'The Strangers' Movie Review

James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) are young, attractive and in love, so why aren't they happy? It seems that on their romantic weekend getaway to his parents' secluded vacation home, James asked Kristen to marry him. She wasn't quite ready to say yes, so now things are...awkward. That's nothing, though, compared to how awkward it's about to get.

The strained silence of the home is broken at 4 A.M. with a knock at the door. The couple answers it to find a woman's figure shrouded in shadows asking in an eerily monotone voice, "Is Tamara here?" Of course, Tamara isn't there, and the woman walks away. Or so they think.

Minutes later, she's back, and she's not alone. She and two other figures, all wearing pale masks, hover outside. They make their presence known by rattling windows and banging on doors. Plus, there's that whole "axe" thing. The strangers want to play a game, a twisted sport in which James and Kristen are the targets, and no one is to be left alive.

The Strangers will probably be compared to the similarly themed "home invasion for the fun of it" remake Funny Games from earlier in 2008, but it's actually more like the lesser-known 2006 French film Them. Like Them, the scares are old-fashioned, utilizing sound and shadows rather than blood and gore. The sounds and shadows are almost characters unto themselves. Every clang or crash is amplified, and every dark shape in the background seems to move ever so slightly. It's enough to make you paranoid.

And that's precisely the brilliance of the film. It puts you squarely in this world. It makes you just as jumpy and nervous as you'd be if you found yourself in this situation. It pushes all the right buttons -- almost manipulatively so -- tapping into the primal fear of the unknown. When you encounter a stranger in a darkened alley or on a deserted street, there's an immediate flash of concern: does this person mean me harm? Of course, they rarely do, but The Strangers exploits that innate phobia and runs with it.

In short, it's terrifying. I've always scoffed at legendary reports of people fainting from fear in movies like Jaws or The Exorcist, but I could believe that someone might literally pass out watching The Strangers. It's like Jaws on land. With three sharks. And an axe. Once the action starts, there's an unrelenting sense of dread that grips you until the end -- thanks to first-time director Bryan Bertino's deft touch, strong performances from the cast and a near-real-time unfolding of events that heightens the realism. The fact that the violence portrayed on screen is so senseless only adds to the horror.

Only at the very end does the movie falter. Largely because the build-up is so intense, the ending feels anticlimactic, and the concluding moment in particular feels tacked on, like a "note" from a studio suit who wanted to tie a bow on the film.

How much you enjoy The Strangers may just depend on your taste for fear. Survival horror is a love-it or hate-it affair. Some people find the realism to be gripping, while others find it either too nerve-wracking or too counterproductive to "genuine" scares. I've had more than one person say to me that their interest in the movie waned when they realized that the villains weren't ghosts. (Where were these people when Shutter and One Missed Call were in theaters?) I guess some viewers just don't find ordinary people scary, but believe me, these "strangers" are anything but ordinary.

• Acting: A- (Strong, emotional work from Speedman and especially Tyler. Although only one of the strangers speaks -- and rarely at that -- her matter-of-fact tone is chilling.)
• Direction: A (Bertino shows masterful control of the actions and surroundings, manipulating the audience with sight and sound.)
• Script: B (Bare-bones but effective, with only a bit of a let-down at the end.)
• Gore/Effects: B (Little gore, but little need for gore. The restraint is welcome.)
• Overall: A- (Could be the scariest movie since The Blair Witch Project.)

The Strangers is directed by Bryan Bertino and is rated R for violence/terror and language. It opens nationwide on Friday, May 30, 2008.