Rating:

About two months ago, I finally got a chance to catch Them (Ils), which was definitely one of the best genre films I’ve seen in a while. It gave me that palm-sweating, tension wrought film I’ve been waiting a while for (can’t even remember the last time I could’ve complimented a film as such) while having strong performances and having a great style. After watching Them, the first thing that popped into my mind was, “Whatever happened to that Strangers flick? That’s a remake of this, right?”

It’s true, these two films are basically the same. I’d be hard pressed to find someone that couldn’t see that, let alone feel that they were both inspired by the same “true story.” And while I do feel Them is a far better film all around, that doesn’t leave The Strangers without its merits.

The film really excels at being a tense exercise in survival horror for the first half. We have the inner turmoil of the two characters on display, having just had a disagreement of sorts, ending with James (Speedman) calling his friend Mike (Glenn Howerton, or as I exclaimed to fellow B-D writer Tex Massacre after the screening was over, freakin’ Dennis from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) for a lift from the family’s vacation home, leaving Kristen (Tyler) there by herself. Then, the outer turmoil comes into play, as the couple’s effort to make up in the best way possible is interrupted by a knock at the door, which shortly thereafter turns into a full-on home invasion.

And I have to give credit where credit is due on the cinematography: Peter Sova really did some great work here. He used foreground and background techniques to really capture the feel of John Carpenter’s Halloween (which you can catch instances of in the trailer). Predominately though, I got a Shield vibe from most of the film and thats definitely not a bad thing. Not quite as gritty but definitely on its way.

And after all of that good will is set up, Bryan Bertino’s script seems to squander it in spades halfway through the flick. We get this scene where the two characters decide to venture to the backyard to find some means of communication with the outside word, which makes sense. Leaving a character behind with no weapons, in a house where a main entrance is busted in, does not make sense. And then, all of a sudden, when the second character ventures out into the backyard there’s a trench. Right smack dab in the middle of the backyard. Where was that five minutes ago? And on top of this whole sequence being very cliche, it also feels very dragged out. I could’ve swore they were out there for about half an hour, when in actuality, it was maybe fifteen minutes.

For a film that’s been sitting on the shelf since last year, it’s not halfway bad. It certainly didn’t deserve that sort of neglect, especially since we’ve already had plenty of horror clunkers comes out already this year. I don’t know if its worth throwing down $9 on the theatre counter for, but its amusing enough and at least worth a rental.