What should one do when they do everything right and still fail? This scenario is equally as intriguing as it is terrifying, making an excellent concept for a horror film. The Strangers, directed by Bryan Bertino, uses this scenario to create an outstanding horror movie. In the film, we follow Kristen McKay (played by Liv Tyler) and James Hoyt (played by Scott Speedman) during their stay at James’ family’s vacation home. During their stay, three masked strangers go to great lengths to violently torment, torture and traumatize them in their vacation home. At the end of the movie, Kristen, in her and James’ final moments, desperately asks the masked people “Why are you doing this to us?” One of them responds with the most chilling line of the movie: “Because you were home” (The Strangers). Although this movie is a masterclass in classic horror, many believe it is nothing more than another typical horror film to watch once and forget about completely. However, The Strangers is a fantastic horror movie because it uses suspense to lure viewers into a false sense of security, allowing the movie’s use of realistic fear to be even more impactful. …show more content…
If a movie does not have hills and valleys of action, viewers will have less desire to stick around. A movie with too much or too little action at one time will get stale. Horror movies particularly need to create suspense to make the viewer feel safe. Creating a false sense of security makes the scary parts of horror movies even more frightening because viewers are more vulnerable. Horror relies on the viewer being scared and uncomfortable, so putting viewers in a mindset to ease them allows the main aspect of horror: the fear, to be as impactful as