The Strangers (2008)

The Strangers is a 2008 home-invasion horror film by Bryan Bertino in which three masked intruders terrorize a couple at an isolated house.

At a Glance

Field	Details
Release	May 30, 2008 (United States and Canada); August 29, 2008 (United Kingdom)
Director	Bryan Bertino
Writer	Bryan Bertino
Stars	Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, Laura Margolis, Glenn Howerton
Runtime	86 minutes
Rating	R
Budget	$9 million
Box office	About $82.4 million

Overview

In February 2005, James Hoyt and Kristen McKay arrive at his family’s isolated summer home after a friend’s wedding. The night has already gone wrong: at the reception, James proposed and Kristen turned him down. Late that night, as the couple sit in uneasy silence, there is a knock at the door. A young woman on the porch asks if Tamara is home. James tells her she has the wrong house, and she leaves.

That simple question returns again and again through the night. When James drives off to buy cigarettes, the young woman comes back, and Kristen begins to realize someone is already inside the house. Three masked figures, later identified as Dollface, Pin-Up Girl and the Man in the Mask, play with the couple, slashing the car’s tires, taking Kristen’s phone and appearing silently in the background of shots. Bertino builds dread from stillness, silence and figures standing just at the edge of the frame, in the tradition of Halloween. The cruelty feels random, which is exactly what makes it so frightening.

Production

Bertino wrote the script, originally titled The Faces, after film school at the University of Texas at Austin. It was the third screenplay he had written. He said it was inspired by the Manson family’s Tate murders and by a series of break-ins in his neighborhood when he was a child. The script reached the quarterfinals of the Nicholl Fellowship, and Universal bought it in November 2004. Justin Lin and then Mark Romanek were attached to direct, but when Romanek left, Universal’s subsidiary Rogue Pictures asked Bertino to direct it himself despite his lack of experience.

Liv Tyler accepted the role of Kristen after reading the script on a flight from Japan, and said she connected with it because her stepfather, Todd Rundgren, had survived a violent home invasion. Filming began on October 10, 2006, outside Florence, South Carolina, with the house’s interior built by the set crew and styled after 1970s ranch homes. It was largely shot in chronological order.

Cast

Liv Tyler as Kristen McKay
Scott Speedman as James Hoyt
Gemma Ward as Dollface
Kip Weeks as Man in the Mask
Laura Margolis as Pin-Up Girl
Glenn Howerton as Mike

Reception

The Strangers opened at number three with $21 million and became a sleeper hit, grossing about $82.4 million worldwide on a $9 million budget. Reviews were divided. Rotten Tomatoes lists 50 percent approval from 167 reviews, Metacritic’s score is 47 out of 100, and CinemaScore audiences gave it a B minus. Roger Ebert gave it one and a half stars out of four, and NPR called it “a sadistic, unmotivated home-invasion flick,” while others praised its atmosphere and suspense. Tyler won Best Horror Actress at the Scream Awards, and the film was nominated for Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards. It has since become a cult favorite, leading to The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018) and a new trilogy beginning with The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024). For another relentless rural nightmare, see The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Spoiler: The Ending

James’s friend Mike arrives to pick him up, and James, mistaking him for an intruder, shoots him dead. James tries to reach an old radio transmitter in the garage but is knocked unconscious, and Kristen watches Pin-Up Girl smash the radio. At dawn, the couple wake tied to chairs in the living room. Kristen asks why they are doing this, and Dollface replies, “Because you were home.” The strangers remove their masks and take turns stabbing the couple. Driving away, they pass two boys handing out Mormon religious tracts, and Pin-Up Girl says, “It will be easier next time.” The boys find the bodies, and as one leans in, Kristen suddenly grabs his hand and screams.