The Strangers

Running Time: 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R

"The Strangers" is the debut film of director Bryan Bertino, and for a first-timer he does a pretty darn good job.

What Bertino does -- that the majority of other horror film directors don't do -- is concentrate more on building up suspense rather than a body count. He achieves this constant, crescendoing tension not through CGI tricks, but with good, old-fashioned camera placement, editing and strong performances from his actors.

The result is a chilling tale of the home invasion and murder of a young couple (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) that will have you on the edge of your seat for nearly 90 minutes.

The couple, Kristen and James, arrive at his family's cabin following a wedding reception. Things are somewhat awkward between them, as James has proposed to Kristen, but she has turned him down.

While working out the sleeping arrangements, there is a knock at the door. A young woman of maybe 17 asks if Tamara is there. Kristen says no. A few moments later, another knock. It's the same girl. The same question. Soon more interruptions occur, each one more terrifying, until Kristen realizes -- as do we -- that something really nasty is about to happen.

And it does.

"The Strangers," while not really adding much to the genre, is a solid, chilling and in parts unsettling example of a competent director knowing how to wring a few choice screams and gasps from his audience.

(c) 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.