Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler, Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, Laura Margolis
Genre:
Horror
Director:
Bryan Bertino
Screenplay:
Bryan Bertino
Cinematography:
Peter Sova
Composer:
tomandandy
American horror in the 2000’s shows that drawing “inspiration” from the classics doesn’t equate to actually maintaining any of their positive qualities. Virtually every 1970’s horror movie has been both ripped off and remade this decade, but in the end all that’s occurred is the old staples have been replaced by their obnoxious artificial replicants, which beyond raking in dough for more of the unoriginal and uninspired was, of course, the only point to begin with. Bryan Bertino’s debut feature The Strangers is far from a perfect horror film, but it at least succeeds at retaining many of the qualities that made earlier frightfests good, including accomplishing the basic premise of the genre - being scary - rather than simply adding poor effects, buckets of blood, and the almighty modern technology like most of its counterparts.
Relying on eerie mood and insidious atmosphere, Bertino builds the entire film around the anticipation of violence, replaces the actual depiction of carnage with the threat of such sadistic actions. The only real plot point, Kristen McKay (Liv Tyler) turning down James Hoyt’s (Scott Speedman) marriage proposal outside their friends wedding reception establishes the downbeat, hopelessly somber mood that only grows bleaker as the night progresses.
The lack of a plot, really anything beyond the premise of masked tormentors terrorizing a young couple in a secluded house, actually makes Bertino’s patient mix of suspense and dread far creepier. At heart, The Strangers is hardly more original than the usual horror film that draws inspiration from Last House on the Left, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Scream, and the like, yet the reason it sells much fresher is everything seems more random and unpredictable. Instead of being so obviously dictated by the typical tic-tac-toe for slow 3rd graders plot, everything appears to quickly materialize out of the basic cat and mouse game between the couple and the intruders.
The movie reminds me of a cat “playing with” a chipmunk; the cat’s goal isn’t to kill the rodent, at least not in any hurry, but rather to engage in a sort of twisted recreation that’s obviously only fun for the cat. The cat knows it can dictate all the terms as long as it can prevent the chipmunk from escaping. One error Bertino makes is giving James a big powerful shotgun, as though it’s 2 on 3, it’s a deadly weapon against 3 knives, two of which are wielded by unimposing women. In any case, what’s most interesting about The Strangers is they go a step further than the cat, striking the fear of God into their prey to the point they don’t need to injure them because they can instead terrify them into hurting themselves. We spend the entire film await an attack, increasingly wondering whether the strangers will disfigure Liv Tyler more than the surgeon who predictably destroyed her once beautiful lips.
Containing minimal and not particularly definitive dialogue and taking place in a couple hundred square foot area in and around the Hoyt’s family cabin, the film’s technique is by far the most enduring aspect. Peter Sova’s camerawork yields a claustrophobic and voyeuristic feel. His use of handheld camera is particularly effective in providing a purposeful amateurishness that calls just enough attention to itself to be disconcerting, creating a nice balance between the distraction of Dogma ’95 and the safety of Hollywood’s overly calculated precision. Despite the modern overreliance on editing, the slow slightly off-kilter pans, wide angle POV shots of nothing but open space and trees, morbid midshots with eye glance tilts, and acute movements are affecting due to the tension and mystery.
Though the feel is excellent, The Strangers flags in the second half due to the usual questionable logic. One of the problems with horror movies is the victims wind up falling into one of two categories: they are either craftier and more resourceful than military survival trainers or such blithering idiots it’s amazing they can figure out how to wipe their arse. In The Strangers, we get the later – like I said we are stuck rooting for the sort of lame-os who are on the defensive despite weilding the deadly weapon - so while the first half is extremely tense, once the strangers style is established the heroes spend a lot of time tripping over their own feet, or in other words falling prey to the usual genre cliches.
I like that The Strangers are pure nihilists, evil to the point of completely disregarding morality, consequences, and their victims emotional pleas, but their seeming ability to appear and disappear like ghosts is a lame tension killer. Even worse is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre style teaser that alerts you to the movie being inspired by a real life violent crime resulting in blood everywhere, as it makes it obvious that the strangers will eventually become more than mere pranksters. The hide, investigate, flee, and do the wrong thing subgenre is rather limited, but overall The Stranger is successful at what it tries to accomplish.
