Lately I've been searching for a horror movie that would help me return to my days of actually being scared by a movie. The Strangers actually came pretty close to that. Starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as a failed couple who hole up for the night at a summer house, strange happenings begin to occur as a group of killers show up to terrorize them.
To be honest, The Strangers delivered a lot more than I thought it would. Instead of filling the movie with gore and kills, director Bryan Bertino opts for a tense atmosphere and chilling shots. There is no doubt that I was seriously creeped by some parts of the movie, and that is something that hasn't happened to me in a long time. After reading the some of the message boards, I saw many people saying that this was a predictable movie. On the contrary, I think it was completely unpredictable and random. That's what gives the movie some of it's charm, is the fact that I really had no idea what was going to happen. More props go to how the film was shot and the score used. The moving camera and orchestral score helped give me the creeps.
The only thing that bothered me was the ending. And it's not like it was a bad ending; it just felt like the build-up wasn't worth it. When a movie that's only an hour and 15 minutes has a slow pace, you best believe I wanted to be completely satisfied with the ending. Not completely satisfying, but not horrible either.
I think a 7 is about as good a rating as it can get. This movie proved that you don't need blood and gore to get scares, and that atmosphere can still work in a modern-horror movie. I recommend it to horror fans looking for a decent movie that might give you chills. It's not the best horror movie I've ever seen, but it's definitely one of the better ones. Oh, and props to the main killer. Not only was his acting spot on as a Michael Myers wanna-be (notice the head tilt in one scene), but his mask was one of the coolest I've seen in recent memory. Nice!
To be honest, The Strangers delivered a lot more than I thought it would. Instead of filling the movie with gore and kills, director Bryan Bertino opts for a tense atmosphere and chilling shots. There is no doubt that I was seriously creeped by some parts of the movie, and that is something that hasn't happened to me in a long time. After reading the some of the message boards, I saw many people saying that this was a predictable movie. On the contrary, I think it was completely unpredictable and random. That's what gives the movie some of it's charm, is the fact that I really had no idea what was going to happen. More props go to how the film was shot and the score used. The moving camera and orchestral score helped give me the creeps.
The only thing that bothered me was the ending. And it's not like it was a bad ending; it just felt like the build-up wasn't worth it. When a movie that's only an hour and 15 minutes has a slow pace, you best believe I wanted to be completely satisfied with the ending. Not completely satisfying, but not horrible either.
I think a 7 is about as good a rating as it can get. This movie proved that you don't need blood and gore to get scares, and that atmosphere can still work in a modern-horror movie. I recommend it to horror fans looking for a decent movie that might give you chills. It's not the best horror movie I've ever seen, but it's definitely one of the better ones. Oh, and props to the main killer. Not only was his acting spot on as a Michael Myers wanna-be (notice the head tilt in one scene), but his mask was one of the coolest I've seen in recent memory. Nice!