You know what horror film didn’t need to be turned into a franchise? The Strangers. How did this little home invasion flick manage to spawn a franchise? Especially one that’s taken so long to materialise. But with the upcoming release of The Strangers Chapter One, I decided to take a look back at the first two films and try to understand how it became such a hot property in Hollywood.
Following a botched wedding proposal, James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) arrive at James’ rural childhood home and begin to work their way through their crumbling relationship.
But a knock at the door from a young woman turns the evening into a fight for survival as James and Kristen become hunted by three masked figures.
The Strangers might just be the ultimate home invasion movie. The film certainly isn’t perfect, but director Bryan Bertino nails the atmosphere and tension better than most films from the sub-genre, and he never allows the film to be bogged down by things it doesn’t need.
It’s extremely evocative of horror from the 70’s, such as The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre with its warm colour palette and handheld camera techniques. It was an extremely low budget affair, being made for around $9 million, but it was a major success at the box office making almost ten times that amount. It’s easy to see why too, because The Strangers is one of the most terrifying horror films of the 00’s and that’s achieved not through jump scares or gross out gore, but with nail-biting tension, a great setup, and some of the most terrifying villains in the genre.
Following a botched wedding proposal, James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) arrive at James’ rural childhood home and begin to work their way through their crumbling relationship.
But a knock at the door from a young woman turns the evening into a fight for survival as James and Kristen become hunted by three masked figures.
The Strangers might just be the ultimate home invasion movie. The film certainly isn’t perfect, but director Bryan Bertino nails the atmosphere and tension better than most films from the sub-genre, and he never allows the film to be bogged down by things it doesn’t need.
It’s extremely evocative of horror from the 70’s, such as The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre with its warm colour palette and handheld camera techniques. It was an extremely low budget affair, being made for around $9 million, but it was a major success at the box office making almost ten times that amount. It’s easy to see why too, because The Strangers is one of the most terrifying horror films of the 00’s and that’s achieved not through jump scares or gross out gore, but with nail-biting tension, a great setup, and some of the most terrifying villains in the genre.
The first act of the film takes its time to establish James & Kristen’s relationship problems without explicitly telling us what’s happened. They arrive home in the middle of the night, dressed up all fancy, but clearly something’s wrong because they aren’t talking to each other, and they both look miserable. The house is decorated with rose petals, there’s champagne on ice, and romantic records next to the record player. They’re not angry with each other, but they’re both upset, and through a series of awkward exchanges we piece together that James proposed to Kristen whilst they were in attendance at a friend’s wedding, and Kristen declined. They’re clearly still in love with each other, but they’re at two different stages of their relationship and are now trying to work out where to go from here. It’s incredibly slow paced, and I mean that in a good way. There’s not an awful lot of dialogue, and at this point there’s no indication of the horror that will shortly unfold. It’s just two people tiptoeing around each other, a relationship drama that we’ve walked into the tail end of.
During a desperate attempt at intimacy, the pair are interrupted by a knock at the door, where a woman hidden entirely in darkness asks for the name of someone who doesn’t live at the house. Her responses are slow and fragmented, and because you can’t see her face either you’re immediately put on edge.
From here James leaves to get Kristen some cigarettes and we’re left alone in the house with Kristen, and so begins one of the single greatest sequences in the home invasion sub-genre. Whilst Kristen mulls over everything that’s happened in the kitchen, we can see masked intruders silently moving around the house behind her. There’s one shot in particular which became one of the most iconic promotional images for the film where one of the intruders stands in the shadows of the hallway behind Kristen. It’s truly chilling, and from here the three masked individuals gradually escalate their presence and begin to leave small clues to Kristen that she’s not alone, culminating in an explosive reveal which sends Kristen into a frenzied panic just in time for James to return. This entire sequence is just incredible thanks to a mix of the wide angles used for the shots to show as much of the house as possible, the excellent sound design, and a fantastic performance from Tyler.
It's this next sequence where the film makes its biggest mistakes and unfortunately falls into the pits of annoying horror tropes. James makes a series of dumb decisions and refuses to believe that there’s any threat posed to them by these people he can very clearly see standing outside the house. Thankfully it doesn’t last long, but I think the most frustrating this is that even if James hadn’t made such bafflingly stupid decisions, it wouldn’t have put them at any more of an advantage. They’re well and truly in the web of the strangers at this point in the film, and nothing they could have done would change that, so why does he make such dumb decisions and have a complete attitude change for this part of the film?
During a desperate attempt at intimacy, the pair are interrupted by a knock at the door, where a woman hidden entirely in darkness asks for the name of someone who doesn’t live at the house. Her responses are slow and fragmented, and because you can’t see her face either you’re immediately put on edge.
From here James leaves to get Kristen some cigarettes and we’re left alone in the house with Kristen, and so begins one of the single greatest sequences in the home invasion sub-genre. Whilst Kristen mulls over everything that’s happened in the kitchen, we can see masked intruders silently moving around the house behind her. There’s one shot in particular which became one of the most iconic promotional images for the film where one of the intruders stands in the shadows of the hallway behind Kristen. It’s truly chilling, and from here the three masked individuals gradually escalate their presence and begin to leave small clues to Kristen that she’s not alone, culminating in an explosive reveal which sends Kristen into a frenzied panic just in time for James to return. This entire sequence is just incredible thanks to a mix of the wide angles used for the shots to show as much of the house as possible, the excellent sound design, and a fantastic performance from Tyler.
