The most intriguing thing about The Strangers is that the two main characters are already dead before the masked psychopaths even show up at their door. Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) are metaphorically dead. Their relationship is on the rocks; there isn’t a trace of love or joy between them – or in either of them, for that matter. It’s clear they’ve sucked each other dry and stay together out of habit. This is how the film draws us in: We pity the characters, and it would be great to see if they can kick-start their relationship again – provided they can avoid being stabbed to death first.

Just who are the masked strangers, and why do they want to kill this couple? As the film progresses, one finds these questions aren’t important, which is good, because we never know the answers – there doesn’t seem to be any reason for the murders at all. Presumably inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, director Bryan Bertino is breaking a traditional filmmaking rule by giving us antagonists without a motive. But it’s a respectable decision – psycho killers in movies never have valid or interesting reasons to kill people anyway.

Bertino, however, makes a mistake by revealing the movie’s denouement at the beginning. It has been done before (think Memento), but it doesn’t work in The Strangers. We are told in the introduction that the movie is based on a true event, and FBI agents still don’t really know what happened to the couple – that means they’re going to die.

There goes the element of surprise. All we can do is wait for Kristen and James to die. It is a disappointing mistake - the actors do a fine job of making us sympathize with the characters only to make the protagonists’ immanent deaths all the more alienating.

Don’t get me wrong: The Strangers is really scary. Tyler has the perfect scream to get you shaking in your seat. The villains’ minimalist masks and the way they slither around in the dark add up to a 10 on the ‘creepy’ scale. And you can tell they’re getting a sadistic kick out of torturing the poor couple.

But after about 45 minutes of villains chasing Kristen and James around the house with various weapons, one wonders how much longer the premise can last. Fortunately, the film ends just before it is about to peter out – with a surprisingly short run time of just
90 minutes.

A line at the end of the movie opens the door to a sequel, but it is difficult to imagine how Bertino could possibly use the same chase-and-stab routine in a part two. Perhaps he should hand the baton over to someone who loves making bad follow-ons, like Brett Ratner: He would give us a horror movie with a love triangle, explosions and maybe a car chase... if we’re lucky.

Brian Chen