Monday 8 September 2008

The Strangers

Finally caught up with Brian Bertino's The Strangers this afternoon and what a creepy and effective film it is. Nothing flashy. Or profound. Or even original. Just, for the most part, good, old-fashioned, wholesome, hand-wringing scares which, in this age of ramping, epileptic editing and multiple film stock, is a rare thing indeed in horror. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman play the unhappy couple in a remote country pad at night terrorised by a trio of mask-wearing home invaders who enjoy drawing out the couple's ordeal until the head-scratching conclusion almost undoes all the good work that's gone before. The Strangers 2 is, inevitably, in the pipeline.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

The trailers for this film looked interesting. Been meaning to check this one out. I've also heard that the director of the film is a big John Carpenter fan which is certainly not a bad thing.

Mark Salisbury said...

Indeed. Although the camerawork in The Strangers is all handheld as opposed to JC's favoured PanaGlide.

Matt Jones said...

The line-up for the London Film Festival looks interesting:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/category/primary_navigation/films/galasandspecialscreenings

Mark Salisbury said...

It does indeed. I've just put my picks up.