The Strangers

"Bertino teases with the unknown until he's left no pimple ungoosed. Sometimes avoiding the synapse-raping bad habits of splat packers Eli Roth and Alexandre Aja is its own reward; doing so without also submitting to Michael Haneke–style hand-slapping is nearly monumental."

"It's all efficiently nerve-jangling, with Tyler and Speedman credibly registering every hue of panic. Still, after such a long, creepy, cannily restrained buildup, it must be said the resolution is rather flat, a full-circle postscript rote."

"What you see is definitely what you get: A chair-grippingly scary horror film that might very well make you lock your doors, leave the lights on, and probably seek out a stranger for a comfort hug when you leave the cinema."

"Is Hollywood so disconnected from its past and bankrupt of ideas that it doesn't even know this movie is a screaming cliché?"

"The movie deserves more stars for its bottom-line craft, but all the craft in the world can't redeem its story."

"A spare, creepily atmospheric psychological thriller with a death grip on the psychological aspect."

"Ultimately, The Strangers does succeed in the sense that it offers a riveting, vastly credible enactment of everyone's worst nightmare."