The plot follows kristen liv tyler and james scott speedman whose stay at a vacation home is disrupted by three masked criminals who infiltrate the home. Strangers 1992 film, an american tv film starring linda fiorentino. There will always be a market for it, but with the release of a smaller horror film known as the strangers in 2008, the tide felt like it was beginning to turn, even if just a little. In the strangers movie, it says it is based on a true story. Therefore, it is my opinion that the strangers may have. In the strangers, james hoyt scott speedman and kristen mckay. In order to narrow down the selection, i am focusing solely on what ive deemed contemporary horror classics.
The movie is inspired by real events, one of which is a number of neighborhood breakins during director bertinos childhood. The movie even opens with a silly narration about fbi statistics and that the facts in the case of kristen mckay and james hoyt are still not entirely known. The story of a mother and daughter, a 1979 american tv film starring bette davis and gena rowlands. It stars liv tyler and scott speedman and is directed and written by bryan bertino. The movie the strangers is an american horror movie that was released on may 30th, 2008. With the words what you are about to see is inspired by true events plastered on the opening screen of the strangers, curiosity about the murders that inspired the sensational film was spurred. Knocks on the door in the night are the start of what proceeds to be a fear inditing ploy by 3 unknown masked individuals. Kirsten mckay and james hoyt are fictional characters from a film by brian bertino.
It is inspired by bertinos experiences as a kid, amongst a few other things. In the book, the manson family is thoroughly explored, from inception up to and beyond a fatal incident on august 8 th, 1969 when four of mansons followers descended on the home of roman polanski and thenwife sharon tate tate, along with three of her friends and a. A slow crescendo of intimidation the new york times. The strangers is based in a true story but it quickly dispels any true to life dramatization by then describing how no one really knows what actually happened. Directed and written by bryan bertino, the strangers is a claustrophobic nightmare that persists in its will to take that image of home being safe, and turning it into a confinement of horror. The tate murders had 5 victims and 4 perpetrators, whereas the strangers has 3 victims and 3 perpetrators, manson family members never wore masks, and the tate murders were actually solved. The police believe they were tortured because the property had several footprints all over the ground.
The first is the infamous series of murders committed by the manson family in 1969, particularly the home invasion and killing of actress sharon tate. The strangers is a horrorslasher film that tells the story of couple kristen and james and how they were tortured by three complete masked strangers in their vacation home. With the words what you are about to see is inspired by true events plastered on the opening screen of the. Considering that we then go on to see a husband, wife and their. With scott speedman, liv tyler, gemma ward, alex fisher. Because the fate that befalls james hoyt and kristen mckay feels as though it could.
The director of the first movie revealed what the inspiration behind it was from the tatelabianca murders and keddie cabin murder we take a. The terrifying pointlessness of the strangers bloody disgusting. Every couple of years i revisit the keddie cabin story to see if there have been any new developments, and each time i find myself just as. The strangers is a movie that stays with the pack for the most part, although it does provide a few scares in between forced writing and questionable acting. Maybe thats why the strangers was such a massive success or maybe its because it was just plain scary. On the night of february 11 th, 2015, young couple kristen mckay liv tyler and james hoyt scott speedman have just returned to scotts old. Okay i honestly i know that the strangers is a movie but this really happened along time ago and its a true story it happen in reality and not even that sad and i hope you enjoy. In the rt consensus you may have read the following. No need for deafening jumpscares to make things tense. Prey at night informs its audience straight out of the gate that its terrifying story is based on true events. Hence the thin line delineation between true story and true events. I know alot about the kristen mckay and james hoyt murders. But thats an example of how to generate suspense and helping the audience identify with the main characters. The horror movie the strangers was slightly misleading in its promotion, claiming that it was based on reallife events.
Like the reallife murders of sharon tate and friends, theres really no. The movie next moves to a montage of suburban homes accompanied by audio of a car engine. In the strangers, james hoyt scott speedman and kristen mckay liv tyler, whose troubled relationship is given a wonderfully nuanced introduction within the. What happened to kristen mckay and james hoyt answers. The horrifying events that took place in the hoyt familys vacation home at 1801 clark road on. Were james hoyt and kristen mckay really murdered, and. The terrifying pointlessness of the strangers bloody. High resolution official movie posters for the strangers 2008 directed by bryan bertino. The strangers is a 2008 american horror film written and directed by bryan bertino.
