Is The Strangers Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Yes, 7 out of 10. It's a home invasion by three masked strangers, with jump scares and a remote house.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
7 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
High
Expect to double-check the front door for a few nights.
DOG
Dog: fine
no dog in it.
Ruling: Don't watch it alone at night, especially if you are staying in a remote house.
The Strangers runs 86 minutes and takes place at a remote house. A couple who came for a quiet night gets a knock at the door at 4 a.m., and the person outside is asking for someone named Tamara.
The premise, briefly
After a rough night at a friend's wedding, a couple arrives at a remote summer house, and a knock at the door is followed by three masked strangers.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
At dawn Kristen and James are tied to chairs, and the strangers stab them. Mike is already dead. Two boys find the bodies, and Kristen grabs one boy's hand and screams.
The scene you're dreading
The unmasking at dawn, at the end: the couple wakes tied to chairs, Kristen asks why, and Dollface answers that it is because they were home. The three strangers then take turns stabbing them.
The dog
There is no dog in The Strangers, so no dog dies.
It is a home invasion with jump scares, and nobody gets a clean escape.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A proposal that went poorly
In February 2005, James Hoyt and Kristen McKay drive to James's childhood summer home after a friend's wedding. Kristen has just turned down his marriage proposal at the reception, and James is not taking it well. He phones his friend Mike and asks to be picked up in the morning. The couple is about to be intimate when someone knocks. A young woman at the door asks for a person named Tamara, and James sends her away and builds a fire for Kristen.
James drives out to buy cigarettes for Kristen, and the woman returns and asks about Tamara again. Kristen sends her off a second time, and then notices a masked man watching her from inside the house. The smoke detector she dropped earlier is now on a chair, and her phone has vanished. The front door is pushed open, and the young woman peers in wearing a mask. Kristen locks it. James comes back and tells her no one is there, but they see the woman, whom they now know as Dollface, outside. His phone is in the car, which has been ransacked and has slashed tires. A masked brunette called Pin-Up Girl rams their car with a pickup truck as they try to leave. The Man in the Mask starts breaking the front door down with an axe, so the couple hide in a bedroom with a shotgun.
Mike arrives at a bad time
Mike shows up, and James thinks he is one of the intruders and shoots him dead by mistake. James then remembers an old radio transmitter in the garage and tries to reach it, but the Man in the Mask knocks him out. When James does not come back, Kristen runs to the garage and watches Pin-Up Girl smash the radio. She goes back to the house and hides in the pantry, where Dollface and the Man in the Mask find her, and he knocks her out too. By now the couple has lost their phones, their car and the radio.
Because you were home
By dawn James and Kristen have woken up bound to chairs in the living room. Kristen asks why this is happening, and Dollface answers, "Because you were home." The strangers take off their masks and take turns stabbing the couple, which is the scene to brace for, and it comes right at the end. Afterward they leave, run into two boys handing out religious leaflets, and Dollface accepts one. Just before they drive away, Pin-Up Girl says that next time will be easier.
The ending, explained
The two boys walk up to the house and find the bloodied bodies of Kristen, James and Mike. One of them bends over the bodies to check them. Kristen suddenly regains consciousness, grabs his hand and screams. The strangers have driven away, and the movie ends there. Mike was already dead from James's mistake.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: no dog in it.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Strangers scary?
The Strangers is a 7 out of 10 with high dread. It has jump scares and three masked strangers who stalk a couple in a remote house.
How does The Strangers end?
The strangers stab Kristen and James, and Mike has already been shot by mistake. Two boys find the bodies, and Kristen grabs one boy's hand and screams.
Does the dog die in The Strangers?
There is no dog in The Strangers, so no dog dies.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Strangers?
No. The Strangers has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Why do the strangers attack in The Strangers?
When Kristen asks, Dollface says it is because they were home.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of The Strangers is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You can skip the 86 minutes of The Strangers and still know what happens. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur horror before you see it.
