The Strangers - Collector's Edition

In 2008, a little sleeper of a horror movie came out and was the best in its genre at the time. "The Strangers" didn't really break any new ground but it harkened back to the days of atmospheric horror with little, to no, bloodshed. The film makes its Collector's Edition debut on Blu-ray, courtesy of Shout and Scream Factory, and offers up brand new special features to boot.

With its simple tagline of "because you were home", "The Strangers" sets a creepy mood from the get-go as a vacationing couple (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) become terrorized by masked strangers at 4:00 am. We see in flashbacks that there's drama between the two lovers and the film becomes that rare horror movie where the audience actually cares about the characters.

"The Strangers" on Blu-ray captures the low-key dread that made it so scary when initially shown in movie theaters. Like "Halloween" and other suspenseful horror films, this 2008 feature relies on shadows, little nuances, and a simplistic music score to generate terror. It also helps that Tyler and Speedman do fantastic jobs in the acting department.

Shout Factory's 2-disc Blu-ray, under their Scream Factory imprint, present four new interview segments on the Unrated Version disc. Two of them, "All the Right Moves" and "Brains and Brawn", feature two of the actors who played the masked villains. It's quite interesting to see the two actors unmasked finally. Writer/director Bryan Bertino humbly talks about the long process of bringing "The Strangers" to the screen in "Defining Moments". Elsewhere, vintage interviews, deleted scenes, and TV spots from 2008 appear on the Theatrical Cut disc.

"The Strangers: Prey at Night" comes out to theaters soon; methinks the original "The Strangers" will be vastly superior in comparison.

"The Strangers"
Blu-ray
$29.99
www.shoutfactory.com