Reanimated corpses and blood-sucking immortals are the stuff of fiction. But when it comes to random acts of violence, the boogeyman is all-too real.
After retreating to a secluded home after a wedding reception, a couple — Kristen Liv Tyler and James Scott Speedman — are terrorized by three masked strangers. As the night unfolds, the anonymous assailants cut off the couple's ties to the outside world and make their lives a waking nightmare.
It's the sort of scenario that can keep you up at night: An incident that may be understood later, but in the moment, feels like a completely random attack. The film, which marked the feature film debut of writer-director Bryan Bertino, was met with a middling critical response. The movie-going public, however, couldn't get enough. Some degree of the film's success was due to its brutal conclusion: A bleak affair, with no easy answers and a decidedly nihilistic attitude towards unmotivated violence.
So, check your windows and lock your doors, and let's break down the ending of "The Strangers. Kristen and James ride in uncomfortable silence. It's a cool night in February, and the pair are making their way from a friend's wedding reception to James' summer home.
James was so sure that Kristen was going to accept his marriage proposal. Kristen's tear-stained face says it all: Where do they go from here?
The two listlessly wander about the house, ignoring the rose petals and trying to come to terms with the new, uncomfortable state of things. But, their bad night is about to get a hell of a lot worse. There's a knock on the door. A blonde woman, bathed in shadow, asks for Tamara. After an awkward exchange, they send her on her way. James attempts to gather his thoughts and leaves on a night drive.
Kristen puts on a record and examines her would-be engagement ring. Then, suddenly, another knock. Well, less of a knock than a banging. Kristen grabs a knife and starts charging her phone.
The landline is dead and she can't shake the feeling that someone is in the house. So begins "The Strangers," which barrels forward with nihilistic ferocity pitting the emotionally strained couple against three masked assailants. James returns to find Kristen a mess, and he soon finds out why.
Together they attempt to survive in their own home, defend themselves, and call for help, all to no avail. These are everyday people with no survival skills; responding on impulse in a desperate bid to survive. At the end of their terrifying night, James is missing and Kristen is badly injured.
Her attempts to signal for help from a remote radio were a bust, upon returning to the house the power cuts out. Limping and surrounded by the masked intruders, Kristen attempts to find James only to be knocked out by the towering male in the group. She awakes tied to a chair next to James, distraught and defeated with one searing question: why? Kristen wakes up to the sound of Pin-Up Girl opening the drapes.
Warm sunlight floods the room. It's a beautiful day; early birds chirping and not a cloud in the sky. Kristen grunts against her taught restraints, kicking and whimpering as her three masked assailants stand silently over her and the defeated James. We tend to expect horrific things to take place under the cover of darkness; to slink, creep, and strike while we're sleepy, vulnerable, and alone.
Evolutionary psychologists have theorized that our fear of the dark lingers from the days when human beings weren't at the top of the food chain and nocturnal predators were a real threat. Horror films take advantage of our instinctual fear of the dark; allowing our imaginations to run wild and conjure up worst-case scenarios in the darkest recesses of our minds. In genre cinema, horrific things tend to lurk in the shadows darkness does a cheap rubber monster good, after all.
That said, there's no shortage of horror film baddies that trudge brazenly through the light. Sue Sharp and her five kids had rented cabin 28 at the Keddie resort, where they had stayed since the previous November after Sue left her abusive husband. On the evening of the murders, Sue was home with her two youngest boys, Greg and Rick, who had their friend Justin over for the night.
Sue's oldest boy, Johnny, came home later in the evening with his friend Dana. The eldest daughter, Sheila, was spending the night with a friend nearby, while the younger daughter, Tina, came home from watching TV with a neighboring friend sometime that evening. In the early morning hours of April 12, Sheila returned home from her friend's cabin to retrieve some clothes so she could attend church with the friend's family — that's when she discovered the brutally murdered bodies of her mother, Johnny, and Dana.
A dull, flimsy table knife was found near Johnny's body, and a bloody hammer and butcher knife were found on a table — though the autopsy showed that the bodies had been bludgeoned by two different hammers.
In addition to the bludgeoning, the Sue, Johnny, and Dana were found with multiple stab wounds on their body and their throats. Dana had been strangled, while Johnny had been bludgeoned by a rifle that was never found. A trash can at a nearby general store yielded another bloody knife. While Sheila, Rick, and Greg all survived, Tina was still missing. Judging by the police reports, some believe that Tina's absence was not immediately recorded, nor was it given much consideration.
In , a human skull fragment was found about 29 miles from the Keddie resort, but it still took months before the police searched the area — and they only did so after receiving a call from an anonymous party who claimed the skull fragment belonged to Sue's missing daughter. A search of the area turned up several more bone fragments and testing confirmed that the bones belonged to Tina.
Adding further eeriness to the case is Justin, Rick and Greg's friend who was sleeping over at the time of the murders. In a statement given to police, Justin described a scene that reads as half-dream, half-reality, in which two men attack Sue on a boat that resembles the cabin's living room, with Johnny and Dana arriving home in the middle of the crime. The two older boys confront the assailants, but are ultimate subdued and restrained. Process every stage of your breakup: shock, denial, grief, sadness, insecurity, and anger while feeling supported and loved through your pain.
Make this guided journal your trusted friend during your journey to feeling whole again. Sign up for the Thought Catalog Weekly and get the best stories from the week to your inbox every Friday. By Chrissy Stockton Updated September 20, The Strangers. Come press play with us. We hear you like all things creepy… we do too.
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