Review of The Strangers (2011) by Michael B — 12 Aug 2011

The Strangers is a house invasion film about a couple who return home after a wedding to find three masked strangers ready to torment them. If the cover was anything to go by 'The Strangers' had promise, not only because of the mysterious title but because of the cool masked man sandwiched between two masked females also wearing pretty cool masks. On closer inspection I noticed the font being used is the same as the font used in the 'Twilight' series, I should of taken this as some kind of warning about the film but I chose to disregard it as an insignifigant detail.

The two main characters in the film are a couple going throught some rough times, it's not really a spoiler to say the man of the relationship proposed and was declined by his 'loving' girlfriend. I'm guessing the reason for this development is for the viewer to feel some sympathy or connection to the characters, I think however it takes away from the film, I mean, what would you care about more: Some sad ass bitches who you don't even like being tormented or a happily engaged couple getting their precious lives destroyed? Personally I'd choose to torture the happy fools as they have more too lose, but maybe that's just me.

The unlikable characters is just one of the many probems I can think of within 'The Strangers', the second is how un-scary it is, you can see most of the scares coming and even if you can't they don't work (although Harry Ward did jump at one).

Another problem with the film is the running length, although it's only 90 minutes or so it's feels far to long and has many un-needed scenes that could of easily been removed.

For all it's faults though 'The Strangers' isn't a horrible movie, it was a fairly enjoyable 90 minutes although it would of been a much more enjoyable 70 minutes, the final scene featuring the couple and the strangers is the best in the film as it gives you a little insight into the strangers mentatility, even if it does try a bit to hard to get you thinking.