Don't get involved in lame 'Strangers'

"The Strangers" is a monomaniacal, put-them-through-the-wringer horror movie that invites you to watch as the comely young couple of Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman get tormented and manhandled during a long night in an isolated vacation home, besieged by three sadistic oddballs wearing masks.

It's a first-time effort for writer/director Bryan Bertino, 28. While he shows talent, you have to question his judgment. Why are we supposed to get involved in this creepy, gory little story?

In the beginning, it looks like Tyler's quiet Kristen McKay and Speedman's reckless James Hoyt are just the victims of jokesters: jerks who keep knocking loudly on the doors, playing Merle Haggard records and creeping around on the lawn.

Kristen and James just don't take the intrusion seriously. After their cellphones and car are disabled, it's too late. The masked marauders, listed in the credits as Doll Face (model Gemma Ward), The Man in the Mask (Kip Weeks) and Pin-Up Girl (Cindy Margolis), have already tipped their bloody hand and sent the couple's unfortunate friend (Glen Howerton) to a ghastly fate.

Why are they doing this?

Why do they insist on prowling around in those masks? Unless, maybe, they're trying to cop a resemblance to the Scream phantom or a Rolling Stones Steel Wheels inflatable Honky Tonk Women doll?

I guess the sheer irrationality of their attacks is supposed to make them terrifying. But, after a while, they begin to seem more annoying, like the antics of costume party creeps who don't know when to go home - or stop torturing people.

Bertino cites as some of his inspirations for "The Strangers" the Manson Family murders (as recounted in Vincent Bugliosi's book "Helter-skelter") and that classic low-budget rock-and-shocker "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

Regular horror watchers may also be reminded of Michael Haneke's recent English language adaptation of his "Funny Games" where a whole family is tortured by two psychopaths, and, even more of the 2006 French horror picture "Them," about some attractive young people trapped in a house in the Romanian woods, sadistically toyed with by unseen assailants.

I'm not a big fan of either of the two "Funny Games" films or of "Them." But these films, along with Tobe Hooper's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" are more gruesomely effective than "The Strangers," partly because their monster/killers are more motivated and the threats more real.

The resolution of "Them," when you discover what's been happening, is one of the scariest parts of that movie.

The scariest part of "The Strangers" may be after the show, when you mull over how much you paid for your tickets and snacks.

1 1/2 stars