I have had a soft spot for this movie for years. It just seems to hit the right notes. Frustration over the protagonists actions without being ridiculous. A slow build... love that. Antagonists that aren't supernatural. A total lack of teen douchebags you just want to see die. Decent acting. Well done visuals - gritty and real feeling. The premise of violence for no real good reason combined with the regret and emotional strife of the main characters make this a truly scary film.

Unfortunately I fell into the latter. I am late to the party having never watched it before but wanted to get an idea of what it was about before seeing The Strangers: Prey at Night. I honestly couldn't get on board with the two, miserable main characters and the pace, intended to build suspense; just built boredom in me. When the killers did make their prescence known it still didn't really amount to much. The main chunk of the film I watched in 2x speed just to get it over with quickly. Everything seems to happen slowly, solid 10-20 second shots of the sad female character standing at the porch. Another 30 seconds of the downtrodden male character breathing heavily and creeping to the obviously battered car. Maybe the scenes didn't last that long but I just got so bored throughout it felt like forever. Many would have turned off I guess but I wanted to get to the end in case the sequel had any ties.When it did finally reach its dull climax I almost felt happy for the couple. They apparently lived such sad and somber lives that it felt like they were being put out of their misery. An act of mercy from the killers to both the couple and the audience putting and end to their lives and this film.

I expected nothing from this movie but it really surprised me. The relationship between the two characters to begin with is very well done which works well for the film. The are a lot of creepy bits in this film to keep us entertained. If you want a happy ending you have come to the wrong place!

It's wrong for me to watch this at night with the lights off and the windows open. The story is frightening, mainly because the story is realistic. It's one of human's biggest fears: to be invaded. That's why locks are invented.The story starts uninteresting. After a wedding reception they attended, a beautiful couple goes home, located at the middle of nowhere. Some dialogues here and there, flashbacks on why they're both upset. And then the tension starts with a knock, Liv Tyler's character is alone, she's vulnerable and frightened. You can feel the suspense, the tension, your heart racing because of the unknown.That's it, it's pretty suspenseful, really. On other aspects, this film is average. The characterization is not very good, but then, in movies like this, the filmmakers do not give much thought about characters as they focus more on the suspense and frightening parts. The story is too simple and quite unimaginative. Yes, it's suspenseful, especially at the beginning. But that's it. No "I didn't see that coming" moments. There are also overused elements in horror films that are used here, especially at the climax scenes, making the movie quite predictable and tiresome at some parts. The ending is not very good.Well, I can say that The Strangers did not fail to terrify me, at least for a while. But it's not really a memorable one. Try watching this in the dark at 2 am.