He introduces his characters, then introduces the terror, and wraps everything up in under 90 minutes, knowing there's only so long this movie can go. And for a rookie director, he shows a lot more restraint than you'd think.
But the ending is really deflating, and because their moves are impossible to track and in some cases even explain, you get the very real sense that the masked psychopaths in are steeped in ninja training or something, which allows your disbelief to overtake your suspension of disbelief.
Having said that, The Strangers is still a pretty solid genre picture, it's just not a great one, and in a genre not known for greatness in the first place, that puts a fairly low ceiling on this.
The Strangers
Starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman
Directed by Bryan Bertino
Rated R
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