The strangers and the real stories that inspired the. Kristen mckay, played by liv tyler the lord of the rings and james hoyt, scott speedman underworld. Does anyone know the true story about kristen mckay and. Perhaps more disquieting than the strangers is that bertinos film was inspired by a few reallife events. The strangers movie makes afraid of something that simply cannot escape doing each and every night the last 10 years of horror films have been sufficiently entertaining.
Alot of the ending involves the james hoyt and kristen mckay murder. In a secluded area, away from civilization, james hoyt and kristen mckay. The screenplay was inspired by two reallife events. The main inspiration for the movie was the manson family murders covered in. The strangers is a 2008 american horror film written and directed by bryan bertino and starring liv tyler and scott speedman as a young couple who are terrorized by three masked assailants, who break into the remote summer home and destroy all means of escape or calling for help by destroying their car, cell phones, and phone line. His little sister answered, and the person asked for someone who didnt live at the house. The scary strangers theme was better done in that kurt russell movie breakdown even though that movie wasnt horror nor did the bad guys win. The storyline is a little strange and after watching it i dont entirely know what it was all about. The movie is about a young couple being terrorized by 3 masked assailants and starred liv tyler and scott. The main inspiration for the movie was the manson family murders covered in the book helter skelter. Im going to open the door and i just want you to run. Now, if youre up on your strangers trivia, then you were already aware of how that stuff gave birth to the first movie, with the latest offering running with the torch just as we said. The filmmaker has cited a childhood experience where strangers knocked on his door while. While the plot of the strangers contains similarities to several documented murders most notably the tate murders, claiming the film is based on true events as opposed to merely inspired by true events is misleading and, ultimately.
That is because there has never been a true case of crime that involved a couple named kristen mckay and james hoyt. Ultimately, though, the differences between the tate murders and the movie the strangers are much more numerous than the similarities. Claims that the strangers based its premise on the 1981 keddie murders in cabin 28, or any other actual occurrence, are unfounded. The strangers movie 2008 unlike the modern horror films. Meaning that the only thing based on true events about prey at night is that the general idea of strangers committing random. For the unaware, helter skelter is a true crime novel written by vincent bugliosi and curt gentry. The true story behind the film the strangers is an incident from writer and director bryan bertinos childhood, when someone knocked on the door of bertinos home while his parents were away. The strangers true story how horror movie the strangers is and isnt based on a true story march 11, 2018 by ryan roschke.
Reallife crimes that inspired the movie according to writer and director bryan bertino, the strangers is primarily based on three different events. In addition to a fourth insidious film that premiered in january and an epic halloween reboot. The strangers must have been a really low budget movie to make because its primarily all filmed in one house, but dont let that put you off the movie, it freaked me out throughout. A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.
The other events the movie the strangers are based on other stories besides the mckay and hoyt murders, the killers, a principle male assailant and female accomplices, is based upon charles manson and the manson killings. People took this to mean that the murders actually happened, but, when pressed on the subject, the producers admitted that the story line was loosely based on a series of. That last thing i would call this movie is based on a true story or even inspired. The strangers and the real stories that inspired the film.
A new sequel is out this year, and its also claiming to be based on a true story. Based on a true story, a couple on the rocks stay in a residential house in the woods. The strangers provides a few scares, but offers little else to distinguish itself from other slasher films. Strangers, the title of the original 1954 theatrical release of roberto rossellinis journey to italy. Prey at night begins with the message that the film youre about to see is based on true events. What is the true story behind the film the strangers. Home invasions are a not an all too common occurrence, but for most people they are a major fear, a fear that bryan bertino exploited quite well in 2008s the strangers, the story of a young couple who become the victims of a random home invasion while vacationing in. James hoyts car was never destroyed, but his car door was left open. However, theres been a growing boundary between the horrific and the terrifying, between that which is gruesome or disturbing and that which is legitimately scary. Prey at night are the same as the events that inspired writerdirector bryan bertinos the strangers. The strangers and the reallife horrors that inspired a.
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