The Strangers: The True Stories That Inspired The Modern Horror Franchise
When it comes to exploiting our deepest, darkest fears, nothing jangles the nerves more effectively than a well-made home invasion flick. We all want to believe we're safe once we lock the doors and windows, but unless you live in a fortress, you know that if someone really wanted to get in your house, they could do so with relative ease. Typically, we're worried about burglars, but we know vicious people exist. We've read Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" and watched Michael Haneke's "Funny Games," and know, deep down in our hearts, once intruders cross the threshold, it's not going down like Kevin McCallister versus the Wet Bandits. Because anyone bold enough to break into a house is either desperate or disturbed, and this places us at a severe disadvantage.
No 21st-century film has exploited this to more terrifying effect than Bryan Bertino's "The Strangers." The premise is simple: a young couple returns to their vacation home at night after attending a wedding, and, with one 4 am knock on the door, find themselves dealing with a trio of masked intruders who terrorize and, ultimately, kill them. When asked why they're doing this, the character credited as "Dollface" chillingly responds, "Because you were home."
Bertino's film was a surprise hit in the summer of 2008, and, ten years later, spawned the equally horrifying "The Strangers 2: Prey at Night." The first entry was an original screenplay, but, according to Bertino, it was inspired by a childhood experience. And if you ask true-crime aficionados, the premise bears a striking resemblance to an unsolved 1981 quadruple murder.
The pros and cons of answering a late-night knock at the door
While promoting "The Strangers" 15 years ago, Bertino revealed that his premise was actually a reversal of an eerie encounter while growing up in a house "in the middle of nowhere." Per Bertino:
"One night, while our parents were out, somebody knocked on the front door and my little sister answered it. At the door were some people asking for somebody that didn't live there. We later found out that these people were knocking on doors in the area and, if no one was home, breaking into the houses. In The Strangers, the fact that someone is at home does not deter the people who've knocked on the front door; it's the reverse."
So in Bertino's world, answering the door at 4 am is a 50-50 proposition rife with awful consequences if you choose poorly. Fun stuff! He was also, unsurprisingly, riffing on the Manson Family murders of 1969.
But those steeped in serial murderers and spree killings can't help but wonder if there's a bit of the Keddie Resort slayings in the film's DNA.
A grisly, but probably not random quartet of murders
On the morning of April 12, 1981, Sheila Smart, who'd slept over at a friend's house the night before, returned to her family's cabin at the Keddie Resort in Northern California to discover a gruesome scene. Her mother Sue, brother John and her brother's friend Dana Wingate had been brutally murdered via a mix of stabbing, strangulation, and blunt-force trauma. Sheila's sister was missing from the scene, but her remains would be found three years later 100 miles away in Butte California. Mysteriously, Sharp's younger sons, Greg and Rick, and their friend Justin were left unharmed.
Due to conflicting testimony from the survivors and neighbor Martin Smartt (Justin's father), and, apparently, shoddy investigating, the murders went unsolved. In 2016, new evidence came to light that strongly implicated Martin, who believed Sue convinced his wife Marilyn to leave him.
Aside from the apparent home invasion aspect of the Keddie slayings, I don't see much linkage with "The Strangers," primarily because all of these people knew each other! I do, however, see a fascinating true-crime movie coming out of this. There's already been one attempt, 2017's "Cabin 28," but it was dumped to DVD after receiving horrible reviews. There's an opportunity out there, aspiring horror directors. Who wants to give it a shot?