heightened suspense.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
08/07/08
Andrew L. Urban
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Strangers gets your hopes up with some smart filmmaking but then pretty much dashes them by the final predictable fade out.

Full Review Source: KPBS.org | comment Comment
06/08/08
Beth Accomando
Beth Accomando
KPBS.org

So terrifying I watched the whole movie through a slit between two fingers.

Full Review Source: FilmsInReview.com | comment 16 Comments
05/21/08
Victoria Alexander
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

At a certain point, The Strangers devolves into the kind of generic chase picture that slasher flicks frequently become.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
05/29/08
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
Film Journal International

It's an outstanding example of the horror/suspense genre, made with a refreshing approach. But it contains elements so creaky and pathetic you want to scream.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/29/08
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Is Hollywood so disconnected from its past and bankrupt of ideas that it doesn't even know this movie is a screaming cliché?

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
05/29/08
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

There’s little that distinguishes this movie’s basic plot from scores of other fright films over the decades, but The Stranger is more effective than most because of [director] Bertino’s deft manipulation of the storyteller’s tools.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
05/29/08
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

Offers no more enlightenment or catharsis than a drugged insect could expect in the moment before it is skewered by a lepidopterist's pin.

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
06/17/08
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

It's intense but not necessarily fun and may disappoint less sophisticated horror fans. However, for die-hard supporters of unsettling peeks into the dark side of human nature, this is a welcome excursion.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment 3 Comments
05/30/08
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

At least it's short.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/18/08
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle

so well made, so moody and tense, that its emptiness can almost be overlooked - but if you want something a little more than a po-faced thrill ride, best look elsewhere

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
08/28/08
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Little White Lies

Messy, intermittently effective ordeal horror.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
08/29/08
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It wrings ever drop of terror it can out of making us identify with doomed people, and suffering as they suffer. That might be nihilistic, but it's also empathetic.

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
06/05/08
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

In "Funny Games," two blond boys terrorize a couple for similarly inexplicable but clearly sociopathic reasons. So, gee, one wonders where Bertino conceived his idea.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment 8 Comments
05/28/08
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

The Strangers isn't scary, just tedious, and the final image shows that Bertino didn't even have the balls to follow the story to its logical ending.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment 6 Comments
05/28/08
Matt Brunson
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

...a grab-bag of nifty widescreen compositions and sound design stingers, with nothing on its mind besides its own virtuosity.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment 1 Comment
05/29/08
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

If you put yourself through the wringer only once this year, you could do worse than The Strangers.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
05/28/08
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

The Strangers suffers from lack of originality. I've seen most of this film in other movies, and as a horror fan, I found little that was new or innovative.

Full Review Source: Film School Rejects | comment 2 Comments
05/30/08
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
Film School Rejects

This is no splatter movie: spare, suspenseful and brilliantly invested in silence, Bryan Bertino’s debut feature unfolds in a slow crescendo of intimidation.

comment Comment
05/30/08
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; Australian critics are listed first)
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Latest News for The Strangers

August 28, 2008: Rogue Eager to Meet More Strangers Opens in new window
Rogue Pictures has greenlighted a sequel to the Liv Tyler horror movie "The Strangers," and hired the original's writer/director, Bryan Bertino, to pen the script. More...

June 05, 2008: Box Office Guru Preview: Black vs. Sandler in Comedy Showdown
Two big doses of comedy from a pair of Hollywood's funniest men will hit the multiplexes across North America on Friday in a fierce battle for the number one spot. For family... More...

May 29, 2008: Box Office Guru Preview: Sex in the Multiplex All Weekend Long
This weekend a quartet of New York City gals will try to boot Indiana Jones out of the number one spot at the North American box office as the much-hyped comedy Sex and the City... More...

May 29, 2008: Critical Consensus: Sex and the City Will Please Fans
This week at the movies, we've got love and commerce (Sex and the City: The Movie, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall) and romantic getaways gone wrong (The... More...

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