THE STRANGERS
US, 2008, 85 minutes, Colour.
Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Kip Weekes.
Directed by Bryan Bertino.
Nothing supernatural here, just a straightforward terror thriller, eerie in its way, inviting audiences to identify with its quite ordinary characters who find themselves menaced by masked intruders in their house at 4.00 am. For those who don't see many of these films, it could be quite nervewracking - but goes for a brief 80 minutes.
Information is given at the opening by a deep movie-trailer voice on how many crimes of violence there are a year in the US, over a million. Then we are told that the film is based on true events even though the details are somewhat of a mystery. Then there are some fright scenes which will come back at the end of the film.
After that it seems it is going to be a rather quiet film for a while. Jimmy and Kristen come back from a wedding reception where he has proposed and she has declined. The mood is somewhat tense between them though it is obvious that they love each other. A mysterious woman knocks at the door asking for Trudi. She goes away. Jimmy goes for a drive...
Then three masked people, a man and two women, who remain anonymous throughout begin to terrorise Kristen and then Jimmy when he returns.
There are gruesome moments and the final confrontation is dismaying. Liv Tyler has to bear the brunt of the terror as Kristen and she does it effectively, afraid and bewildered. Scott Speedman is Jimmy, a more gentle type who is shocked by the violence.
A mood piece for terror fans rather than horror fans.
1.A terror film? Straightforward story, characters? Brevity?
2.American suburbia, the house, its interiors, the details of the room, the exteriors, the woods?
3.The atmosphere, the musical score, chords, drumbeats? The rumble with the sound engineering?
4.The title, literal strangers, people fearful of strangers?
5.The initial information, the voice-over, the tone, the statistics for crime in America, the two events, the mystery of what actually happened?
6.The opening with the young boys, finding the blood, the phone call, the recapitulation later?
7.Kristen and Jimmy, audience sympathy for them, their arrival, the tension, four o’clock in the morning, their talking, her declining the proposal, the ring? His eating the ice cream, her taking a bath, her flashback to the wedding scene, the proposal, her rejection? Their talking, Jimmy going for a drive?
8.The woman at the door, asking for Trudy? Jimmy going out? Her standing in the street, staring? The eerie atmosphere?
9.The noises in the house, the effect on Kristen, the record playing – and later the record getting stuck, the attempts at phone calls, recharging the battery? The man with the mask behind her? Asking for Trudy at the door again? Ringing Jimmy, getting cut off? The axe in the door? Jimmy and his return, putting the furniture against the front door? The search through the house? The elusive strangers?
10.Getting the gun, his not knowing how to use it, his phone call to Michael, Michael arriving, the car getting smashed, going into the house, his dread, Jimmy shooting him by accident? Their grief?
11.Jimmy and the car, smashed, the phone inside, later in the house, his having built the fire, Kristen’s phone inside? Blockading themselves in the room? With the gun? Going outside, the car and the crash? Kristen running to the barn? Her tripping and spraining her ankle? Trying to contact by radio, the woman smashing it?
12.The three in the masks, ominous, their eyes, appearance? Their disappearing, playing games with Kristen and Jimmy? Entering the house, going to the cupboard where Kristen was hiding?
13.The couple being caught, tied up, the masks taken off – but the audience not seeing their faces? The brutality of the people killing the couple?
14.The boys, on the road in the morning, the seeming peace and sunlight of the morning, the religious leaflet, the woman taking it, saying she was a sinner sometimes, the remark that it would be easier next time?
15.The boys going in, the blood, the corpses?
16.Kristen still alive and her scream? The sudden ending?
17.The overall effect on the audience, identifying with fear? An ordinary couple, in ordinary suburbia, in ordinary life? Terror?
