The Strangers (2008)

The Strangers: Directed by Bryan Bertino. With Alex Fisher, Peter Clayton-Luce, Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler. A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.

“First off, letu0026#39;s start with a note. It was u0026#39;inspiredu0026#39; not u0026#39;basedu0026#39; off true events. People need to learn the difference between the two. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is u0026#39;inspiredu0026#39; by true events, but still people believe it really happened. It never happened… it was inspired by the story of the serial killer Ed Gein who would take body parts off of women and make furniture out of them, and other forms of cruelty.The Strangers was u0026#39;inspiredu0026#39; by true events which means they probably took similarities from stories of The Manson killings and other killings of the same sort. So really the director had free range to do whatever the hell he wanted at the end, and I believe he failed.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI heard about this movie a long time ago and was so excited that it was finally being released that I saw it at the first midnight showing. At first, I was enjoying the set, costumes, and I believe the acting was pretty well done. I believe the director achieved a very creepy feeling, but too many times did he use to obvious cop-out of making loud noises to u0026#39;startleu0026#39; the viewer instead of genuinely u0026#39;scaringu0026#39; them. The site bloody-disgusting.com made an excellent article describing the differences between these.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn the end, I remember about two scenes and the rest is a vague blur. The scene with Glenn Howerton (of Itu0026#39;s Always Sunny in Philadelphia! fame. Woot!) was probably one of the most tense and unsettling scenes of the film. The other being the portion where the record is skipping.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie is a strong example of anti-climactic. The ending was a cliché. I wonu0026#39;t give it away but I will say that it did not leave me feeling disturbed nor did it leave me with a sense of accomplishment. Two things I look for in an ending to the flood of u0026quot;home-invasionu0026quot; horror flicks. I believe two recent films do a great job of accomplishing these factors. The recent VACANCY and FUNNY GAMES are leaps and bounds greater than this film. They do a much greater job of making the protagonists feel helpless and I strongly suggest both of them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHopefully, I could help some. I know many will disagree with me, but quite honestly thatu0026#39;s fine. Many of todayu0026#39;s moviegoers enjoy paying $10 to jump out of their seat because someoneu0026#39;s face appears in a window or a sound guy hits a wall really loud. Itu0026#39;s the sad truth and Hollywood banks on crap like that. So it isnu0026#39;t going to end anytime soon.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThanks, Alex”