The Strangers (Dir: Bryan Bertino)

We are living in a time of dread. The economy is highly unstable. We are fighting two wars. Pensions are disappearing, new housing developments sit empty, and our jobs are cutting back hours, benefits. We are aware that our institutions, homes, and places of business are are vulnerable to collapse. The Strangers taps into this existential dread and channels it into an effective, disturbing, and very sad tale of home invasion. It also gave me nightmares for weeks.

You may have had the feeling while watching horror films that they are not exactly scary. Freddy Krueger has not scared anyone since he left Elm Street. Jason and Michael Myers are such indestructible super men as to render them only scary to the very young. The films these bogeymen occupy are gore delivery devices. A true horror film takes the mundane and adds real evil. A true horror film plays like a nightmare and makes you believe that "yeah, this could happen. And it could happen to me." The Strangers is a true horror film.

The film, similar in execution and premise to the recent French import Them, tells the story of two young lovers (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) who have their vacation home invaded by three anonymous souls who seemingly have no motive other than to terrorize. The Strangers is calculated and careful. It's a sleekly crafted, but sad story. The final scenes are so brutal and uncompromising, though not especially gory, that you are more likely to be left in despair than frightened.

I admire The Strangers for its execution, but it is a horrific tale without hope. This film stares into the abyss and sees weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hell is not somewhere else. It's right here.