August 17, 2007

How Strange

This is a poster for the upcoming Liv Tyler/Scott Speedman film The Strangers. I normally wouldn't bother mentioning a film such as this, but I'm intrigued by it because it is the American remake of the French horror/thriller Ils, which I recently saw at MIFF. This version obviously focusing in on the "Liv Tyler fighting for her life" angle...


...as opposed to the first poster, which is one of the silliest/oddest/creepiest/perplexing posters I've seen in a long time. They didn't wear those masks in the original!


If it has any of the suspence and chills of Ils then it should be heartily scary experience. And for anyone who has seen the film, (spoilers if you haven't seen it) can they really keep such a, well, downbeat (that's a good description) ending or will they give it a Hollywood ending?

Hmmm... If you're commenting and you've seen Ils please use spoiler tags.

10 comments:

Jason Adams said...

They are basically the same story, Glenn, but I'm fairly certain The Strangers is not a direct remake of Ils. At least, I haven't seen that written anywhere. If you've seen that somewhere lemme know, cuz the thought had crossed my mind since they really do, by synopsis alone (since I've obviously seen neither yet), sound like the exact same movie.

Glenn Dunks said...

Oh, well, I was going by the IMDb, which claims it as a remake of Ils.

And apparently someone who has seen both says they have the same ending?

Adem With An E said...

I saw Ils tonight for the first time and was totally taken aback by the ending. INSANELY TENSE STUFF. Am interested to chase up some proper news stories online about the actual case/s this movie was 'inspired' by.

Anonymous said...

totally unrelated:

How do I get my pic to show up on this site?

Glenn Dunks said...

I believe you need to have a profile and to insert your picture into that and then it'll show up.

Not sure, but the image of mine that comes up is my profile image so I guess that's all you need.

(btw, hi! Always nice to have someone else who can share the troubles of foreign distribution)

Glenn Dunks said...

SPOILERS

Adem, I actually thought the final chase sequence was the weakest part of the film (how many tunnels were there?) but the very end bit where she's trying to get out of the grate was very much an "oh dear!" moment.

Adem With An E said...

MORE SPOILERS:

Agreed on the tunnels, but it was the immediate end (last 2 minutes maybe?) that really got to me. I think what tipped me over the edge somewhat was the whole idea these were just children. "THEY wouldn't play with us" freaked the absolute shit out of me, combined with these kids merrily hopping onto a bus after torturing two innocent people. Should be interesting to see how much of the original remains in The Strangers, and whether they'll extend the movie past it's 70-something minute length.

Glenn Dunks said...

Yeah, the last few moments were, as the press would say, "chilling".

That bit where she's walking through the room with all the plastic sheets and then he pops up on the balcony? YIKES!

Joel said...

Apparent, from what I've read, this isn't a remake of Ils... But I find that ridiculous... It's either a remake, or the worst rip-off since Strange Bedfellows/Chuck and Larry.

SPOILERS
And I agree about the ending. I would have preferred not to see the attackers until the last shots of them walking through the woods and onto the bus. It would have heightened the tension of the tunnel chase because I thought it lost a nit of suspense when you saw they were kids.

And finally, I saw it a MIFF too, and did you hear EVERYONE in the cinema freak out when the attacker was behind her during the plastic sheet scene? Best part of the film!

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