In a superbly lit and edited (and totally wordless) 10-minute sequence, Kristen comes to realize that she isn’t alone in the house, although the situation gets confirmed for the audience before the character. His reasoning is unconvincing but the filmmaking that follows is impossible to argue with. guest disappears to drive into town for some cigarettes. In what may be the script’s only truly implausible contrivance, James picks the moment that the 4 a.m. She does and she doesn’t, because it’s that tingle of random, arbitrary violence-the kind that arrives out of nowhere-that gives The Strangers its narrative and thematic shape. She’s told that she’s got the wrong house. The visitor’s face is shrouded in darkness. Tyler’s anxious guilt and Speedman’s depressed chivalry combine for a genuinely melancholy tension, which gets broken by an unexpected knock at the door. He does great work with his actors, who give wonderfully natural, felt performances. Instead of loudly evoking the grindhouse style of the ’70s, a la Roth or Rob Zombie, Bertino conjures up the decade (and its horror movie legacy) in the cozily retrograde textures of the house itself, which essentially takes us back in time without actually making the film a period piece. This might seem like a deep dive into detail, but it’s the slow accrual of small, deceptively off-hand images-a tub of ice cream on the kitchen table a red record on an old phonograph-that gives The Strangers its eerie but authentic sense of atmosphere. A shot of rose petals in the bathtub becomes an emblem of dashed hopes. “It’s really nice, everything you did, it’s beautiful,” she says, observing the romantic preparations around them at his family’s summer home. A flashback explains that, earlier that evening, James had proposed to Kristen at their friends’ wedding and she had said no. The signal changes to green and the car drives on, but their mournful expressions don’t change. We first see James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) sitting side by side in their car, their faces in the deep red glow of a traffic light. He also gives his protagonists a memorable introduction. Except that it’s also expertly staged, impressively ruthless, and-at least for me-really about something, even if that something ends up being the chilling nothing-in-particular alluded to by the masked murderess to her victim. Released in 2008 amid a deluge of stylishly deranged French, Japanese, and Korean imports, as well as a healthy flow of post-Eli Roth torture porn, Bryan Bertino’s debut looked pretty generic upon arrival, even by the standards of genre fare: another faux-authentic urban legend (“What you are about to see is inspired by true events” lies the opening title card) about a good-looking couple being stalked by a gang of killers. A sequel, The Strangers: Prey at Night, opens this weekend. They’re not quite the final lines of the film, but they’re the last word on why it’s endured while so many horror titles of the same early-21st-century vintage have not. A much underrated gem, Empire Records is great entertainment despite its flaws.This exchange from The Strangers has stuck with me for 10 years. Very enjoyable and original, this film is much better than most of teen comedies of today. ![]() There's some stand out moments in this film, though far from the teen comedies of the 80's, Empire Records is still a film worth seeing. If you love a smart teen comedy, Empire Records is the one. This film is good, with gags, a good story and really stands out. This film proves once again that mainstream critics are too quick to judge. Empire Records deserves much more praise than it received. I thought that this film was very entertaining from start to finish. This is a fun film to watch, one that is well crafted and with a cast of talented actors, it really makes this one a stand out film. ![]() The cast is wonderful, and though flawed Empire Records works well enough and is much better than most teen comedy flicks of today. This is a classic film, one that remains relevant over a decade after its release. ![]() I felt that this film was underrated, and it didn't deserve all the negative reviews it has received. There are some very good comedic elements that make this comedy stand out among others in the genre. Empire Records is one of the best Teen comedies that I've seen. The cast do a great joke, and their characters are likeable. This is a comedy that stands out, and is still a film worth seeing again and again. The story is quite simple, yet kit works.
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