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in the darkness of the doorway. Kristen is oblivious to this, and by the time she turns around, he is gone. Clearly, the strangers have found a way into the house. It is at this point that the audience realizes who truly has the upper hand; that James and Kristen have been doomed from the moment that they opened that door. From that point on a classic cat and mouse game ensues. Every chance the young couple may have for escape is thwarted by the mysterious strangers. Their car is destroyed, phones burned, and they are even tricked into shooting the friend James had called earlier; a friend who could've been a powerful ally in their struggle. The game finally ends only when the strangers have had enough of it, and after dressing Kristen and James in their wedding attire and tying them to chairs, they ritualistically take turns stabbing them each in the stomach as the sun slowly rises.

The power of "The Strangers" comes from three things; the camera work, the use of suspense, and ability to touch on such a common fear. The camera use, for one, shows the audience how completely powerless James and Kristen are by allowing the audience to see things that they cannot. In the scene where Kristen is in the kitchen, for example, she is standing all the way to the right of the frame. When the man enters the left side of the frame it is so subtle that it takes a moment for the audience to notice, but it is something that Kristen never sees. There is also a scene where she is crawling through the yard, shot at first from the side. As the camera rotates, however, we can see that one of the killers is slowly walking behind her, something she is completely unaware of. Shots of houses slowly passing by during the introduction of the film give the audience the feeling that they are sitting in the car with the killers as they search for their next target, and several other shots from the killer's point of view aide in showing the viewer just how powerful these strangers are.

This camera use was huge in helping to build suspense during the film. By showing the audience things that the characters can't see, it creates that moment of knowing something is going to happen to these oblivious people. While suspense is built throughout the film, one of the strongest moments occurs when their friend is walking through the house. Coming to rescue James from the embarrassment of his failed proposal, the friend approaches the house with caution upon seeing the damage to the couple's car

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