A young couple, staying in a rural vacation house, are interrupted in the heat of the moment by a creepy girl asking for someone who isn't there. As the night wears on, strange noises and missing objects give way to a full-on home invasion.
Initially, I thought that this was a remake of the 2006 French film, Ils. The two movies have extremely similar plots. After doing some research, I found that The Strangers was actually written two years before Ils was even made. This little tidbit is interesting (to me at least), because I constantly find myself saying that American horror of the past decade is complete shit, and French horror is where it's at. So now I have hope again, because I really liked this movie.
Unlike most recent American horror films, The Strangers relies more on building suspense and tension than merely giving you "torture porn." It goes for jumps and screams instead of groans and threats of vomiting. I sincerely hope this film will inspire more American horror directors to knock it off with the Saws and the Hostels and the shitty remakes. I love gore as much as the next guy, but it's becoming trite and ineffective in the hands of American directors.
On the other hand, there are a lot of cliches in the film. But that is one of the reasons why I liked it- I looked at it as kind of a throwback to horror films of the 70s. I know I can often be elitist when it comes to horror films, and I know it's totally out of character for me to have liked this, but I did. I suggest you see it for yourself and tell me what you think. Bonus for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans: You miiiiiight wanna check the cast list. Just sayin'.
Grade: B
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