Despite a fairly unimaginative title and promotion, this is a gem of a film. In fact, its unassuming marketing suits the small-town mystery of its story. It concerns the plight of drifter Martin (Cristobal Tapia Montt) who, having finally found that his missing wife is dead, also seems resigned to die at the hands of three local roughnecks who accost him. If only things were that simple.Co-produced by Eli Roth, this is a bleak affair, but one that moves at such a pace there is no real time to become really mournful. Every rapidly moving occurrence is explained fully and there are no gaping plot-holes. The local Lieutenant De Luca (Luis Gnecco) is probably the least easy to believe in – which is saying something, considering the breed of characters he shares the stage with – because he is so blatantly evil. With his bravado brutality (a trait he seems to have passed onto his son, Ariel Levy's vile Caleb), you would have thought his actions would have been discovered and he would have been drummed out of the force a long time ago.Due to his nature, Martin is equally brutal in his determination not to let his 'infection' spread, and yet he emerges as a true hero, alongside the faithful young Peter (Nicolás Durán) with whom an unsaid degree of trust has been formed. I am carefully trying to avoid spoilers with this, because there are so many twists and revelations that to reveal any one of them would undermine the experience of watching this hugely enjoyable, rather overlooked film.

'THE STRANGER': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)Horror flick from writer/director Guillermo Amoedo, and producers Eli Roth and Nicolas Lopez (the three also worked together on 'AFTERSHOCK', 'THE GREEN INFERNO' and 'KNOCK KNOCK'). This film tells the story of a mysterious stranger, with a deadly disease, who comes to town looking for his wife; but death and chaos follows him. The movie stars Cristobal Tapia Montt, Nicolás Durán, Luis Gnecco, Ariel Levy, Alessandra Guerzoni, Lorenza Izzo and Aaron Burns. It's an interesting and well made vampire drama flick.Martin (Tapia Montt) comes back home, to a small town, looking for his wife, Ana (Izzo). Instead he finds trouble, in the form of a gang of violent hooligans. Martin is attacked, and left for dead, by the criminals; but a young man, named Peter (Durán), comes to his rescue. A police officer, named Lieutenant De Luca (Gnecco), is the father of one of the gang members; and he's used to covering up his son's crimes. The Lieutenant is extremely troubled by the presence of this mysterious stranger. When the townsfolk learn what Martin's blood can do, things become even more crazy; and violent.The movie takes it's time getting going, but it's worth the wait. It's not full of excessive gore, like a lot of vampire flicks, but it's got enough action and thrills, to keep most viewers entertained. All of the performances are decent enough, and Amoedo does a more than adequate job directing. I look forward to seeing more from him, and the Roth/Lopez/Amoedo team, in the future!Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/rHh87mlE5WQ

I'm ticking the spoiler box because I'm going to call this a vampire movie.Usually I would say, "hey, everyone knows this is a vampire movie, there's no need to tick the box" but this is not an obvious vampire movie.This is not some teen romp where vampires fall in love with humans because everyone is so very pretty (Thank God!!) Someone had mentioned "near dark" in a previous review and I can slightly concur. It has that tainted reality feel to it that "Near Dark" has, though it has been literally decades since I saw that movie.It's gritty and it's violent. When they hit each other, you wince, you really feel it. Actually, this is one of my few gripes for the film, as I'm getting older I'm enjoying less and less violence in movies and the violence in this movie really stands out.It's a slow moving- half of the people will say "Oh yeah a vampire movie" right from the start while the other half will go *Oh, it's a Vampire movie?" right towards the end. (Unless they read this that is)I have to say this though, what a horrible place to live. Looks pretty with the mountains and all but everyone is a complete prick.

From executive producers Nicolas Lopez and Eli Roth, The Stranger marks the English language debut of writer/director Guillermo Amoedo. The Uruguay native is better known for his Spanish language movies filmed in Chile. With The Stranger, Amoedo and company continue their tradition of working in Chile, but have decided to give this horror/thriller more of an American flavor. The story takes place in a small, normally quiet town where teen misfit Peter (Nicolas Duran) lives with his mother Monica (Alessandra Guerzoni). When a mysterious man (Cristobal Tapia Montt) comes into town seeking Peter and Monica's former friend Ana (Lorenza Izzo), the once quiet municipality undergoes a violent and bloody transformation. With outstanding acting and solid writing and direction, The Stranger is an intriguing and mysterious thriller that also deliciously serves its audience some horror goods as well. Never going too over-the-top, Amoedo builds up the suspense slowly and effectively and unleashes the wicked and frightening moments sparingly, but effectively. The movie doesn't bring much new to the genre, but still makes an impact with some awe-inspiring moments, and superb performances from the cast. Nicolas Duran, who makes his film debut here, deserves high praise for delivering such an exceptional performance.