The 2008 slasher starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman still has the power to make you squirm.
The Strangers – Chapter 2 is hitting theaters soon, continuing the story from the 2024 reboot. The trailer hints at a hospital stalking tale in the vein of 1982’s Halloween II. But it’s hard to imagine any Strangers take ever topping the 2008 original, a brutal slice of home-invasion agony that suggests even the most ruthless evil can be as simple as it is random.
Written and directed by Bryan Bertino, The Strangers is the kind of very-low-budget, high-yield horror flick that studio heads dream about. It also boasts a pretty dreamy cast: Liv Tyler, just a few years past Lord of the Rings, and Scott Speedman, ditto Felicity and Underworld. They’re both excellent in what’s essentially a two-person story—with three masked antagonists chasing them around, of course.
The Strangers opens with a Texas Chain Saw Massacre-style announcement that “what you are about to see was inspired by true events.” We get a brief riff on violent crime in America, a quick stage-setting to introduce the main couple, and a warning that “the brutal events that took place are still not entirely known.” Then, we hear a panicked 911 call from one of the kids who discovers the blood-soaked aftermath of what we’re about to see.
Something dreadful is coming. That much is certain. But The Strangers nudges our thoughts away from that as we settle in with James (Speedman) and Kristen (Tyler), driving in awkward silence. They’ve just left a formal event and you can tell something uncomfortable has happened between them.
At first, it feels like a breakup, but we soon learn—as they pull into an isolated vacation home that belongs to James’ family—that James has proposed marriage and been rejected (“I’m just not ready yet,” Kristen explains). The cabin has been pre-decorated for a celebration that isn’t going to happen. The mood is full of raw sadness, though there are still feelings there, evidenced by a romantic interlude that’s turning steamy just as there’s a very unexpected, very unwelcome knock on the door.
