30 response about Speedman and Tyler in The Strangers Trailer »

1. 

   As far as I know, this is a remake of the solid if not mindblowing French Thriller/horror “Ils” (Them). Don’t expect any of the meta-crowd-messing of Haneke in what will fall somewhere in with other solid if unremarkable horror films like Vacancy or P2.

   The original has the wisdom to clock in at 75 minutes, I wonder if the remake will have the same sense of brevity.

   All that being said, its a pretty well-cut trailer. I like the skipping recording editting and the long shot of Tyler standing in the large great-room before the masked fellow steps into the back of the frame.

   Comment by Kurt — March 11, 2008 @ 5:38 pm
2. 

   I remember the awesome poster for this movie. I’ll see if I can find it…

   Comment by Andrew James — March 11, 2008 @ 5:41 pm
3. 

   Found it:

   click image for hi-res version
   

   Love the coffee stain in the upper left.

   Comment by Andrew James — March 11, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
4. 

   I like the one-sheet, even if it is a bit spoilerific.

   Comment by Kurt Halfyard — March 11, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
5. 

   Ahhhh. Didn’t realize this was a remake and I’ve even heard of “Ils”…just haven’t seen it yet.

   And no, this one isn’t keeping it short. It apparently clocks in at 107 mins.

   Comment by Marina Antunes — March 11, 2008 @ 6:02 pm
6. 

   So while this is a bit “Funny Games”-ish, this looks a hell of a lot creepier and more horrorific; while Funny Games is more of a “mess with the audience” type of film, this looks like a full blown, scary-ass movie!

   The long shot in the trailer of the the masked person standing behind Liv Tyler is particularly goosebump raising.

   Comment by Andrew James — March 11, 2008 @ 6:08 pm
7. 

   I really enjoyed Ils. It had a great creepy feel to it and a pretty interesting concept. It is “based” on a true story although I’m pretty sure they took a fair amount of liberties.

   I’d recommend checking Ils out before this if you get the chance. I know its available on Amazon.

   Comment by John Allison — March 11, 2008 @ 6:50 pm
8. 

   I was on the fence with Ils. It’s well constructed, no doubt, but the ending feels like a real stretch, and fell flat for me.

   Nothing wrong with a good scare. I just though Ils didn’t quite earn the small reputation it picked up over the last year and change. I’m curious to see if this one is actually better or worse…

   Comment by Kurt Halfyard — March 11, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
9. 

   Strange. I know we’ve mentioned this scene in the trailer but it takes away the bang when it’s posted so blatantly. That cheesed me off a bit for some reason.

   Comment by Marina Antunes — March 12, 2008 @ 11:36 am
10. 

    Only mildly related but there’s a great interview with Funny Games director Michael Haneke over at CB.

    Comment by Marina Antunes — March 12, 2008 @ 2:38 pm
11. 

    Why in the trailer….is there a clip with a guy…who is not Speedman….but wearing Speedmans outfit, walking down the hall. it is very obviously not him……is this a mistake?

    Comment by coocoo — April 16, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
12. 

    JUST finished the original “Ils.” Holy crap is that a fine scary movie. Not horror bullshit, but legitimately scary. It’s rare when I find a film that has me biting my nails like that.

    Love the aural cues. Totally makes the movie. Well, that and the nifty, creepy locales.

    I’ll be surprised if I like this remake as much. - Though again, the trailer is quite scary in and of itself.

    Comment by Andrew James — April 22, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
13. 

    I HATE movies that act like they are based on an actual TRUE EVENTS….. WHEN NO “TRUE EVENT” CAN BE DOCUMENTED about this film!

    This is going to have people thinking it is true when it is just a story from a screenwriters mind…like the original Texas chainsaw massacre!

    Remember how many people thought THAT was also a TRUE story???…. it turned out that the original script writer appeared on the Phil Donahue show in the 70’s and said he got the idea from being in a Woolworths and seeing a chainsaw hanging up on display from the ceiling and thinking how fast he could get the crowd to disperse in the checkout line he was in, if he started that thing up.

