Review of The Strangers (2011) by Kieran B — 05 Feb 2013

This film generally recieved mixed reaction from the public but I am a huge fan of this film because you probably know by now I love realistic films. The film is very realistic because things like this happens all the timeand to prove this the director Bryan Bertino who is a new director on the scene, used a time lapse sequence where the call to the poilce is made in the first scene along with a statistic according to the FBI an estimated 1.4 million violent crimes are recorded each year.

So basically the point he is trying to get across is that so many stories are possible from all these crimes what are commited.

The film starts off fairly misreablly with James been rejected after proposing to his girlfriend Kristen. Whether this makes the relationship between them were closer or not remains to be said but either way it's emotionaly distressing.

The lighting is beautiful and reflects the mood of the house after the wedding, the candles flickering with only dialogue for sound, I am by this stage already gasping for air, the cinematography is excellent.

When James goes to the gas station alone leaving an already discomforting call at 4am from a girl who seemed confused made me shout at the screen TAKE HER WITH YOU!.

When the second knocks appear my heart was out of my chest,utter silence in the house intensifying the suspense. Camera shots from the corner of the room, making the viewer all the more anxious.

The fact that these physcotic masked loonatics are toying with them scares you all the more but the true turning point is when James has now seen them for himself and does not seemed phased. By this point i'm thinking, what are you doing? run!. Yes they attempt this but it was anything but an attempt. They manage to get the car running and end up having a stare down with the doll face in the jeep behind for about a minute when in this time they could have drove off.

What makes this film insanly inhumane is the bad guys, yes the couple could have been more ballsey in their attempt to get away or fight back but the bad guys are so calculating and creepy with nothing more than a simple mask.

The cinemotography is simply astonoshing, deadly steady cam shots, a lot of silence, creepy voices and jump scares.

You get so caught up in this film you want to know the purpose behind the masked baddies purpose. Theres times when they could of got what they wanted out of them in most cases money but they just toy with them and kill them so wrongly it was crazy.

Technically the film has great sounds, mostly repetitve sounds such as the fire alarm and the skipping vinyl player. The doll face playing on the swing, simple sounds which now seem amplified with a simple narrative.