The Strangers (2008) Dir: Bryan Bertino

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The 'home invasion' subgenre of horror is arguably one of the scariest, in large part because of its realistic nature - break-ins and crimes relating from them are a very real and very terrifying thing - and one of the most famous examples of it is this 2008 film, from director Bryan Bertino. The film has become a modern cult classic, and one that has since spawned a number of sequels. It was a film that felt like it should be watched at least once, if only to see why it has been so influential.

By far, my biggest issue was with the film's abysmal pacing. It took way too long for something significant to happen. The first half an hour of the film dragged horrendously. If all the pointless and overlong scenes were taken out or edited down, this film would probably be half the length, which is pretty damning. I liked the attempt to make the film feel more realistic, perhaps that had something to do with the pacing, but it just didn't pay-off.

The story was repetitive, formulaic, and tropey. It also completely wasted two thirds of its three antagonists. They may have looked great, but their characters lacked anything compelling from a personality standpoint. It meant the actors had to try and create something out of very little. I feel like the home invasion narrative has been done far better than this, 'Hush' comes to mind as a great example of the genre. This one was just a little dull.

Liv Tyler made this film so much more watchable than it had any right to be, especially because her co-star Scott Speedman was so tepid. She attempted to breathe life into the film, and he sucked it right back out again. It feels a little cruel to say, but Speedman lacked believability and personality, aside from the occasional moment, which only helped in making Tyler look even better. I wouldn't even say this was close to her best performance, but she still carried the film, to a degree.

None of the supporting cast had many lines of dialogue, but their acting certainly wasn't bad. The masks gave them a scary sense of anonymity, and the decision to hide their faces throughout the film was a smart one. It kept them feeling mysterious, it kept them monstrous. Of the three, Gemma Ward was the most notable, while the duo of Kip Weeks and Laura Margolis were less prevalent, but still effective in their roles. I'll also quickly mention Glenn Howerton, who only had a very small part, but gave a pretty decent performance, for his part.

Overall, I thought this film that took way too long to get going, unfortunately. Some of the horror was very well done, and the suspense was, at times, excellent, but the film was far too inconsistent and slow, leaving me pretty unsatisfied. The disappointing truth is that I spent most of this film's runtime waiting, either for something to happen, or for the film to finally end. I'm sorry to say that I just do not get the hype. It's not a good horror, and it's not even a "good" bad horror, it's just kind of bad.