HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 8: THE STRANGERS (2008)

It's 2008 and I am working two jobs and living in a duplex with a bunch of fraternity brothers. One of my jobs happens to be for one of the movie theaters in town. One of the perks of working at a movie theater was getting to "screen" new movies a day or two before they were released to the public. Usually a bunch of us employees would sit and watch the movies together around 10:00 pm or midnight. This particular night there were only a few of us working and it was storming outside. Among the movies premiering the next day was a horror movie. I volunteered to screen it thinking I wouldn't be the only one. Well I was. I could hear the thundering of the storm in the theater, adding to the anxiety of the movie. Sitting alone in that movie was one of the scariest experiences I've ever had in a theater. The horror movie playing was THE STRANGERS.

THE STRANGERS, directed by Bryan Bertino is a straight up terror film. There's no monsters in this movie (at least Frankenstein like monsters) and there's nothing supernatural at all. There's not one shred of comedy to be found anywhere. Now, I make it no secret that I like monster movies loaded with blood and guts and all that good stuff. If I had to state a preference for horror movie sub-genres it would be monster movies. But I also like to be scared $#!tless too. Very few movies have got to me like The Strangers has. Everything in this movie could happen and has happened, probably more often then we would like to admit to ourselves. And it will happen again and it could happen to us.

THE PLOT

James and Kristen have just left a friend's wedding. It's late. They're a little tipsy and they're heading out to James's parents country house. The car ride is awkward. James had proposed to Kristen a few minutes ago. And she said no. It's not that she doesn't love him, she just doesn't want to get married. James isn't mad, just disappointed. Both of them are in a downward spiral of emotions. When they arrive at the house it's about 3:00 A.M. in the morning. There isn't a single car on the road and not a single star in the sky. The night is black as pitch. They stay up for an hour talking, trying to figure out where their relationship is headed. Then there's a knock at the door.  A young woman stands at the door in the dark. They ask her to leave and she does.

James decides to go for a drive and try to clear his head. He leaves Kristen alone at the house. There's another knock at the door. The knock turns into a pounding. Kristen doesn't answer the door. Then she hears a noise from the other room. When she investigates she sees objects moved from where she left them. She can't find her cell phone either. She calls James on the LAN line and asks him to come back. Then she is suddenly cut off. The noises and strange occurrences continue until James returns. He thinks she's messing with his head until he sees a woman in a doll mask standing outside the house. The rest of the night they are terrorized by three masked individuals, the acts of terror growing worse and worse every minute. What do the people terrorizing them want? Why are they doing this? Will Kristen and James live to see the morning?

THE GOOD

Very few movies have got to me like The Strangers did. Home invasion films are frightening and real. The movie begins by showing us statistics on violent crimes in the United States, something like 1.4 million every year. That statistic is frightening by itself. Then it goes on to say that the story herein is true but nobody knows exactly what happened to these people and why. So right there in the first minute the movie sets the stage for something horrible. From the very beginning the movie sets out to make you uncomfortable. The tension between James and Kristen is immediate and never once does the movie give you a chance to feel good or content. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

For almost 90 minutes this movie does nothing but scare the crap out of you. The three antagonists torment the main characters throughout the night. They have dozens of opportunities to kill James and Kristen, but instead they terrorize them the entire night until daybreak and us in the audience along with them. Very few movies have been this effective in the scaring me. And not once do the filmmakers tells us why. John Carpenter said when talking about his film HALLOWEEN (1978) that when going through an experience like this that it's scarier not knowing why someone is trying to kill you.

THE BAD

Horror movie victims (in this case the protagonists) are known for the cliche bad decision making and lack of common sense. And then there's the classic trope of the lone female crawling away from her attacker instead of running. This movie isn't as bad as some but there are few moments where you say to the screen, "Now why the hell did you do that?" These moments bring the movie down a little bit but what keeps them from totally ruining the movie is how the badguys react. Instead of capitalizing on the moment they take a step back and decide to terrorize them some more. The terror keeps on going. The cliche bad decision making doesn't stop me from enjoying the movie.

THE VERDICT

The Strangers scared the stuffing out of me. Very few movies have got to me like this one has and even less have managed to sustain the fright and fear as long as this movie does. And fewer still go completely without humor. So many times filmmakers plug poor attempts at humor into their films because somewhere it says horror movies need moments of levity. Bull. This movie here is an example of what a truly frightening movie can be. I like this movie because it still scares me and also it feels like an homage to John Carpenter's Halloween. Michael Myers never had a motive in the original Halloween (it's only in the sequel that we learn the "why"). Carpenter felt it scarier not knowing why the killer was going after Jamie Lee Curtis and her friends. The Strangers channels that same spirit and in many ways is a far more appropriate remake of Halloween than Rob Zombie's film.

Overall Ranking: 8 out of 10

Nude-O-Meter: 0 out of 10

The Strangers is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen