Customer Rating:  
Summary: TERROR - Without too much gore
Comment: Terrifying movie with some real surprises. Relies more on suspense than on gore (although this is not a movie for the squeamish). Certainly not perfect, but still a good rental if you don't over-analyze.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not as Scary as I thought
Comment: My husband and I saw the trailer for this movie and were hooked. We ordered it right away. We are horror film fanatics so we are not as easily scared as most. However, after the first 30 minutes we were like o.k. this really isnt that scary. It was more of a..oh gosh please dont go and do that type of movie. I think that the mask that they wore actually was the only thing that made this movie a little scary..any thiller junkie has seen this story play out thousands of times. So an o.k. thiller no Texas Chainsaw Masacre by any means.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't Answer the Door at 4 A.M.
Comment: This is a good little chiller--despite giant holes in the plot and a heroine who is so helpless and fragile that she should be in a nursing home. The story is a classic setting for fear and mayhem: an isolated house out in the woods where a couple is terrorized by mysterious forces.
The first time you hear the sudden knocking on the door, you experience a sense of dread. Not many people have a visitor knocking on their door at 3 or 4 in the morning. When the visitor turns out to be a total stranger, asking a strange question, the suspense mounts. But what does Scott Speedman, the husband, do? He moseys out to his car for a drive, or is it to buy some cigarettes. Anyway, his gentle, child-like bride, liv Tyler is left alone and another visitor knocks on the door. Throughout this movie, the actress portrays a woman who is so pathetically a "Daddy's Girl," that she can't function on her own. She cringes and cowers and when she gets her husband on the phone, she doesn't sound very scared. She just tells him to hurry home. Does she check the windows and doors to see if they're locked? Does she gather around her an arsenal of possible weapons to use--like knives, screw drivers, heavy plates, pots, etc. She does none of these things.
She just sits and nervously waits for her man to come back to protect her. When the violence escalates, she retreats even more into child-like behavior, not even bothering to help out her poor husband who is being beaten up and tortured. She just screams and wails and hides out. One scene is unbelievably illogical: her husband has made his way to the garage while the killers are all around. And what does his wife do? She just sits on the backsteps of the house, her head resting on her knees, exposed to the killers. When she does FINALLY grab a knife for defense, it's the smallest one in her kitchen. I would have found the biggest one to protect myself. And when a buddy of her husband finally comes to visit them, the couple have barricaded themselves in a room. The buddy doesn't even say anything, like, "Hey, anybody around?" He just walks into the darkened house with destroyed furniture everywhere and something really bad happens to him. The wife has another chance to shriek and gibber and wail, alerting the killers to their hideout.
Despite these weaknesses, this movie proves that you can still make an effective thriller on a low budget without l00 million dollars worth of special effects or paying some actor $25 million to show his face for the camera. If they could have made the wife figure a feisty, realistic woman of 2008, this flick could have been even better. Maybe in the sequel that's being planned, we'll have a female who knows when it's time to fight back and stop looking for her "man" to protect her.
Customer Rating:
Summary: True Events Are Scary, But Film Adaptation Falls A Bit Flat
Comment: I think that the "scariness" factor of this film is the fact that its events were based on a true life scenario. While coming home late from a party one night, a man and his fiancee are terrorized by three people wearing various masks.
That scenario, I will admit, is pretty spooky...the idea that someone is stalking you within your own home is truly horrifying. However, in film format, the story falls a bit flat for two reasons:
First off, there really aren't any big "jump moments" (at least ones that aren't given away in the trailer) for all the suspense that is generated. Time after time, the tension builds and then just fades away. I think that a truly good horror movie needs to really deliver on those jump scenes (even though our heart rates increase, we really do want to be scared), otherwise the audience will no longer be on the edge of their seat, which is exactly what happened to me towards the end of the film.
Secondly, there is no resolution to the film. I guess a sequel is currently in the works, so perhaps that will explain why the masked tormentors are picking on two specific individuals, but in the context of this film, the acts are completely random. I think that was supposed to be part of this film's appeal, but it did not leave me with a good impression of the overall movie upon its conclusion.
So, if you are one of those people who can completely immerse yourself in the action of the film, you will find this movie more compelling than I did. However, if (like me) you like a few contrived scares and understandable plot motivations, then you should probably steer clear of this film.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best horror film in a long time
Comment: Out of 113 reviews of this film, it only averages 3 stars but this movie is far better than that in terms of pure terror not seen in horror films since the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You can have your Saws, your Hostels, your Screams - I'll take this movie over all those put together because it's based on real events and it makes you identify with the characters by conveying their helpless situation far better than the other films I mentioned, making you realize that you could find yourself in the same situation - I guess I'm simply saying this movie connects with what truly scares people on a personal level. I havent read the negative reviews here but it's too bad they didn't get this film - I guess it's too psychological and not enough of a mindless slasher film for them? Bottom line is - if you've seen and were intrigued by the trailer but haven't seen the movie yet, the movie lives up to the creepiness of the trailer big-time. Highly recommended for those seeking a true horror film but it's definitely not for young children - this is a film that could stay with them for years to come. The Strangers is an instant entry to my Top 10 Favorite Horror Films.
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