Going into The Strangers, I knew two things. First, this was director Bryan Bertino's first major film so I couldn't expect too much. More importantly, though, I felt I was in for a scary movie that was going to stay away from the genre's traditional problems. The preview gave me a sense of fear and I hadn't even seen the film. A good preview is always a great sign for a potentially equally good movie. I was most definitely wrong.

The Strangers started off pretty slow, but has glimpses of a realistic feel that may add to the fear later. So, I remained hopeful. As time progressed I couldn't help but notice how far Liv Tyler's beauty has fallen since her frolicking with Ben Affleck in Armageddon. She was nothing perfect, but undoubtedly a good looking woman. She's just another lady now, but this helped create a more realistic feel to the scary flick. The most important factor of The Strangers was the stress created between the situation that happens before the movie begins. Beginning just after a "wrong answer" proposal situation, there are problems in the McKay house. Suddenly, our "villains" begin wreaking havoc. The rest of the movie is simply a meaningless barrage of jumpy moments. Sure, it gives you that roller-coaster sensation and makes your heart rate speed up, but beyond that it serves no purpose. The "strangers" have no real motivation or style to their actions. It's just a bore of repetitive "BOO" scenes and main characters running around the backyard instead of towards the main road. Slowly, The Strangers became your typical scary movie. But again, here we have no purpose. No meaning. No reason to care at all for anything that happens.

Of course the ending caps off one of the worst scary movies I've seen in quite some time. After no real plot movement at all, the movie just ends. And "like a young man coming in for a quickie, I felt so....unsatisfied."I genuinely wasted a solid hour and a half of my life that will never come back. But thankfully, I had more movies to see on this luxurious day off. Our next movie review will be much better...

         out of 5 trophies