Rating summary
| Movie |  | 2.0 |
| Video |  | 4.0 |
| Audio | | 4.0 |
| Extras | | 2.0 |
| Overall | | 2.0 |
The Stranger Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 16, 2015
The Stranger is one of the more redolent titles in the history of international media, having graced everything from Albert Camus’
defining work of existentialism, to Orson Welles’ film about a
quasi-Fifth Columnist who’s infiltrated good old small town America. In fact, there are scores of films named The Stranger going back to
the silent era, and with that many entries bearing the same title, it’s perhaps unsurprising that this 2014 film will probably struggle to attain its
own identity.
The Stranger markets itself as an Eli Roth production, but it boasts very little of Roth’s sometimes insouciant demeanor, delivering
instead a pretty tired vampire story dressed up in an end of the world mien, with an infectious disease subtext that plays a bit like
another celebrated filmmaker’s rebooting
of vampire tropes, Guillermo del Toro’s
The Strain: The Complete First Season.
The Stranger’s titular character is one Martin (Cristóbal Tapia Montt), a kind of Rasputin-esque looking vagrant who wanders into an
isolated small town, supposedly in search of his estranged wife Ana (Lorenza Izzo). What initially plays like a piece of dysfunctional family angst
(also including some of the interrelated townsfolk) soon gives up its ghost, and/or its gore, when it’s revealed that Martin and Ana supposedly
suffer from a horrible disease that makes them thirst for human blood. Martin’s wishes for Ana are not exactly harmless, and indeed he has
evident plans for his own mortality, something that a brutal attack by the twisted son of a crooked cop would seem to have aided. But Martin
survives, with the help of
another local teen and his mother, leading to a cascading series of horrifying consequences.
The
Stranger has issues with pacing, but it builds a suitably spooky mood that nonetheless is unable to completely overcome a derivative
storyline.
The Stranger Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
The Stranger is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of IFC Midnight and Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded
1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Director Guillermo Amoedo and cinematographer Chechu Graf play rather aggressively with the image throughout the
feature, offering (at different times) sepia toned sequences, heavily desaturated moments, and an overall kind of tamped down palette that will
then pop (at least relatively speaking) rather well in some brightly lit outdoor moments. A lot of the film is appropriately dark, with good if not
exceptional levels of detail. That said, fine detail can be quite commendable in close-ups, even in some of these dimly lit moments. Despite the
overall darkness of the feature, there are no major problems with compression issues.
The Stranger Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The Stranger offers an occasionally forceful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that offers some good immersion in its placement of ambient
environmental sounds, as well as some creepy sound effects. This was an international production from a cast and crew standpoint, and my
hunch is large swaths of the film were post looped, for there are minor sync issues and the same kind of slightly surreal feeling to the soundtrack
that often attends classic Italian films (which were of course filmed silently, having sound added later). Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range
wide on this problem free track.
The Stranger Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- Short Film - The Fourth Horseman (1080p; 10:45) is not the wrap up to Sleepy Hollow.
- Welcome to Chilewood (1080p; 6:24)
- Theatrical Trailer (U.S.) (1080p; 1:41)
- Theatrical Trailer (Chile) (1080p; 2:10)
- Photo Gallery (1080i; 3:29)
The Stranger Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
Even the marquee value of Eli Roth probably won't be enough to convince droves of horror lovers to invite this Stranger into their homes.
The film simply shambles, more zombie-like in fact, never working up any convincing momentum. There is a palpable mood running
through The Stranger, but it's sadly ineffective in supporting a tired story and some less than convincing performances. Technical merits
are generally very good for those considering a purchase.
