When it comes to our deepest fears, one near the top is the idea of a stranger breaking into our home. It’s a chilling scenario to comprehend, made all the scarier by the news stories we hear from time to time of actual home invasions. That fear has also made it a perfect avenue for horror films. If the audience is on edge just by the idea of a movie before it even starts, you’ve got a head start. It’s a subgenre that’s been done for decades, from 1967’s Wait Until Dark and In Cold Blood to more recent fare like You’re Next or even Parasite. While those are all good examples, and there are many others, the scariest home invasion film will always be 2008’s The Strangers.
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‘The Strangers’ Finds Its Horror in Real-Life Fears

Image Via Universal Pictures

Much of what makes The Strangers work is its realism. That comes partially from the fact that writer and director Bryan Bertino formed the film based on two true stories, one which is infamous, and the other which is more personal. It’s not a surprise to learn that some of the inspiration come from the Sharon Tate murders in 1969 when her home was invaded and she and several of her friends were murdered by Charles Manson’s cult, a group of people they’d never met. Bertino told Shock Till You Drop in 2008:

“I was thinking about the Tate murders and realizing that these detailed descriptions had painted a story of what it was like in the house with the victims. But none of the victims knew about the Manson family or why it was happening to them. So, I got really fascinated with telling the victims’ tale. And not filling it in with an FBI profile and not filling it in with finding out that somebody’s grandmother beat them and now they want to kill everybody. You read obituaries every day where someone is killed for a random reason. Yes, we may eventually find out why, but sometimes they don’t.”

In a featurette for the DVD release of The Strangers, Bertino also told a personal story from his childhood that always stayed with him.

“That part of the story came to me from a childhood memory. As a kid, I lived in a house on a street in the middle of nowhere. One night, while our parents were out, somebody knocked on the front door and my little sister answered it. At the door were some people asking for somebody that didn’t live there. We later found out that these people were knocking on doors in the area and, if no one was home, breaking into the houses. In The Strangers, the fact that someone is at home does not deter the people who’ve knocked on the front door; it’s the reverse.”

The thought of a group of people purposely entering someone’s home with the intent to kill everyone inside is beyond chilling. The film also taps into our basic fears because, like in his second story, how many of us tense up when there is a knock on our door? We know with 99.9% certainty there is not someone menacing on the other side, but that fear of the unknown, that fear of being invaded, won’t leave us alone. That’s what The Strangers aims to explore.

‘The Strangers’ Gets Under Your Skin With Its Quiet Approach

Image Via Universal Pictures

Unlike other modern home invasion films, The Strangers isn’t big and loud like You’re Next or The Purge. It gets under your skin due to its quiet simplicity. There’s not a large cast or multiple settings. It’s almost like a play. The focus, almost solely, is on a young couple, James Hoyt and Kristen McKey (Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler), coming home late at night, with nothing on their mind but their own personal lives. We stay with them in their home, swallowed up by its shadows, and don’t leave to go anywhere else. Because of this, we feel trapped before the bad guys even show up. There’s no way out. We’re in it with the soon-to-be victims. It makes the viewer feel like an uncomfortable voyeur witnessing something they shouldn’t be seeing. When the villains show up, we have no choice but to stay and watch what happens next.

The Strangers takes an old but new approach to its villains. This isn’t a talkative bunch as we see in The Purge or other more modern films. In fact, they say almost nothing at all. Their silence is maddening. They are calm, taking their time. The first time we meet one of them is when there is a knock at the door. When it’s answered, a young woman with blonde hair, her face hidden in the darkness, nonchalantly asks, “Is Tamara home?” There is no Tamara there. They know that. This woman has only knocked on the door just to mess with their targets before the real fun begins.

It’s a slow-burn nightmare after that, but one that begins with a jolt when Kristen is standing in her kitchen. Unbeknownst to her, a man in a mask slowly walks into the room behind her and watches her. He might as well be Michael Myers. There are no tricks involved or loud music or quick cuts to make us jump. In fact, the scene is still and quiet. We just stay with Kristen for a few minutes while the mask haunts the edges. It’s so effective because the only thing scarier than someone breaking into our home is someone breaking in but we don’t know that they are there. Bertino treats the plot like it’s real life rather than a film. The fact that The Strangers takes its time, winding up the jack-in-the-box slowly, making us squirm, is its best trait. When all the villains are revealed, showing us a man, a woman, and a younger blonde woman all wearing masks, everything kicks into full gear, but we’ve already been scared to death before it got to this point. The fear of the unknown and what Bertino isn’t showing us already has us terrified.

The Lack of Motive Gives ‘The Strangers’ Its Most Chilling Twist

What happens throughout the second and most of the third act is what you’d typically find in a home invasion film, with the villains attacking, the victims fighting back, each getting the upper hand for a time. Finally, the masked strangers win the battle and tie Kristen and James to chairs. What happens next is the most quotable moment of the film. Kristen wants to know why this is happening. The blonde woman simply replies, “Because you were home.” That one sentence is just as terrifying as anything that came before it. These invaders have no motive. They don’t care about their victims. This isn’t about vengeance. This isn’t about robbery like Wait Until Dark or In Cold Blood. We can’t watch this film and think, “Well, this scenario couldn’t happen to me,” because Bertino shows that it could happen to anyone anytime just because.

That traumatizing reveal leads to a hopeless ending. The strangers take off their masks. Showing their faces — which ultimately means that our victims are not making it out of there alive. Our protagonists are attacked, with James killed and Kristen left for dead. The strangers then leave as calmly as they arrived. As they drive away in their truck, we hear them speaking, with one villain telling another, “It’ll be easier next time.” These killers are just beginning and still learning, and they’re sure to strike again. As we’ve seen, no one is safe. Anyone could be their next target.

The film is so effective, becoming one of modern horror’s scariest entries, that for years, genre fans clamored for a sequel. We finally got it a full decade later with The Strangers: Prey at Night. While the setup was still similar, with these three masked strangers attacking again, the sequel couldn’t recapture what had come before. It’s more of a traditional slasher, louder and faster, with bigger jump scares and more thrilling chase scenes. It became the type of horror film we’re used to. The Strangers was something else. It aimed to be more than a movie. It was an exploration of our deepest fear, a home invasion movie that truly invades the viewer.

Time will only tell if the upcoming remake will capture the same sense of fear and dread. The remake is set to star Riverdale’s Madelaine Petch and Froy Gutierrez. It will be directed by Renny Harlin who helmed Deep Blue Sea, Die Hard 2, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.