James Hoyt and Kristen McKay visit an isolated vacation home to enjoy some time together. However, they are in for a rude surprise when three masked assailants make their stay a nightmare.James Hoyt and Kristen McKay visit an isolated vacation home to enjoy some time together. However, they are in for a rude surprise when three masked assailants make their stay a nightmare.James Hoyt and Kristen McKay visit an isolated vacation home to enjoy some time together. However, they are in for a rude surprise when three masked assailants make their stay a nightmare.
- Awards
- 1 win & 15 nominations
Nick Barghini
- Joe - Lumberjack
- (uncredited)
Shawn McClellan
- Shawn the Bartender
- (uncredited)
Jordan Orr
- Jordan - 911 caller
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was shot entirely with hand-held cameras or steady cams. Every shot has some camera movement.
- GoofsKristen trips over some chairs, but in a later scene they are up again. The strangers move objects around to confuse victims, so the chairs may have been intentional.
- Alternate versionsThe unrated version is over two minutes longer than the theatrical version which includes one additional scene of Kristen, after being stabbed and left for dead, is crawling on the floor of the house to reach Mike's ringing cell phone, only to have it ring off before she can answer it. Then the Man in the Mask appears again, takes the phone away from her, and walks out the front door with it, leaving Kristen dying on the floor.
- SoundtracksSprout and The Bean
Written by Joanna Newsom
Performed by Joanna Newsom
Courtesy of Drag City Records
By Arrangement with Bank Robber Music
Featured review
'The Strangers' are a little TOO scary...
We all know the plot: young couple, isolated vacation home, people in masks. Yet from the start of 'The Strangers' it's clear that this film is a different. In today's bloodthirsty society, horror films are often reduced to nothing more than gore-filled gross-out fests. While many young teens may rejoice at such films, many of us still long for original, suspenseful, and, yes, terrifying horror movies. 'The Strangers' came so close.
There is plenty here to recommend: Director Bryan Bertino shows himself to be a patient and smart director. Rather than going for just cheap thrills, he wisely builds tension up to near-breaking point. The feeling of suspense and dread that covers the whole film is classic. Both Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman do well in their leading roles, and the strangers themselves are things of pure terror... yet that's where the film loses some of its commendation. The strangers at times seem that they can't possibly be human because they are made to be almost supernatural in their abilities. They appear and disappear seemingly at will and instantly- a power the young couple probably wished they had but don't because they are, after all, HUMANS. It's a simple mistake used to give the audience one of those cheap thrills that were otherwise so wisely avoided. What makes it sad is that in every other aspect, 'The Strangers' is chillingly realistic and terrifyingly possible. Every time those strangers come and go like ghosts of some kind, it makes the audience sit back once more and say, 'Ah, well, it's just a movie." That's too bad.
Still, 'The Strangers' is much better than your average horror fare. It's at last a new movie that realizes what you don't show can be even more scary than what you do. Still, one hopes that Mr. Bertino can touch up the mistakes from this film and , and deliver a really great horror movie next time around. 7/10 stars! Jay Addison
There is plenty here to recommend: Director Bryan Bertino shows himself to be a patient and smart director. Rather than going for just cheap thrills, he wisely builds tension up to near-breaking point. The feeling of suspense and dread that covers the whole film is classic. Both Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman do well in their leading roles, and the strangers themselves are things of pure terror... yet that's where the film loses some of its commendation. The strangers at times seem that they can't possibly be human because they are made to be almost supernatural in their abilities. They appear and disappear seemingly at will and instantly- a power the young couple probably wished they had but don't because they are, after all, HUMANS. It's a simple mistake used to give the audience one of those cheap thrills that were otherwise so wisely avoided. What makes it sad is that in every other aspect, 'The Strangers' is chillingly realistic and terrifyingly possible. Every time those strangers come and go like ghosts of some kind, it makes the audience sit back once more and say, 'Ah, well, it's just a movie." That's too bad.
Still, 'The Strangers' is much better than your average horror fare. It's at last a new movie that realizes what you don't show can be even more scary than what you do. Still, one hopes that Mr. Bertino can touch up the mistakes from this film and , and deliver a really great horror movie next time around. 7/10 stars! Jay Addison
Helpful•207149
- jaddison383
- Jul 22, 2008
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Sprache
- Also known as
- Los extraños
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $9,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $52,597,610
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $20,997,985
- Jun 1, 2008
- Gross worldwide
- $82,410,456
- Runtime1 hour 26 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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![Liv Tyler and Kip Weeks in The Strangers (2008)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTkxODAyODMwNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzk5Nzk2MQ@@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)