"The Strangers" (2008) Horror

The Strangers, written and directed by Brian Bertino, came out in 2008 after two postponements. The film, based on true events, starred Liv Tyler (daughter of famous singer Steven Tyler) and Scott Speedman as a young couple at Speedman's family's summer home after a friend's wedding. The couple are terrorized by three masked assailants and are forced to remain in the home, attempting escape.

I found this movie to be what I can only describe as "less than stellar". It wasn't awful, but was by no means
exceptional either. It seemed to me me to be this particular directors take on the classic "teens trapped in an isolated cabin, oh no" style film, but he changed out the teens for a young couple to suit a more mature audience. The movie wasn't as scary as it COULD have been, mostly because Bertino used the same scare tactics that have been used over and over again. A grand example of this is when Liv Tyler's character is hiding in a closet with a slotted door (the slots are angled so that she can see out, but it would be difficult for you to see in) from the male antagonist. She makes a noise and you know that he heard it, he walks around a bit, then disappears off camera. Liv becomes relieved, until one of the other masked intruders pops up on the other side right in front of her. This scare is used constantly in movies; nobody's there, BAM someone's there. As well as having cliché scare tactics the protagonists of the movie are ridiculously foolish. I found it hard to suspend my disbelief. They really couldn't find ANY way out of the house? To top it off the movie's ending was awful. You watched this couple struggle to survive, only to be killed in the end and no form of justice be brought upon the murderers.  Apart from the movie's setbacks, it was filmed well, the acting was acceptable (the script is what seemed to ruin it for me) and the intruders had some pretty cool masks. If I were to rate this movie out of 5, I would give it a solid 2.