Yes. We need to return to the good old fashioned storytelling techniques. All the shakycam is giving me an itch!

People can't enjoy stories anymore. I heard one person complain after leaving the new Indiana Jones movie about it being worse than the other three films because it wasn't as "realistic". What!?

I enjoyed this movie but I thought the ending stunk. There is a lot of suspense building, jump scenes and some creepy characters. Liv Tyler is easy on the eyes and pretty good actress. I wish we knew more about the "villians" though and it had a better ending.

8/10

It wasen't nearly as good as I had hoped. Pretty standard and kinda boring to be honest. And no, its not based on a true story.

Surprisingly, that's how I felt about it, too... There were a bunch of really good jumpy moments, but there were other parts where the killers seemed to be performing more for the audience than for the victims.

I guess after seeing Ils (Them) and Inside, my standards for home invasion movies have risen a bit.

That being said, this was pretty impressive for a Hollywood horror, but overall I found it somewhat lacking.

My problem is that I can't really figure out what it needed - More suspense? More blood/gore? More torture? I am honestly not sure, which is leaving me slightly confused at the moment. To begin with, I didn't feel as though the victims were substantially isolated, which was annoying (the cabin just didn't seem incredibly isolated or cut-off). Then there were some predictable turns that didn't have a very satisfying payoff... I don't know...

SPOILER******************************


Even though I still liked it, it could have been better with more "original" deaths (where's the blood? Death scene wasn't very original), MORE GORE, more of a plot and a good ending. I liked it because of the suspense, the villains and characters, plot even though it could have been better....But it isn't a movie that I would pay to watch again.

**big spoilers cont'd**

Reverse for me.
In my opinion, they should have cut the film as Liv Tyler gets sacked by the guy in the mask.
Instead, too much is shown, and it just isn't scary anymore. Think about it- as soon as we got a full look-see at the figures, the film wasn't scary anymore but instead tedious and awkward. It's the mystery and vagueness that started the film out so well and its loss that ended it so badly.

****MORE SPOILERS****

Yah, I think that the final death scene was pretty lame. I still go back and forth as to what the film needed. I'll have to bring up the comparison to Ils (Them) and Inside.

What made Ils (Them) so incredibly successful was its great use of suspense, isolation, and helplessness. I was at the edge of my seat for most of the film. I wonder if Strangers would have done better if there was more suspense - more chasing. I thought that the pursuit scenes definitely could have been better and I honestly did not understand why Liv Tyler kept going back to the house when she would have done so much better dragging the chase scene into the forest. Or something.

What made Inside so incredibly successful was creating a complete sociopathic Big Bad who was a true Human Monster. Inside also used blood, struggle, and gore well without truly merging into the real of Torture Porn, which, to me, is a skill. While the intruders with the masks were creepy in The Strangers, I guess I didn't get as much of a feel for them as a threat. Maybe we saw too much of them lurking without them actually being threatening (imagine if Halloween consisted of Michael Myers just staring into Lorie Strode's bedroom). To tell you the truth, for most of the movie I assumed that they were just playing with their victims and that the final reveal would be that the victims turn murderers and they are the human monsters (but that would be far too complicated for Hollywood). I guess, if I wanted to continue with the Inside comparison, I think that adding more of a physical threat (seeing the victimizers actually cut/torture/abuse the victims) might have made it a more successful movie. Not that I'm generally a gorehound, but Inside used it exceedingly well and I think if Strangers borrowed from that formula it would have been better.

THE STRANGERS is ahuge hit.
 

It cost 9 million to make and has as of this writing made close to 30 million ; it did not have a significant drop in its second week. Could peak out at 50 million; this is great news for the low budget horror genre. It's not a remake , Japanese or torture film. It's an original little creepfest and its making lots of money! The studios will be encouraged to make more original little films and ,hopefully, we will get some that are better than THE STRANGERS.

DEUS VOBISCUM!