The Strangers

The 2008 offerings once more walk among us.
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sherbetbizarre
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Post by sherbetbizarre »

...it's in the trailer too :roll:
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Post by Khouri »

I didn’t really enjoy this one. I admit that it did make me jump (quite a bit) but it felt a bit cheap in the sense that the only way it could achieve scaring people was to make loud noises and have things jump out of the darkness. This just made it a little bit unoriginal for me. It wasn’t a bad film, but it just wasn’t one that stood out.
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Post by Girl Serial Killer »

For me, this was the only film I felt was a complete waste of time. I'd have called it a poor man's Funny Games but somebody already drew the comparison. My problem with it was the stalking taking up so much of the film, I just got bored. When they're finally tied up in the chairs it all seemed to end in a matter of a few minutes. And I found the Carrie style ending ridiculous.
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EvilAsh
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Post by EvilAsh »

I really didnt like this one, the camera shaking was annoying
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Post by rickjames »

"What you are about to see is inspired by true events. According to the FBI, there are an estimated 1.4 million violent crimes in America each year. On the night of February 11, 2005, Kristen McKay and James Hoyt left a friend's wedding reception and returned to the Hoyt family's summer home. The brutal events that took place there are still not entirely known. So basically we pretty much made all of this up, cos we forgot to interview the nice lady who woke up screaming at a mormon kid at the end."

Apart from the dumb voice over at the beginning, I really liked this. Ok so it's not original, as a blatant, slicker American version of Ils, but it managed to creep me out. The jump scares were unnecessary but effective (most of the time - and there were definitely too many of them).

It was basically an hour long creepy stalking sequence, which on paper should fail miserably, but was shot with a very patient and gorgeously lit style, with a fantastic score from tomandandy which is rightly taking a lot of the credit for the film.

Nice to see a film spend some time taking care of mobile phones, as opposed to most horrors: oh darn, I've got no signal, and you're out of battery. At least in this one she tried to charge her phone.
Reanimator
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Post by Reanimator »

This looked like it would be a copy of 'Them' but it wasn't and played really well - very enjoyable!
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Post by maxmum »

I thought it was exactly like the first half of 'Them' but I still really enjoyed it, made me jump quite a bit.
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Post by Gungrave »

I'm in the minority here....I loved it.

The tension, setting and teasing were nicely balanced. It had a few Americanisms like sign-posting a jump with the framing etc but apart from that I was enthralled and did really jump a few times.

Your sympathies for the leads came and went, but for a Hollywood effort it was way above par!
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Post by Tragedygirl »

Phew ... I was worried I was gonna be the only one to have enjoyed this!! Yeah, it wasnt great but found some of the scenes pretty chilling ... the first scene where you can see the man in the mask appear behind her in the distant darkness was almost pant wettingly scary!! The use of the masks on the villians I thought was really good and added to the scariness ... which made the final scenes for me, when they took those masks off awful coz you knew the victims had no hope.

"Why are you doing this to us?"

"Because you were home"

Scary stuff!!

I havent seen funny games, but have seen Them and did think it would be similar to the later, but it wasnt.

The film did have a hollywoody feel, but had some genuine scares and yes She did actually try to charge up her phone!!
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The Soapmaker
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Post by The Soapmaker »

I'm glad to see some other people who liked it have appeared in the last few posts! :)
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Post by lupogirl »

I really enjoyed this one. Tension building, great use of sound and those masks!! Really eerie looking.

There were a odd few times I wanted to strangle Liv Tyler myself! Her going into that shed and not pick up a weapon!

Great bleak ending. No explanation and you don't see the faces. Which I find unsettling.
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kay_taylor
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Post by kay_taylor »

I have to say, I found this bloody terrifying. I'm so glad the reproduction of the poster in the programme was so small I couldn't see the man in the mask, as that moment nearly made me die of fright. Masks are creepy!
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Post by AndyJWS »

It's one that doesn't really stand up to much thought after watching (especially with the blatant lie in the opening text "we don't know what happened" - what, the woman still alive couldn't tell you anything?) but is slick and effective while it's going. Totally agreed with streetrw about the poster though - as bad as the poster made for One Hour Photo that gives away the major twist in the film which if memory serves Alan wouldn't allow to be shown in full outside the Prince Charles at Frightfest 2002 until after it had shown?
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Post by soulmining »

I thought this was surprisingly good... yes, it's a glossy Hollywood version of Them but there's room for a few big studio flicks in FF (I loved Disturbia last year!) and it was well put together. Certainly made me jump more than any other film this festival!
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scrobble
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Post by scrobble »

Like several others, I did think it was a bit too much like Ils to really work for me, although I think it was a good attempt and nice to see something Hollywoody where the horror isn't all CGI ghosts etc.

It was creepier when the girl kept knocking on the door and asking 'is Tamara there?' but didn't have her mask on - unfortunately I didn't find the masks scary at all, the guy's one was like a cross between the bandaged face in Time Crimes, the sackcloth mask in The Orphanage, and 3 pairs of old Y fronts sewn together.
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