'The Strangers'

"Inspired by true events" may be the best thing to happen to horror movies since the invention of the chain saw. By robbing audiences of their scary-movie mantra ("It's just a movie, it's just a movie"), a coy claim of realism can elevate middling suspense to abject terror ("If it happened once, what's to keep it from happening to me?").

By Jessica Reaves

May 30, 2008