stingermck

I watched this the other night based on some recommendations. The first half was very creepy, but damn did it fall apart from there.

dsa_shea

Actually that made it even creepier. Making them humans that didn't really care and planning to do it again.

starseed1981

I dunno. I just couldn't connect with the film. As someone who has studied self defense techniques for about two decades I just kept thinking "I could wreck these stupid kids".

dsa_shea

That's why they picked them as their victims instead of you. Maybe next time they make a sequel they can get you to be in it and it could be called: "The Strangers: Beat to Dust".

starseed1981

Haha. In all seriousness, I tried but just couldn't get caught up in the tension of some little girl walking towards me slowly with a butcher knife. I did enjoy Tylers / Speedmans performances though. Just wished the "strangers" were abit more intense.

dsa_shea

I think they enjoyed just bringing fear to the victims and scaring them and simply doing away with them when their fun was over.

Goat3001

For the first spoiler, IIRC:


For the second spoiler:

Larry C.

I saw this over the weekend. It was just ok. For those comparing it to Ils thats crazy.

RichC2

It was due to general concept considering the trailer for The Strangers and the US trailer for Ils (which is identical to the one for The Strangers which is odd).

Neither was particularly great, but The Strangers didn't peter out nearly as badly as Ils did.

Larry C.

Oh come on Rich you are not serious. Ils was great. That movie had much more mood and tension and was perfectly shot. I loved the way it ended. I couldn't believe it at first and they just when on their way was great!

RichC2

I saw Ils (Them) quite some time ago and could barely finish it, it started to wear thin while they were still in the house and completely lost my interest once they left it. The sense of mood/atmosphere was lacking and the techniques used to generate tension felt incredibly cheap.. they were also fairly ineffective imho. I didn't think The Strangers was great but it was at least visually more interesting. And with that said, I generally love low budget horror.

To each their own.

JimRochester

Saw this tonight on Blu. Good looking disc but I really don't care for these movies. There were definately some good jump scenes and some tension build up. Ultimately these movies rely on people doing really stupid things once they know people are after them. Let's seperate then call out to each other giving away our location. Let's not be dressed properly so we can get really injured and bloody. Let's not really pay attention and let people sneak up on us even though we're being stalked.

If you really like this type of movie it is worth a spin. I preferred Vacancy to the Strangers

Gunde

There's no such thing

inri222

Saw this last night and I have to agree 100%, lots of wasted potential in this one.

mattysemo247

Whatever happened to the sequel?

RichC2

It secretly became You're Next?

SuckaMC

You're Next shits all over this movie. Dude has a shotgun, you go hunt THEM. So frustrating. Hated this.

Why So Blu?

You're Next is a satire. The Strangers is decent fun but it's an obvious remake of "Ils" aka "Them."

DaveyJoe

But the director claimed to have never seen Ils, then made up some lame story about how when he was a kid, somebody knocked on his door late at night and when he looked through the peephole nobody was there oOoOoOoOoooh.

Why So Blu?

Right, just like the guys who made Quarantine had not seen REC before.


Same shit, different drink.

DaveyJoe

And this shit drink is overflowing, Why So Blu.

Why So Blu?

dex14

All a remember about this movie is a bunch of banging on doors and windows. A big let down.

EddieMoney

I enjoyed The Strangers. I especially enjoyed the two main characters getting murdered.

Mr. Flix

The Strangers baffles me. It does so many things right, then turns around and does so many things wrong.

The good:
They take the time to let you get to know the two main characters, and they're surprisingly well developed (for a horror movie), and their situation (the turning down of a marriage proposal) isn't cliched.
The atmosphere is well done, and the suspense (especially toward the beginning) is excellent. The initial knocks on the door are especially unnerving. And the scene of Liv Tyler in the kitchen, not knowing that one of the strangers is standing in the hallway behind her, is awesome (although spoiled by the trailer).
The ending took guts (no pun intended). I applaud a good downer of an ending, and this one had it... to a point.
The look of the strangers, and the fact that two of them were women. The design of the masks alone was scary enough in a very subtle way.

The bad:
Stupid, stupid character choices. Almost too many to list. Among them:
Knowing that the house isn't secure, and yet thinking they're safe inside it.
Splitting up.
The boyfriend not taking his girlfriend's word for it when she says the strangers have already been inside the house.
The friend showing up, seeing that something is obviously wrong, and instead of calling out names, wandering silently through the house.
The Strangers being apparently omniscient (always knowing where the protagonists are and where they'll go next) and capable of appearing/disappearing at will for the sake of jump scares alone.
The downer ending ruined by the last-minute gotcha of Liv Tyler being inexplicably still alive.

So... yeah. I don't know why I just typed all that out. I wanted the movie to live up to its initial promise. Too bad it didn't. But part of me still really likes the movie.