It's this next sequence where the film makes its biggest mistakes and unfortunately falls into the pits of annoying horror tropes. James makes a series of dumb decisions and refuses to believe that there’s any threat posed to them by these people he can very clearly see standing outside the house. Thankfully it doesn’t last long, but I think the most frustrating this is that even if James hadn’t made such bafflingly stupid decisions, it wouldn’t have put them at any more of an advantage. They’re well and truly in the web of the strangers at this point in the film, and nothing they could have done would change that, so why does he make such dumb decisions and have a complete attitude change for this part of the film?
The last half of the film becomes an extended third act where James and Kristen are truly fighting for their lives as the strangers become increasingly aggressive in their pursuit. This entire act is really well done, and it opens with a true gut punch where James accidentally kills his brother Mike (Glenn Howerton), mistaking him for one of the strangers. It’s a brutal scene that’s made all the more harrowing by Speedman’s performance in it.
It all culminates in both James and Kristen finding themselves tied to the dining chairs as the sun rises, begging for their lives, as they’re slowly and repeatedly stabbed by the strangers. It’s made all the more chilling with the reveal of the strangers’ motive in the now iconic ‘Because you were home’ line. There was no meaning for any of what we have seen, and as they accept their fate James and Kristen comfort each other lovingly which makes it all the more heart-breaking.
I do feel the ending could have been trimmed down by a couple of minutes. Right at the start of the film we know that two children discover the scene of a murder in the house the film takes place in, but we don’t know what’s happened or to who. The film then ends with the strangers interacting with these boys as they drive away from the house, and then seeing the boys explore the house, finding James and Kristen, with Kristen seemingly having survived her injuries in an incredibly out of place jump scare.
I think had the credits rolled following the strangers interacting with the boys that would have been a much better way to end it, rather than showing the opening again but now with shots of James and Kristen’s bodies, and without that god awful jump scare at the end.
I mentioned earlier about the film being shot mostly in a handheld style and this is another area I find myself getting hung up on. Whilst there are moments where that style works well (such as when Kristen is running through the garden to try and get to the garage), personally I would have preferred a more traditional stable camera for a lot of the scenes. The cinematography is great, and Peter Sova creates some amazing shots in such a limited space, but had those same shots been achieved with a stable camera I would have been much happier.
A lot of what makes the film work so well is the strangers themselves. Played by Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, and Laura Margolis. We never see their faces, and the only time any of them speaks is for that spine chilling single line reveal of why they are doing all of this. Most of the time they just stand there, with an almost relaxed and limp look to them. They almost seem possessed at times. Everything just works in their favour so much too because of how they’re dressed, lit, and framed. It’s easy to see why they became such beloved horror villains despite having so little screentime.
The Strangers is one of the great modern cult classics of the horror genre. It definitely has its shortcomings that do hold it back from cinematic greatness, but what’s here is an almost perfect representation of the home invasion genre. It does still surprise me that a sequel ever got made, especially considering it took well over ten years to materialise. But I can only hope that the upcoming trilogy of films from Renny Harlin will tap into the same excellence that this original film had over the schlocky and by the numbers sequel. If you’re yet to watch it, it’s absolutely something you should check out.
It all culminates in both James and Kristen finding themselves tied to the dining chairs as the sun rises, begging for their lives, as they’re slowly and repeatedly stabbed by the strangers. It’s made all the more chilling with the reveal of the strangers’ motive in the now iconic ‘Because you were home’ line. There was no meaning for any of what we have seen, and as they accept their fate James and Kristen comfort each other lovingly which makes it all the more heart-breaking.
I do feel the ending could have been trimmed down by a couple of minutes. Right at the start of the film we know that two children discover the scene of a murder in the house the film takes place in, but we don’t know what’s happened or to who. The film then ends with the strangers interacting with these boys as they drive away from the house, and then seeing the boys explore the house, finding James and Kristen, with Kristen seemingly having survived her injuries in an incredibly out of place jump scare.
I think had the credits rolled following the strangers interacting with the boys that would have been a much better way to end it, rather than showing the opening again but now with shots of James and Kristen’s bodies, and without that god awful jump scare at the end.
I mentioned earlier about the film being shot mostly in a handheld style and this is another area I find myself getting hung up on. Whilst there are moments where that style works well (such as when Kristen is running through the garden to try and get to the garage), personally I would have preferred a more traditional stable camera for a lot of the scenes. The cinematography is great, and Peter Sova creates some amazing shots in such a limited space, but had those same shots been achieved with a stable camera I would have been much happier.
A lot of what makes the film work so well is the strangers themselves. Played by Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, and Laura Margolis. We never see their faces, and the only time any of them speaks is for that spine chilling single line reveal of why they are doing all of this. Most of the time they just stand there, with an almost relaxed and limp look to them. They almost seem possessed at times. Everything just works in their favour so much too because of how they’re dressed, lit, and framed. It’s easy to see why they became such beloved horror villains despite having so little screentime.
The Strangers is one of the great modern cult classics of the horror genre. It definitely has its shortcomings that do hold it back from cinematic greatness, but what’s here is an almost perfect representation of the home invasion genre. It does still surprise me that a sequel ever got made, especially considering it took well over ten years to materialise. But I can only hope that the upcoming trilogy of films from Renny Harlin will tap into the same excellence that this original film had over the schlocky and by the numbers sequel. If you’re yet to watch it, it’s absolutely something you should check out.