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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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21 - 40 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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The usual stupidness ensues. “Stay here darling with the axe-wielding psychos while I go and get help,” says Speedman. Ugh.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment 2 Comments
08/29/08
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A lean, effective little exercise in scares. It offers nothing new but is perfect for breaking the ice on a first date.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment 2 Comments
08/29/08
Daniel Etherington
Daniel Etherington
Channel 4 Film

This suspense film by first-time writer-director Bryan Bertino initially squeezes some surprisingly effective scares out of familiar elements. Sadly, the scenario quickly becomes attenuated and unbelievable.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment 2 Comments
08/29/08
Nigel Floyd
Nigel Floyd
Time Out

An effective, scary emotional work-out, but perhaps you can have too much paranoid despair.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment 1 Comment
08/29/08
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bertino does not try to understand his strangers. His primary interest is what happens - the details of crime - as if the film were a dramatised tabloid.

Full Review Source: Teletext | comment 2 Comments
08/28/08
Victor Olliver
Victor Olliver
Teletext

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

This film does not have the shock value of many other horror films, which was a pleasant surprise for my taste. It is scary in the sense that this could this really happen.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Spectrum | comment Comment
08/13/08
Jolene Mendez
Jolene Mendez
Entertainment Spectrum

After building a jangling sense of terror, Bertino doesn't take it anywhere.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
08/07/08
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

At least it's short.

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

This is straight-up nightmare fuel, unredeemed by compelling characters or interesting motives.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment 1 Comment
06/27/08
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

The Strangers bears more than a passing resemblance to Them, the French horror film about a couple in a secluded house who are stalked by mysterious, almost supernatural tormenters.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
06/17/08
Lucius Gore
Lucius Gore
ESplatter

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)

... The work of a born filmmaker who shows a remarkable command of tone and pace. It is a new classic in its genre ...

Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) | comment Comment
06/12/08
Greg Maki
Greg Maki
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

How bad is a stalker/killer flick when it's just as lame whether the victims live or die? All suspense and no payoff doesn't look clever, just lazy.

Full Review Source: MovieCrypt.com | comment Comment
06/12/08
Kevin A. Ranson
Kevin A. Ranson
MovieCrypt.com

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

This movie is far from great, but it did scare the heck out of me quite a few times. I have to give it props for that.

Full Review Source: Reno News and Review | comment 1 Comment
06/06/08
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Reno News and Review

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

It's creepy and at times frightening, but it fails in the most important aspect of the genre - it's not at all entertaining.

Full Review Source: Gazette (MD) | comment 1 Comment
06/05/08
Jeffrey Lyles
Jeffrey Lyles
Gazette (MD)

Though most of the movie was efficient, it felt empty.

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
06/04/08
Austin Kennedy
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

A brutal little thriller with no intentions other than to scare us. And in many instances, it succeeds...

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
06/04/08
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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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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