The StrangersMovie Reviews

Poster art for "The Strangers."

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 47 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    The New York Times | Jeannette Catsoulis

    This is no splatter movie: spare, suspenseful and brilliantly invested in silence, Bryan Bertino's debut feature unfolds in a slow crescendo of intimidation. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen

    A spare, creepily atmospheric psychological thriller with a death grip on the psychological aspect. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Dennis Harvey

    It's all efficiently nerve-jangling, with Tyler and Speedman credibly registering every hue of panic. Still, after such a long, creepy, cannily restrained buildup, it must be said the resolution is rather flat, a full-circle postscript rote. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Bryan Bertino, stages The Strangers' early scenes with spooky panache...But then comes the blood, the shrieking midnight chase scenes, the anything-goes over-the-top-ness. In other words, everything that we liked the movie for not being. Read full review

  • 60
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    Bertino does an excellent job building dread, especially during the first half of the movie. Every silence, pause and sudden noise startles - and the results, frankly, are more frightening than the graphic torture scenes in movies like "Hostel" and "Saw." Read full review

  • 38
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The movie deserves more stars for its bottom-line craft, but all the craft in the world can't redeem its story. Read full review

  • 25
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    No one is getting at anything in The Strangers, except the cheapest, ugliest kind of sadistic titillation. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Here's the tricky thing about The Strangers. Sure, it uses cinema to ends that are objectionable and vile ... but it does it well, with more than usual skill. Read full review

  • 20
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    I like watching snakes eat mice just as much as the next fella, maybe even more, but The Strangers turns the gobble-'em-up into an ordeal. It's a fraud from start to finish. Read full review

  • 12
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    A horror film with a moral. No matter how nasty a gang of murderers is, the moviemaker calling the shots is ultimately worse. Read full review

View more reviews for The Strangers on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids Spooky horror film has both tension and gore.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that plenty of blood is spilled in this grisly, tense, very scary horror movie. Characters are stabbed, beaten, and shot, often very graphically. That said, unlike many others in the horror genre, the film doesn't sexualize its terror, and the characters in peril aren't just sacrificial lambs -- the filmmakers make you care about them. Some teens who aren't necessarily gung-ho horror fans may be drawn in by stars Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman -- but even though the film is well-made and, by the standards of the genre, "tasteful," there's still plenty of shocking violence and high-strung tension (not to mention some swearing, drinking, and smoking), making it better suited for older viewers with strong nerves.
  • Families can talk about what makes a "good" horror film and what makes a "bad" one? Why do we seek out the artificially induced sense of apprehension and stress that horror films offer us? Why is it so much fun to be scared at the movies? Also, many horror films depict random grisly crimes -- do you think these movies reflect the reality of violent crime, or do they create (and possibly perpetuate) myths and misperceptions?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Villains terrorize their victims randomly, just because they're there.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Beatings, stabbings, and shootings, with plenty of suspense building up to each violent act. Each act is shown in full, along with the grim aftermath. Extensive physical peril, copious amounts of blood, brief-yet-graphic shots of grievously wounded and dead bodies. People are beaten senseless then dragged; characters are shown with wounds and injuries; characters are repeatedly stabbed onscreen while tied and helpless.
  • sex false0 Sex: Characters kiss, with the suggestion that they're about to have sex (underthings are removed, pants unbuckled) ... before other events intrude on the mood.
  • language false3 Language: Language includes a few non-sexual uses of "f--k," plus "bitch" and "sucks."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: No prominent brands/products.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters drink champagne and beer; Tyler's character smokes cigarettes.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

The Strangers Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

So-so 12,443 fan reviews

Critics say

So-so See all critic reviews

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