Directed by Na Hong-Jin, The Strangers is the new film from The Murderer's dad. The Korean feature film tells the story of a small village turned upside down by a series of unusual murders. Strange ghost stories begin to emerge from the prevailing anxiety.
An unexpected beginning that takes the viewer on the wrong foot
The Strangers follows the daily life of Jong-Goo, a forty-year-old policeman and father of a little girl. The small village in which he lives is in the grip of a new terror. People die in strange circumstances, mostly shot by their relatives. Others see in the woods terrifying apparitions of a bloodshot eyed man who feeds on carcasses. Jong-Goo finds himself in the middle of this mess, incompetent and helpless in the face of so much madness. The Strangers is an intense thriller that subtly looks at the edge of the fantastic. Na Hong-Jin constantly destabilizes its audience. He incorporates at the beginning of his feature film unexpected comic breaks in the middle of disturbing sequences. The audience hesitates between laughter and worry. To emphasize the incompetence of the police and Jong-Goo's helplessness, Na Hong-Jin gleefully mocks the police, describing them as real incompetents, putting them in burlesque situations almost worthy of Charlot. The audience laughs, then stops. The violence is increasingly raw, the situations become very tense, the protagonists mysterious, and the danger is omnipresent and unidentified. Na Hong-Jin puts its audience in the middle of a real jungle, where reality and fantasy merge, in a haunting and disturbing staging.
A grandiose and oppressive thriller
The danger seems to come from a newcomer to the village, a mysterious old Japanese man. This one will be the main suspect of the various murders. The Strangers has its share of twists and turns and delectable twists. The script, brilliantly written, walks the viewer in shifting directions, changing according to the story, surprises are well underway and danger always occurs where we do not expect it. In a traditional Korea, Na Hong-Jin offers us a realism pushed to the extreme. Here no hero, no miracle, no chance, the scenario advances irremediably towards the dramatic end it foreshadows, the protagonist finds himself constantly overwhelmed by events, unable to dominate the many fatalities that overwhelm him. Na Hong-Jin speaks of discrimination, punishment, sin and religion. When the feature film decides to fall into the fantastic dimension, Na Hong-Jin asks interesting spiritual questions, it leaves the choice to its viewer to believe or not what is happening before his eyes. It highlights a Church powerless in the face of the tragedies that follow one another, it sets up a real battle of beliefs and instincts, where every decision counts and can be paramount. The characters have hard nerves, fight their own doubts to bring down the enemy. A powerful and sharp chess game, The Strangers offers a memorable conclusion and an encounter with the devil to make the demons of the Conjuring shudder.
Sublimated by a grandiose staging, The Strangers is a haunting, deep, terribly cold and violent thriller. The exciting characters are played by convincing actors, and Na Hong-Jin signs an intelligent and transcendent feature film until an absolutely stunning finale.
