Most horror films leave people like myself, those with an interest in self defense and physical security, rolling their eyes and glancing at their watch. The script has to keep the tension and drama going until the credits roll, so the characters usually do incredibly stupid things in order to everything out.
I had heard good things about The Strangers (2008). It was supposed to be a lean, taut thriller with some genuinely tense moments. The protagonists were supposed to react in a realistic fashion when threatened. The threat itself was also all too possible, with the menace flowing from real flesh-and-blood people instead of monsters.
After hearing all this, I was hoping that it would be different. I was wrong, but not for the usual reasons.
Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman play a couple who are staying over in an isolated vacation house. Suddenly, in the dead of night, there is a knock on the door. It is a girl who asks for someone who doesn't live there. They explain that they don't know the person, but the girl keeps coming back. And she brings some friends along with her.
That brief description above is pretty much the entire plot, and it is excessively wordy even so. In Hollywood, a "high concept" film is where a plot can be boiled down into five words or less. This movie can be described in the phrase "Masked intruders terrorize a couple" without losing any nuance.
But nuance isn't what we are looking for in a horror film, and this one keeps chugging along at a decent pace. It helps that the DVD I rented clocked in at 75 minutes. This is a movie that, unlike the intruders who terrify the photogenic protagonists, knows when its welcome is turning sour and it is time to leave. The theatrical release was 88 minutes, and I have no idea what filled up that extra 13 minutes. I figure that I didn't miss anything with the abridged version.
At this point, you are probably wondering about this review. After all, I started out saying that the film wasn't any good, only to turn around and praise the pacing and short run time. My dissatisfaction doesn't come from that, but from the actions of the actors on screen.
Like I said, most horror films force the protagonists to act in stupid ways to keep both the run time and tension elevated. This film is a bit different in that neither Tyler nor Speedman did anything particularly idiotic, just as long as you accept the premise that they are people who never gave a thought to their own self defense who are suddenly thrust into a situation where self defense is suddenly the only important thing. Instead the problem lies with the masked villains who target and terrorize the hapless couple.
There is no hint that the bad guys have any super powers, that they are supernatural creatures in any way. Instead they have some mad ninja skills, being able to move without sound and unseen whenever the plot requires. They are always a few steps ahead of the two people fighting for their lives, toying with them with impunity, unconcerned that they could be hurt in any way when they back their victims into a corner. They pop up wherever and whenever they choose, always surprising the protagonists without being surprised themselves. They are invisible, invulnerable, invincible.
So instead of rolling my eyes in impatience at the stupidity of the characters at risk, I was rolling my eyes due to the impossible abilities and good timing of the bad guys. I'll let you decide if that is an improvement.
This movie displays a screen at the very beginning that declares "Based On True Events". This is sort of a cop out in that the story supposedly was inspired by the Manson murders and an incidence that occurred in the director's youth. It seems that a man knocked on the door of his childhood home in the middle of the night and asked for someone no one knew. In the morning it was revealed that several unoccupied houses had been burgled, and the late night visitor was actually looking to see if anyone was home before breaking in.
Pretty thin gruel for a horror film, I'd say.