The Strangers

Oooohh, another feminist film. These stupid men better stop ruining beautiful women's plans. In midst of another feminist film revolution similar to France's, America has turned into Lifetime Central. The Strangers busted through the film industry with what might be the scariest trailer of them all. A trailer that grips your tendons and nerves and provides you with no ample escape. They succeeded, partly.


A couple, coming home from a marriage reception is faced with an early crisis, a refusal of marriage. A classic line from "Thriller" "I want you to be my girl" is stated, and the audience laughs. Go figure, right? From then on, the film gets crazy. People begin to show up, motivated towards some mysterious cause, to torture this stranded couple. Friends are murdered and salvation is far of from being reachable.


The man returns to find his woman in hysterics. He takes the mans job by loading his fathers gun. Much use it will do him. This scene in particular angers me. In a scene where a bad guy should die, this baddie presumes to master The Matrix and dodges a round of pellets fired from a shotgun. Unsteady and unrealistic, damn the horror world sucks. In a messy genre from a messy generation, I must admit that The Strangers is a candle in the dark.

I must admit though, I tire of the "woman is crippled and must crawl away fomr this horrible event" sort of ending. Women are always portrayed as clumsy fools that ruin any chance of the truth being known. Perhaps they should all wear tracking beacons in case of a dire emergency. I'm sorry to come off as so misogynistic, but i cannot help but to realize that women are the downfall for men in modern horror films.


Most horror films couldn't even touch on the terror that it presents. From my own personal standpoint; Did it scare me? No. Did it scare my friends? Yes. I seem to be impervious to horror now-a-days. The Strangers is a wonderful job from a first timer. A young and fertile attempt at modern horror. The use of old-timey music is applauded and upheld better than the works of Rob Zombie.

The masks alone did a wonderful job at stealing jolts and jumps from its frantic audience. The others (General Audience) seem to be frightened by it. Is it great, no. Is it bad, no. This might seem inspired by French horror film Them/Ils, but it is a completely different film with completely different scares. A great job from a first time director.

-mAQ