The Strangers

[ER]

I'm sure there's a thread on this film somewhere in here, but just a word: silly.

This was about the silliest movie I've seen in a wila's age. Those morons inside the house deserved what they got. From the man who wasn't sure he could load a gun, to the woman who...did way too much to start going into when it's this late. But how stupid can two people get?

This movie had no suspense, nothing imaginative, nothing original, and it had so little trust in a viewer's intellect that at the moment Liv Tyler tripped to the accompanying sound of a loud suggestive snap, she just had to add for the audience's sake, "Broken!" As if we would not comprehend that her hopping around on one foot through the rest of the movie kinda indicated that in itself.

Yep, this was redeemed only by the tranquil voice of the blonde intruder, which was calm and bored and sinister and soul-less all at once, and was alone the one part of this stinker I liked.

Having spent a fair amount of time getting away from it all in an isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere (okay, in heavily forested eastern Kentucky, by a big lake, miles from anything) I thought this might hook some fear of mine about being similarly victimized one dark night, but after watching The Strangers, jeez, I now know that no matter what happened, I'd be at worst the third dumbest prey of home invaders.

[skuts]

This sounds like a remake of the French movie, Them. What a turgid piece of crap that was, too.

[akiratubo]

CTRL-C CTRL-V from my thread on this movie:

In a nutshell: a slasher movie with only two victims.

The Strangers was a huge disappointment.  I had heard how scary this was and how it wasn't like any other horror movie ever before it.  Well ...

For a few, brief minutes The Strangers really is scary.  One of the main characters is locked in the house while someone is trying to break in.  Not being safe in a safe place -- in a home -- is frightening, one of them most frightening scenarios.  Other than that, The Strangers is not scary.  It's just frustrating.  It's frustrating because it's just the same old horror movie cliches again, not done with any particular panache.

Stop me if you've heard this one:

A Girl and a Guy go to a remote house out in the sticks.  There's nobody around.  The Girl and the Guy have an argument, which leads to the Guy leaving for a while.  The Girl is terrorized by people in masks and freaks out.  She can't call for help because they cut the phone lines.  Eventually, she thinks one of them has gotten inside but it's only the Guy.  The Guy doesn't believe The Girl at first, until he too has a run-in with the masked people.

You can proably write it yourself from there on out.  Hell, toward the end, The Girl even hides in a closet with a louvered door (from people wearing SCARY WHITE MASKS, mind you).  Hmm, where have I seen that before?

The victims aren't any brighter than most slasher victims, but the killers are a different story.  They actually ARE smart.  For slasher movie killers, they're practically geniuses.  They don't do anything complicated or particularly brilliant, but they use *gasp* common sense!  Before they attack, they check the house to see if anyone's home and how many people are there.  They only attack when their victims are separated, so that it's three-on-one.  They use well-coordinated teamwork.  They obviously had a plan before going in.

They were very worthy slasher movie killers, and I wish their movie had given them victims worthy of them.  Here's hoping for a sequel that raises the bar.

http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,121728.msg223162.html#msg223162

[Javakoala]

I can't believe the hype on the DVD release of this film.  And now we hear there will be a sequel?  Jesus.

I could pick the film apart, but others in this forum have done such a great job, so why bother?  My biggest issue with this film is that it is ugly.  I watch some truly sick stuff and never bat an eye.  This film almost offended me.  Not because of the violence or the cruelty (to the characters AND the audience), but that there was no purpose to any of it.  That made it ugly.   Last House On The Left was far more hideous in its cruelty, but you had a sense of something being communicated to you.  The shocking sense of casual violence...something.  But this movie was just a case of torture and brutalize these characters.  Why?  Who cares?  Just do it and folks will eat it up.  I sat there when it was over and felt an urge to empty my wallet at the nearest church or something, just to pay the Universe back for allowing a piece of ugliness like this to exist.  Personally, I'd like to see the makers of this film hounded, tortured and brutalized, but there would be a reason for doing so, and they just wouldn't learn anyway.

Anyone up for a viewing of Men Behind The Sun?   

[Doc Daneeka]

I really want to see this one. I may be greatly disappointed, but I have hope, stupidity can be played off as panic (IF it's done right >.>), and senseless violence? It's a horror film for Pete's sake, that's exactly the kind of stuff that's supposed to make it scarier!

No matter how bland it is, it shouldn't be as milquetoast as some of the recent remakes, in fact, just the thought that there could be a new, original franchise besides SaW makes me fairly happy.

[Torgo]

This sounds like a remake of the French movie, Them. What a turgid piece of crap that was, too.

That's exactly what I thought as well when I initially saw the trailer for it.  The recent French film Them is excellent BTW.

[Texdar]

I didn't really care for The Strangers but I did like Them.  I thought the ending was unsettling.

[WilliamWeird1313]

I really want to see this one. I may be greatly disappointed, but I have hope, stupidity can be played off as panic (IF it's done right >.>), and senseless violence? It's a horror film for Pete's sake, that's exactly the kind of stuff that's supposed to make it scarier!

No matter how bland it is, it shouldn't be as milquetoast as some of the recent remakes, in fact, just the thought that there could be a new, original franchise besides SaW makes me fairly happy.

I'm in the same boat. I've heard pretty much bad stuff about this sucker, across the board. But I still wanna see it. I expect to dislike it, but I'm still interested enough to want to see it. The same thing with Lady In The Water and Dead Silence. I KNOW I'm gonna end up hating 'em, and I've heard nothing but bad things about them, but something about 'em gets my interest, so I gotta watch 'em. If I'm interested in something, even mildly, I gotta check it out, no matter how much I'm gonna regret it.

[skuts]

"Them" was excellent?? Geez, the protagonists couldn't deal with a couple of thirteen year old punks? Where I live, if a couple of gutter rats started throwing rocks at my house in the middle of the night, Mister Mossberg would settle the situation in short order. The couple in that movie were so pathetic I was yelling at the screen.

[Stiffy]

The Strangers was annoying. Just like some of you said, how dumb of people can you be? There were plenty of escape periods. They were in and out of the house so much it was very frustrating. I wanted to yell at them and say "you stupid____!!" The guy was the worst. Leaving her alone multiple times and running around outside. Horrible. Movies like this make me mad.

[Trevor]

When Liv Tyler says "Why are you doing this to us?" and gets the reply "Because you were home" she speaks for the audience. 

I also got quite angry with the two dweebs in this film who were assaulted and didn't strike back ~ those masked idiots would not have stood a chance with me.