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Released by: Universal Studios
Released on: 10/21/08
Director: Bryan Bertino
Cast: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman
Year: 2008
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The Movie:
Written and directed by Bryan Bertino, The Strangers, his debut picture, was somewhat of a sleeper hit when Universal released it to theaters in the first half of 2008. The film revolves around a very simple premise - a couple, James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) have gone off to his family's house out in the middle of nowhere. James proposed to Kristen but she wasn't ready to accept so tensions are running a little high and emotions are a bit on the funky side. In the middle of the night, a woman knocks on the door and asks for someone who doesn't live there. They tell her to go away and she does… for a while. Once James goes out for a bit Kristen starts hearing things and seeing things and she's sure that there's someone else in the house with her.
James comes home and sure enough, a woman with a doll mask, another woman in a strange mask, and a man with a burlap sack over his face are causing problems in and around the house for the pair. James scrounges around the house and find's his father's old shotgun but it might not be enough to stop these three strange people from needlessly terrorizing them.
The Strangers is, at its core, a very simple home invasion story. The plot is amazingly basic but despite its simplicity the movie is more interesting than you might think. Bertino proves adapt at building some legitimate suspense and while the pay off is generally little more than a jump scare, at least they're good jump scares. Unfortunately, while the first half of the film builds really nicely to a genuinely scary atmosphere, the last half feels redundant and the finale just doesn't pay off as well as it should. The result is a pretty uneven picture that benefits from some great visuals and some scenes of legitimate tension but which doesn't live up to its promise.
Performance wise, both Speedman and Tyler do a fine job with the material. They're perfectly believable and even if the whole engagement sub-plot feels superfluous and adds nothing, it's not hard to picture them as a couple. They're a good fit in that regard. The movie also does a very good job of making a fairly normal house a scary place to be by playing with the shadows and the dark corners of the home very effectively. Good use of sound and music also help to heighten the tension during a few key scenes as well, making it an even bigger shame that the 'set it up for a sequel' ending plays out the way it does.
NOTE: The Blu-ray release of The Strangers contains both the theatrical and the unrated cuts of the film. The unrated version doesn't differ much from the theatrical cut, but it does contain a few extra stabs and a little bit more on screen violence during the film's finale.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Strangers looks pretty good in this 2.35.1 1080p AVC encoded anamorphic widescreen transfer. The film has a brown tint to it for much of its running time and the color scheme used in the movie makes heavy use of earth tones. As such, this isn't a particularly colorful film but the shades and hues used to create the film's atmosphere are nicely replicated though this HD transfer. Black levels are nice and strong throughout and while there are certainly more detailed Blu-ray discs out there to marvel at, there's a lot to look at here - the close ups are nice and sharp even some of the medium and further away shots are a tiny bit on the soft side. There are, however, some minor problems with mpeg compression artifacts in some of the darker scenes and some softness creeps into the picture from time to time. Not a bad transfer at all, but it isn't perfect.
The unrated version is presented in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 while the theatrical cut of the film contain an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix in addition to standard definition DTS 5.1 Surround Sound mixes in French and Spanish. Optional subtitles are included English SDH, French and Spanish. The audio on this release is pretty impressive. Certain scenes really benefit from the uncompressed mix's range, such as the scene where the record skips, and the 5.1 mix really does a great job of enhancing the jump scares that the movie relies so heavily on. This is a really enveloping mix that succeeds in sucking you into the film by clever use of the rear channels and some nice, powerful moments where the bass kicks in quite nicely. Dialogue stays clean and clear and there aren't any problems at all with hiss or distortion. Some of the whispered dialogue is a bit low but then again, it's supposed to. Regardless, this is a very impressive mix that really takes fill advantage of the formats capabilities.
The only really substantial supplement on this release is a featurette entitled The Elements Of Terror where the cast and crew discuss how scary the movie is, what sets is apart from other horror films, and what it was like working with one another on the film. It isn't particularly deep but it does at least give us some insight into what writer/director Bertino was going for with this project. Aside from that, there are two brief deleted scenes presented in standard definition which really don't add much of anything to the story at all.
Rounding out the extras are some nifty animated menus, chapter selection, and for those with a Blu-ray player connected to the internet, some Blu-ray Live functionality is built into the disc.
The Final Word:
The Strangers isn't a perfect film but it does have some really effective moments and some well timed jump scares. It won't likely hold up to repeat viewings so well but some inspired cinematography and an effectively simple but well executed premise make it worth a watch despite the unimpressive ending. Universal's disc looks alright and sounds great - fans of the film will want to give this release a look, those who haven't seen the film before might want to rent it first.