To sum up my review for the film, Ils… It was incredibly suspenseful, despite its lack of any sort of story or basic plot. I also had my gripes with the ending. The film, however, was a success in my eyes, regardless of these flaws, thanks to the incredibly atmospheric direction from the films two directors. The Strangers seems like an Americanized reworking of the French film's basic premise, however the screenplay is credited to director Brian Bertino, inspired loosely by an both the Keddie Cabin murders of 1981 (information can be found here), and some strange events from his childhood. The films are so similar that I will credit The Strangers as being nothing more than an inferior ‘knock-off' of Moreau & Palud's film. I use the term ‘knock-off', because of the films neglect to cite the French film as an inspiration. If this is not the case, and The Strangers is not inspired by Ils in some way, than I apologize to Brian Bertino, but I highly doubt that is the case.

The Strangers does nothing to establish any sort of plot, and its only attempt at characterization is in explaining to us that our two central characters are a couple, and she's recently declined his marriage proposal. The film also replaces any sort of suspense with blatant attempts to shock. The result is, simply put, not good.

The film not only lacks originality, and even the simplest storyline, yet it also fails in its most abecedarian aspects. You can rest assured that if there is the potential for something to jump out and scare you, director Bryan Bertino (who hasn't written or directed anything previous, to my knowledge) will seize that opportunity. The result is a number of shock sequences, which are terribly ineffective thanks to their obvious approach. These sequences are telegraphed so far in advance that they never really succeed in frightening the audience. This is strike one.

The films second significant flaw is drawn from a direct comparison to Ils. The antagonists who terrorize our central characters in The Strangers are identified individually by their masks. We know early on that there are three villains menacing our not so happy couple. Ils generates a significant amount of suspense simply from the fact that the central characters are threatened by someone(s) that remains unseen for the greater part of the film, and when they are revealed they are indistinguishable from one another leaving us to wonder how many people are involved. It's significantly more effective than Bertino's film. Strike two.

Unfortunately, the final nail in The Strangers coffin is Liv Tyler's inability to convey even the slightest bit of believable emotion throughout the film. The threat of violence is rarely believable, and Tyler's character only distances us from the proceedings, making the movie seem exactly that… a movie. For a horror movie to be considered a genuinely good film, it must blur that line of disbelief, and draw us in with credible acting and directing. The acting is never strong enough to blur that line.

With that being said, Bertino has crafted a few unsettling sequences throughout the film, mostly with the help of his Director of Photography Peter Sova. There are some impressive visual touches that are certainly to the films benefit, but it's hardly enough to salvage the film. In addition to the above flaws the film introduces characters that are of no benefit to the plot, and exist only to be killed in a somewhat graphic fashion. The ending is also no better than Ils, it is far too abrupt, and the epilogue seems unnecessary at best. There is very little to recommend The Strangers, but for those who are interested, and don't mind reading subtitles, I suggest you watch Ils instead. It's a far more competent film. Not perfect, but better than The Strangers.

The Strangers is a film with no substance or credibility. It looks nice, but that's really about it. Here's a small analogy for you entertainment:

Watching a film, such as The Strangers with little redeeming value but a few nice visuals, is kind of like eating a piece of shit that's coated in chocolate. Sure, it has the shiny, tempting gleam of a silky milk chocolate crust, but when it's all said and done, you're still eating a piece of shit.

Personally, I'd forego the chocolate layer, simply in order to avoid eating a piece of shit. I suggest you do the same.