In Which We Spoil The Strangers For You
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 4:56PM 
Artsy Torture Porn
by Tyler Coates
The Strangers
dir. Bryan Bertino
90 minutes
I've never liked the idea of calling a movie "torture porn," mostly because I think one could describe any horror movie as torture porn. The Silence of the Lambs, for example, is an Oscar-winning torture porno; how else can you describe those scenes of the chubby girl screaming in the bottom of the well while Buffalo Bill stands above her, clutching his penis between his inner thighs? The idea of torture "porn" implies that you're getting off from watching a character on screen murder and mutilate someone else. In that case, wouldn't every horror flick fall into the category, or is it really films like those in the Saw and Hostel franchises, which prompted critics to coin the term in the first place?
When I was reading mixed reviews of The Strangers before seeing the film over the weekend, the negative criticisms all placed the movie in the torture porn genre. I was a little offended, as I never was very interested in any of those other movies. Besides, after seeing the absolutely creepy trailer, I was sure that the film was not just a trashy slasher flick, but an intelligent horror movie that might actually scare me.
I sure say now that only two movies have truly frightened me: Arachnophobia and 28 Days Later. Those movies represent what I'm the most afraid of: spiders and crazy people chasing after me. Because I grew up in the country and had nightmares of anonymous people coming into our (always unlocked) house at night to kill us, I was sure that The Strangers would be the third movie to scare the shit out of me. I was wrong.
Here's the basic synopsis of The Strangers (SPOILER ALERT!), put in one sentence because the plot is that simple and pointless: three masked people fuck around with a couple for about an hour before they stab them to death. The end!
I was incredibly disappointed, as the film, like most in its genre, was filled with the contrived jumps and predictable scares. The audience in the theater sat there in silence for an hour and a half as Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman ran around the woods and hid in closets from their would-be captors, three anonymous hipster villains (one was played by Australian model Gemma Ward) who had clearly seen more shitty horror movies than their victims.
That's the thing about watching movies like this: in what universe are these characters living? Why can't there be an intelligent horror movie in which the heroes know not to walk backwards into doorways or make attempts at escape while barefoot in a dark forest? Does one lack general instinct when being chased by a man with a flour bag on his head?
I use the word "heroes" lightly here, as the two protagonists don't make it to the end of the film alive. When the strangers finally finish their plans, leaving the couple on the bloody floor for two Mormon kids to discover that morning, I was very aggravated. Why did I sit there for over an hour if the main characters, complete with an established (if weak and uninspired) relationship conflict, were just going to be killed in the end? Did this film just serve as another example of the rising trend in films from which an audience learns nothing but gets a thrill from watching the murder of innocent people?
Now, I understand that it's still a genre film, and typically, genre films reflect on society's mores. But The Strangers hardly tells us anything about ourselves other than, as a society, we like to watch people being terrorized without reason. And honestly, I didn't need another chapter in a torture porn textbook that has been hitting me on the head since the original Saw was released four years ago.
Tyler Coates is the contributing editor to This Recording. You can read more of his work here.
The Strangers: the second remake of Funny Games?
THE ODD SELECTION OF SONGS FROM THE STRANGERS
"At My Window Sad and Lonely" - Billy Bragg & Wilco (mp3)
"The Sprout and the Bean" - Joanna Newsom (mp3)
"My First Lover" - Gillian Welch (mp3)
I don't wanna miss a thing.
PREVIOUSLY ON THIS RECORDING