Ah, summer. A season of overblown budgets and extravagant productions. For movie goers everywhere, this three and a half month stretch is what they have waited for all year. So as always, the prediction for this summer is: Hollywood makes oodles of money. Over these next few months, this column will be examining the phenomena of counter programming and how well it stacks up to the popcorn flick of the week.
Rating:
About two months ago, I finally got a chance to catch Them (Ils), which was definitely one of the best genre films I’ve seen in a while. It gave me that palm-sweating, tension wrought film I’ve been waiting a while for (can’t even remember the last time I could’ve complimented a film as such) while having strong performances and having a great style. After watching Them, the first thing that popped into my mind was, “Whatever happened to that Strangers flick? That’s a remake of this, right?”
It’s true, these two films are basically the same. I’d be hard pressed to find someone that couldn’t see that, let alone feel that they were both inspired by the same “true story.” And while I do feel Them is a far better film all around, that doesn’t leave The Strangers without its merits.
The Strangers is set to drop at the end of May. It stars Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman and was written and directed by Bryan Bertino. Since cutting a movie promo is an art unto itself I know I should by cynical, but this one brought me up short. I heard the final lines spoken on the trailer, where Liv Tyler’s character asks someone why they’re “doing this to us,” and a woman’s voice answers, “Because you were home,” and I wanted to hope. I wanted to believe that someone could finally bring back the psycho thriller in an original and genuinely scary way. Here is the trailer, more information after the jump.
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