The Strangers (www.the-usher.com)

"Is Tamara here?"

When James (Speedman) and Kirsten (Tyler) return late to his parent's summer home after a wedding, James' planned night of romance doesn't go to plan. As the couple try and work through what has gone wrong, there is a knock on the door. They answer to be greeted by a young woman strangling asking for a friend. She reluctantly leaves and the two return to their own problems. As the conversation seems to be getting nowhere, James decides to head out to buy cigarettes and clear his head leaving Kirsten alone in the house. Moments after James leaves however, the strange girl returns, knocking on the door and asking for her friend but this time she is not alone.

When it comes to producing horror movies Hollywood has lacked behind the rest of the world for a decade now but finally a film has come along to change all that and make you genially scared again and that film is 'The Strangers'.

The Hollywood Horror Movie has been going through a strange time over the last ten years or so. Ideas seem to have dried up and when something original does hit the screen, all the studios seems to run with it. First it was remaking every hit Asian horror, then it was remaking most of the 70s and 80s classics or making new chapters to movies that really didn't need sequels. When they did find success, with the torture horror of the 'Saw' and 'Hostel' movies, everything just became a copy of those movies or just far too many sequels to those hits. With other films just returning to kill teenagers, who always seem to be the victims in US horror flicks, a huge slice of originality needed to be inserted into genre and writer/director Bryan Bertino has done just that.

The story is a simple one. A young couple, Kirsten and James, return to their vacation home late one evening and continue their argument from earlier. They are interrupted by a knock at the door and greeted by a young girl asking if her friend is there from the shadows. When they reply no, she leaves and their argument continues with James leaving to get some air and take a drive to get some cigarettes. Not long after he leaves, the girl returns to knock at the door but this time she has brought some friends. This simple premise sets up an extremely suspenseful hour that will have you on the edge of your seat and cowering in fear.

What makes this work is the suspense as this is not a movie that relies on gore and blood to sell the fear but on those jumpy, fear induced scares that will stay with you long after the film has ended. This lack of blood and gore is strangely refreshing and a hell of a lot more frightening than anything Hollywood has produced in a long time. By not simply catering to the cliched teenagers been chased by a masked supernatural being or being tortured at the hand of a mad man with all kinds of medical equipment, this is a film that may have masked villains but it is their scant regard for human life and human emotions that makes you so terrified by the evil of what human beings can really do to each other.

With good performances from the beautiful Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, 'The Strangers' is a refreshingly good American horror flick. By taking what is best about foreign cinema and removing all the gore and replacing it with real tension.

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition wide screen 1:85 up to 1080p, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound, the Blu-Ray includes the theatrical cut and the unrated version of this terror movie.

BONUS FEATURES

Deleted Scenes (4.52 mins/Standard Definition)
Entitled 'James reflects at the bar' and 'Bathroom discussion', these deleted scenes suffer from the lack of a commentary or introduction to say why they were cut from the movie.

The Elements of Terror (9.13 mins/High Definition)
Writer/Director Bryan Bertino, production designer John Kretschmer, executive producer Sonny Mallhi, production sound mixer Jeffree Bloomer and stars Liv Tyler and Glen Howerton talk about bringing 'The Strangers' to the silver screen. The group talk about this been a terror movie and not a horror movie, outlining the differences with behind the scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew.

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment for one of the best horror movies of 2008 is a little disappointing. The deleted scenes are not in high definition and the featurette is a little too short. The lack of Universal's U-Control or a commentary track will also disappoint fans of the film.

BLU-RAY

The Usher Home | Hush, Hush... | The Big Story | The Usher Speaks

Stuck @ Home | Coming Soon | Links | Contact the Usher

2008