    Of course it was only a fantasy going through his mind….but THAT was where the Texas Chainsaw Massacre originated! Out of that scriptwriters mind….THEN they put in that it was “BASED” on a true story which most believe were based on the life of Ed Gein…though Gein never used a chainsaw on his victims!

    And he was a small frail man….not huge like leatherface was. But people to this day still stupidly believe that the Texas chainsaw massacre actually happened! I wonder how many will believe that this movie is also true without even checking if it is or not?

    As far as a horror movie it looks fantastic, but WHY act like what these people in this movie went through, is TRUE, when it is NOT?

    To me, that is stupid, let the horror story stand on it’s own without making people think it was an actual couple that went through this!

    Comment by Joe Brooks — May 14, 2008 @ 1:26 am
14. 

    Joe. “Based on a True Story” is a marketing hook and little else. The Coen’s spoofed this very fact so elegantly when they released FARGO with the ‘based on a true story’ even though they made the whole thing up.

    I think the phrase “Hollywood-ized” came about from this idea of retelling a ‘true story’ as a film. Although in this case, the french version of THE STRANGERS, simply titled “Ils” (Them) is guilty of the same thing. The last couple minutes of Ils is a pretty spectacular failure in my eyes, precisely because the French filmmakers do the same thing, “Based on True Events”.

    Comment by Kurt Halfyard — May 14, 2008 @ 6:28 am
15. 

    The “based on a true story” has gotton more popular in the last decade, or so. Remember The Blair Witch Project? People who didn’t know better actually thought it was a documentary. It started out by saying that in “___month of ___” four college students disappeared….. leaving one to believe it was based on real life events, when it wasn’t. It just adds to the creepiness. Looks pretty scary though, enough to have me creeped out for a while. The human element is always scarier, since its always a reality that there are sick people out there, as opposed to horror films that take more of a sci-fi approach.

    Comment by Alison — May 15, 2008 @ 10:59 pm
16. 

    Hey I was reading on Wikipedia I think (and yes, this might be false) but “Ils” actually came out two years after The Strangers was even written.

    And it never said Based On A True Story did it? I thought it said, “Inspired By True Events”. I think again Wiki is offering the Manson murders and this resort killing in the 1980’s as inspirations.

    Comment by Sara — May 17, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
17. 

    I also think they shouldn’t put “Inspired by True Events” or “Based on a True Story” if it’s not indeed true. So many people believe it, and freak out and spread the stupidity to other people. Like said before, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was not true. But there are so many idiots in Texas that “swear” they know where the house is, they’ve been there, and so on. Yeah, it’s based on Ed Gein, and like the person before has said, Ed Gein didn’t wield a chainsaw…they can’t even prove he really killed anyone, he was a grave robber. Read up on it on the serial killer profiles. I did. And as for the Blair Witch Project…all you have to do is watch the credits. The credits give it all away. There are so many production people and crew…you have to stop and think…how could there be if it was only supposed to be the college students? And if that isn’t enough for you, or you don’t understand what I’m saying, then watch the credits to the very end where it states that all the characters and events are fiction and so on. Every movie that is in print has this statement. If it’s real it will say at the very end it’s real with a different statement. That’s the most simplest way to find out the truth.

    When I saw the trailer, I also thought this must be about the Manson family…but even if it is…it doesn’t mean that the director hasn’t taken the people and changed almost everything about them just like Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

    And for anyone who is wondering, I do know, that The Emily Rose movie is based on true events and it is actually very well documented. If you can find the Reader’s Digest book called, “Mysteries of the Unexplained” you can find the article on the girl in there. I read it over and over as a kid and had a hunch it was the same case when I saw the movie. Sure enough it is. The girl’s name has been changed, and she’s german, but other than that and the outcome of the priests was different than in the movie, the events weren’t changed that much. Just an extra bit of info for you horror fans. ;P

    Kris

    Comment by Kris — May 30, 2008 @ 2:08 am
18. 

    I’m waiting for someone to have the balls to put “Based on a real movie were ripping off” infront of their film.

    Comment by leeny — May 30, 2008 @ 9:04 am
19. 

    Don’t speak Ils of them though.

    Comment by Kurt Halfyard — May 30, 2008 @ 9:47 am
20. 

    I’ve seen a number of people comment on whether or not this is a true story, to which I respond (without having seen the movie, because it is irrelevant to this argument) that Who Cares? The only difference between a fictional film and one ‘based’ ‘inspired’ etc. by a true story is that the names or places may remain the same. The minutiae of how a film is constructed and the choices on what the filmmakers choose to show and how to frame, light, construct the story makes everything fictional and skewed. There ain’t no object truths in film stories, only relative ones that affect the viewer. So it’s a moot argument and I have no Idea why this bothers people (Like the Coen’s amusing pranksterism with Fargo).

    Comment by Kurt Halfyard — May 30, 2008 @ 9:49 am
21. 

    So is this a Ils remake or what? Cause this is like a cross between Ils and Funny Games. Ils was based on a real murder so if Strangers is a remake maybe that’s what they are referring to.
    But then again who cares. If it’s good, it’s good. If it’s not, it’s not.

    Comment by swarez — May 30, 2008 @ 9:54 am
22. 

    It would be hillarious if Ils tried to sue them and they said “no no, we just based it on the same TRUE story”

    That would be the end of that annoying trend.

    Comment by Russell James — May 30, 2008 @ 10:27 am
23. 

    I heard the “Ils” remake rumbles before but having seen “Ils” and seeing this trailer, I really don’t get the sense that this is any sort of remake. Sure, it may be loosely based on the same events but the films feel completely different - coming from only seeing “The Strangers” trailer.

    Comment by Marina Antunes — May 30, 2008 @ 11:26 am
24. 

    This was a very good movie. As for the man who was ‘very obviously not speedman, but wearing speedman’s outfit, walking down the hall” well that is definitely part of the movie. You’ll have to see it to understand, but he is actually a friend of Speedman’s character.

    Comment by alyssa — June 9, 2008 @ 9:44 pm
25. 

    Also, I should say that it doesn’t have to be a true story for them to say that. It could be any event in which there was a home invasion. They could’ve even meant, “Based on True Events” and it be based upon a couple coming back from a wedding reception. You never know.

    Comment by alyssa — June 9, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
26. 

    The movie doesn’t have to be true at all for it to say that it is based on true events. Just look at Fargo. It said that it was based on a true story but was intirely fictional, including the based on a true story line. Fargo had this because they felt it made the movie better which it did until I found out this truth afterwards.

    Comment by Phillip — June 10, 2008 @ 12:04 am
27. 

    Thus proving that ‘BASED ON A TRUE STORY’ in relation to cinema has been and always will be a marketing gimmick, a hook, having no bearing on the actual film itself.

    I wish folks would let that particular gimmick go.

    And The Coen Brothers did a great job of taking advantage of it for their private little joke with Fargo.

    Comment by Kurt Halfyard — June 10, 2008 @ 8:15 am
28. 

    Alright, I am welcoming opinions in order to settle a dispute with a friend. I just saw the movie, was a decent horror/suspense. Do you think that the 3 strangers were a family or 3 young friends?

    Comment by Mark — June 10, 2008 @ 9:44 pm
29. 

    To me, I just assumed they were siblings. Of course, there’s nothing to base this off of; just my own ignorant assumptions. I suppose you can believe whatever you want. Whatever is the creepiest is probably accurate.

    Comment by Andrew James — June 10, 2008 @ 10:31 pm
30. 

    BTW Mark, if you’d like to know more, check out the podcast we did recently with a blogger from horrormovies.ca. You’ll probably enjoy a lot of it:

    http://www.rowthree.com/2008/06/04/cinecast-episode-88-strangers-and-old-friends/

    Comment by Andrew James — June 10, 2008 @ 10:33 pm

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