Written by: Bryan Bertino
Starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Glenn Howerton, Gemma Ward, Laura Margolis, Kip Weeks
Rating: [4/5]
At this point, horror films serve as a Public Service Announcement to not go out to a cabin in the woods because of the isolation it creates giving harmful entities or individuals the opportunity to strike. The Strangers operates as one of those films firmly delivering on this fear many now have and in the process crafts something so terrifying because of the tension built and the motives of these masked killers.
Following their attendance at a wedding, Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) are still coming to grips with her rejecting his proposal for marriage. As they try to reconcile, they hear a mysterious knock at the door with someone asking for Tamara. Once the mysterious person leaves, they see her and two other masked figures try to break into their house and kill them.
Of the many ways horror films can scare you, the ones carrying some semblance of truth and reality find a way to deliver terrifying thoughts because of the increased likelihood it could occur to you or anyone you know. The Strangers does not necessarily deal with supernatural figures or spirits but rather three individuals trying to kill this couple just for the sake of it. Thus it becomes a home invasion story with these homicidal individuals, which could certainly happen to anybody, especially when you choose to spend time in an isolated cabin in the freaking woods. Again, it just leaves you as a sitting duck for something terrible to happen.
Among the many areas to praise this film, the economy of its storytelling proves as one of them in the way it has a brief runtime but nails every element of its narrative beats all culminating in something well-crafted. Before all of the scares need to occur, we need to initially care about the characters we need to root for to survive. We get that with James and Kristen where we see the pain they endure when reaching a watershed moment in their relationship. Deciding to get engaged or not serves as one of those no-going-back moments where someone professes their desire to spend the rest of their lives with another. When one rejects the proposal, it leaves the relationship in such an awkward space as the couple now knows they sit in different mindsets of their future. Kristen and James sit with this at the onset of this feature, which certainly makes them intriguing to follow. With some hope they can make things work, we get the introduction of these masked killers.
The initial introduction of Dollface (Gemma Ward) asking for Tamara initially has the creepiness of a random stranger going to the only house within this vicinity and asking for a specific individual. They honestly should have just not answered the door, but the simple act of this knocking causes disruption and a creepy one. In a world today where no one knocks on the door of others unless a previous relationship exists, having this take place in a secluded cabin should have raised all of the red flags but it also highlights the randomness of this violence. When these masked killers find ways to get into the house, it displays some excellently crafted scares.
While this feature utilizes some jump scares for the jolting effect, the most impactful moments occur in the sly ones, which include the most famous shot of the feature displayed right on the poster where Kristen stands in the kitchen and the Man in Mask (Kip Weeks) quietly appears in the background to begin his stalking of her. A scene so utterly terrifying and so simple because of how nonchalantly it all occurs and further displays how these masked killers truly want to play with their prey for a bit before killing them. Given they have multiple opportunities to kill them before letting them run back into the house after trying to escape, they definitely have a sinister way in which they want to murder this poor couple. With each opportunity given to escape these masked killers find a way to deter them leading to the inevitable that will occur in the feature because every means of survival continually gets eliminated.
Thoroughly terrifying in its presentation, The Strangers simply ticks all of the boxes of what a horror feature can do in delivering genuine scares. These three masked killers try to accomplish this feat of murdering this couple through unclear means making this pursuit a bit confusing but aligning with the randomness of this feature. These individuals hide behind their masks for the majority of this film allowing them to become the embodiment of random evil here to inflict horrific damage to a couple already suffering emotionally. If anything, perhaps this film will finally convince those who like the isolation of being out in a cabin in the woods to think twice before making themselves sitting ducks for some weird strangers to use them as a game.
Films with Josh 
