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June 03, 2008

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Bill aka Uranium Willy

Iloz Zoc

Like The Ruins I saw your link here at IMDB as I was trying to update my own review there. So that site does work I guess. I have over 6 in the queue though. I guess it is holiday time and so a little slow.

I thought the direction and acting here were pretty decent but I dismissed the story line and attempts at exploiting the "true events" angel. Not a terrible film by any stretch but nothing fantastic either. I did like Liv Tyler as 'the girl in the house" but the film was a little too fatalistic even for my jaded tastes.

Bill

ILoz Zoc

Yes, definitely. The subject matter is very precise and says much by showing little. You have the three protagonists, shrouded in darkness: a mystery, but the knife fortifies an ominous tone. The kewpie doll masks and the scarecrow sac-mask are ingenious: they can be interpreted in so many ways, yet visually command attention without any explanation.

Putting this on the poster, then toning it in such a gloomy way, really sells the film more than a more colorful, blatant visual.

For the film itself, it's worth seeing. Not perfect; but there are elements to it that are surprising coming from a first-time director. I would have left out the ending "explanation" part, and left more mystery in it. Very much like Them from 2006: sometimes clarifying just who's attacking you is contradictory to the mood you want to maintain. I'm not sure about the flashback approach, either. I think it tips the ending before the mayhem begins.

Steve

>I won't call that poster a misuse of technology

Not really what I meant... misuse of technology to me translates into every movie poster nowadays looking like a boring collage. Classic era (pre-photoshop) posters were obviously created without computerized technology and filters, and relied upon the truer, stronger methods of time tested, handcrafted design, or painted. This Strangers poster is brilliant, even the typography shows a cleverness probably not displayed in the actual film itself.

ILoz Zoc

Now, I won't call that poster a misuse of technology. It's too good. Let's say he wisely ignored the current trend.

Steve

Wow, is that really the poster for The Strangers? I love the 70's style of design. I'm glad his art director misused modern poster design technology and went for this classic look instead, ha ha

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