Friday, July 25, 2008

The STRANGERS

“The STRANGERS” (Liv Tyler & Scott Speedman)
Yes, it was $1 Tuesday at Gateway & since none other than Stephen King wrote a glowing review of this film, I decided to check it out... Stephen may know how to write horror stories, but he doesn’t know a bad movie when he sees one...
It opens with a large splatter of blood on the wall of a house. The words James & Kristen arrived at James’ family’s summer home after attending a wedding.
A large bloody butcher knife is shown on the floor. We read that what we are about to see is based on a true story... We then read that NO ONE knows for certain exactly what took place . . . HUH? A true story that no one knows for sure if it ever happened???
One thing we can determine is that James (Speedman) & Kristen (Tyler) don’t survive because obviously one of them could have verified whether or not what we were about to see was true or not... right?
As the film progresses, 98% of the dialogue is spoken by James & Kristen – so I think it is safe to say the bulk of this ‘true’ story was made up!
At one point Kristen asks the trio that has been terrorizing them, “Why are you doing this?” I won’t tell you the 4 word reply she receives because if you ever decide to see this ‘suspenseful/tormenting’ film, you’re going to be very disappointed in that 4 word answer because it explains NOTHING. (& it’s the only explanation you’re going to get)
One of the main reasons this movie leaves you with an unpleasant odor in your nostrils can be blamed on the director. At one point one of the female ‘Strangers’ pursues Kristen with an axe in her hand as the heroine crawls away with an injured ankle. When Kristen stops & turns around – the woman has disappeared... What was the point of this? Why would the woman chase the potential victim with an axe & then suddenly disappear? Kristen never knew she was there – Kristen was vulnerable & ready to be chopped into pieces, so why would the killer stalk her prey just to back away before being discovered? That scene was contrived for the viewing audience only – which made it feel contrived, thus lacking any ‘real’ sense of suspense & realism.
It depletes the suspense factor when you make the viewer very aware that ‘this is just a movie, folks’... Bad directing.
The script (or should I say ‘pamphlet’) is so lazily written it’s as if the filmmakers are spitting in the audiences’ faces with outrageously obvious mistakes. After a creepy girl has banged on their door at 4 AM asking for someone who doesn't live there, Kristen mentions she’s out of cigarettes & so James leaves to buy her some. While he’s gone Kristen opens her purse & pulls out a pack of cigarettes...HUH? I guess the writer felt he didn’t have to explain his illogical script because everything would be explained with those 4 words he came up with to answer the question everyone watching this crap wanted to know – “Why are you doing this?”
One might ask the actors & producers involved the same question...

No comments: