One of the most pointless and witless thrillers to come down the proverbial pike in years, filmmaker Bryan Bertino's The Strangers wouldn't have been satisfying as even a half-hour TV episode, but at feature-length it's indescribably tedious. Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler play quarreling lovers who return to their remote cottage late one night, and shortly thereafter fall victim to masked tormentors. The couple's efforts to escape are futile and in the end they are captured, bound, and stabbed by the thrill killers. The Strangers is all glacially-paced setup, playing like the first act of a much longer story that is suddenly brought to a hasty conclusion. The titular “strangers” have no motivation for their horrific acts—and viewers never have the satisfaction of seeing them unmasked or identified. Actually, The Strangers doesn't even make the grade as decent torture porn (if there is such a thing), because the climactic stabbings are perfunctorily—almost casually—performed and photographed. Make no mistake, this film is tissue-thin on every level. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a nine-minute “The Elements of Terror” behind-the-scenes featurette, and two deleted scenes (5 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is BD Live-accessible material. Bottom line: a disappointing extras package for a disappointing film.] (E. Hulse)
The Strangers
Rogue, 86 min., avail. in R and unrated versions, DVD: $29.98, Blu-ray: $39.99, Oct. 21 Volume 23, Issue 5
The Strangers
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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