The Strangers

As you may have noticed, my summer has pretty much been spent watching movies. Yesterday, for lack options that we hadn't already seen, Su and I went to watch the Strangers. About 5 minutes in, we both suddenly remembered that we hate scary movies and are actually big chickens.

The Plot: James (aka Scott Speedman aka Handsome Handsome from Underworld) and Kristen (aka Liv Tyler aka "Bruuuceee!") are meant to be on a romantic weekend getaway at his family summer home, in the middle of nowhere. Then, three people in masks come and scare the shizz out of them and kill them. That's not a spoiler, you find out in the first scene.

Interesting fact: The poster says inspired by real events, but according to wiki, the plot is fictional, but when the director was a kid there were these burglars in his town who knocked on peoples' doors and if no one was home they stole all their stuff.

The Story: Pretty solid, if really creepy. I mean, we had some common sense issues like "STAY IN THE CLOSET! DON'T GO OUTSIDE!" but that's intrinsic to the scary movie experience. Beat out 'Dead Mary' by miles. If you haven't seen Dead Mary... Don't.

The Cast: Well, Scottie is a hottie, so we are well pleased on that front. The bad guys don't talk much, so there's not much to complain about. Liv did her usual non-acting, which worked very well here. Breathy works well in scaries.

The Dialogue: No noticeably bad and hilarious lines, so that's always a plus.

Admirable: Really shows what good lighting/sound/cinematography can do for a film, because there were really not very many sets and all of ... 8 characters, including the two mormon boys who find the bodies in the beginning.

Lesson Learned: As Rachana and I always wondered, why would anyone live in the middle of no where? Aren't you just asking for a serial killer to come and torment you? And here we discover that the answer is yes, you are indeed inviting danger.

Also, one should learn how to use one of those old radios so that when bad guys cut the phone line and steal your cell batteries, you can make contact.

Yay or nay? As slasher flicks go, this is pretty good. Watch it right before you go on a road trip to your summer home in some oolu destination. Or even better, watch it while you're there.