Overall, The Strangers is an extremely effective horror film that is kept from greatness by a misfire ending. It's absolutely worth the watch if only for the extreme freak-out moments.
Now, let's discuss the DVD. It's light on special features. It only contains deleted scenes and a featurette called "The Elements of Terror." I would have hoped for a bit more. They are billing the disc as two movies in one. I guess this is because the theatrical and the unrated version of the film is on one disc. The unrated version is two minutes longer than the theatrical. Honestly, I didn't watch the theatrical version so I can't tell you what the difference was but I can say that it can't be that different. The unrated version isn't particularly gory so I don't really know what they are referring to. Movies like the Saw series are ten times as gory as The Strangers and they're rated R. This new trend of unrated versions seems more like an excuse to double-dip than an actual artistic choice. Thankfully, with this disc you get both versions together for the same price.
Halloween is next week so if you're looking for a good horror movie to watch with your friends, The Strangers certainly fits the bill. It's not a perfect movie by any means but its the step us horror fans were waiting for to start bringing horror back to being scary and not pandering to teenagers with money in their pockets. Check it out.
Just make sure you keep your doors locked.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments