Review of The Strangers (1998) by Paul J — 29 Jun 2016

The "home invasion" horror film stripped down to its bare essentials. What's start out very intriguing with the sadness of a couple, quickly turns to anticipation and dread with the introduction of these "strangers".

I like the time the film takes to get going and I love the silences between the two lovers. It explores the feeling of rejection quite truthfully. I suppose there is a bit of a cautionary tale thing going on here: don't take your home and relationships for granted.

Liv Tyler does an excellent job and best of all the characters aren't stupid. That said, the problem is after an hour of build-up, there isn't that much of a pay-off. Like Blair Witch Project, the film might work well on first viewing but since the entire story hinges upon anticipation, there really isn't that much mileage out of the film.

I like the ambiguous ending but I felt a little cheated. I wish the film dared to go a bit more epic. The last twenty minutes felt too repetitive. Suspenseful, yes. Memorable, no.