When Strangers Appear (2001)

Sadly Over-hyped

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Granted the premise has been done, but this is a fun suspense film and also as Josh Lucas in it, so add a few stars.Radha Mitchell is basically a restaurant/motel owner in a desolate Oregon town. She has a customer (Barry Watson, child actor from "Seventh Heaven" for anyone who recalls that series, circa 1997).Anyway, odd things start to occur and her doctor friend becomes a victim. Three strangers apparently on vacation drop in, and proceed to terrorize her.Radha Mitchell is believable though, and has since been in a Woody Allen film ("Melinda and Melinda") so she does a few things right.Watch for Josh Lucas in recent period piece "Stolen" also with Jon Hamm (from "Mad Men") a nice suspense film recently made in 2009. Overall give "Strangers" a chance. 8/10.

I'm a dial twitcher & world weary...pretty much have seen it all already. Turned this on TV & watched a little & switched to another channel. Had to turn back...it was that compelling. Highly recommend for all the reasons any of the other reviewers did AND that it held my interest, which is a good enough reason for me to watch anything. Had to suspend belief to buy that this many very good looking people, ESPECIALLY Josh Lucas, who could easily be a candidate to fill the shoes of Paul Newman with those eyes, would be doing such evil things or living such strange lives. Must've been something real important on that CD.

When Strangers Appear has a mostly American cast in the leads, the only name though that is any kind of recognizable to American audiences is Barry Watson from 7th Heaven. Being unknown the rest of the cast has an opportunity to escape with reputations intact because they have no reputations.We call the film a Kiwi Klunker because though the story location is American it was shot in New Zealand. They too, were smart not to be associated with the movie.Radha Mitchell who bears a slight resemblance to Christina Applegate from Married With Children is the owner/proprietor of a small restaurant that is dying on the vine for lack of business since a new Interstate took a different route. This isolation is partly the reason for the strange goings-on.Barry who is a surly loner comes into her place and she's not quite believing him. Later on three surfer type dudes come in and he takes to hiding. Radha of course doesn't know who to believe and spends the rest of the film trying to figure out who the good and the bad guys are.No life gets breathed into this film at any time. You get to the point where you absolutely don't care about halfway through the movie. As for Barry Watson, he was better served in his career with Sorority Boys.Pass this Klunker from down under right on by.

I'd never heard of it before either, but it was on TV in the middle of the night, and I copped Radha Mitchell's name in the credits. Radha Mitchell could make a root canal an engaging watch, bless her heart.The story goes like this: Beth runs a diner and a motel on a desolate stretch of highway. She's a bitter loner, justifiably distrustful of the local authority and wildly unpopular with her neighbours. The only person who bothers speaking to her is the jealous hellbitch sending her hatemail. Her routine is broken by a scruffy, antsy stranger coming to the diner in a stolen car. Grateful for the interruption, and out of sheer bloody-mindedness towards the local lawfolk, Beth gives him a breakfast. She figures out that his agitation is closely linked to the fresh stab wound in his gut, but she figures this out just as more strangers arrive, this time a group of laid back surfers. Stranger #1 freaks out and threatens to kill her unless she hides him from the newcomers. Either the first guy or the second guys are nuts... which is it? What follows is sort of like... Duel, on foot. There's no background music, the desert locations are few enough to feel claustrophobic, Beth barely survives by only her wits and stubborn guts, and the questions just keep coming. Are the surfers a threat? Is the guy crazy? How did he get hurt? How come that fountain of gasoline looks so much like water, and how do three people and a stab victim brawl around in it without any irritation? Why is said gasoline so selectively flammable? Why does the local crazywoman hate Beth so much? Since when does Oregon have desert? But then it stumbles. After three quarters of a wire-tight, cat and mouse thriller, a major plot-point turns out to be largely redundant, and our characters get all MacGuyver on each other. It's a shame that the ending is so madly out of step with the rest of the film, but three quarters of a great film will do me fine, and Mitchell remains predictably and apparently effortlessly excellent, whether she's freaking out or fighting back.