One of the most surprising films of last year was The Strangers, starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as a young couple terrorized by a creepy gang of masked murderers. The film only cost about $9M to produce but grossed upwards of $80M based almost entirely on word of mouth. Just deserved word of mouth, I might add. It is genuinely one of the scariest movies I've ever seen, and I don't much get scared by movies anymore.
Director Bryan Bertino is bringing the bag-headed trio of killers back for a second scare when the sequel begins filming this Fall. Bertino, who wrote and directed the first film, has already completed the script, but this time around he won't be behind the camera. Laurent Briet, a commercial and music video director, is taking the helm this time around. Briet did some effects work on The Ring, a movie which I loathe but atleast got the mood right most of the time.
To say that I'm wary of this decision is an understatement. Bertino so perfectly utilized unique camera perspective to maximize each fright. One thing I know from seeing a host of other music video directors working on big screen films is that they have a tendency to cut each scene too quickly like they would in a video. The Strangers would linger, and allow you just enough time to start worrying about what might be happening off-camera. It's psychological more than anything else. I don't know if this is a smart move, but we'll see.
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