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'The Strangers'

3 stars = Good
Ratings explained

• Starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman
• Rating: R for violence, terror and language
• Web site: TheStrangers.net

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Gore vs. Suspense is not a Supreme Court case. It is the basic choice all fright flicks must make, and the better ones -- like Bryan Bertino's "The Strangers" -- choose suspense.

Just when you thought it was safe to go into your remote getaway in the woods at night ...

Only an idiot, of course, would think this place is safe. But fortunately for horror-film purposes, there's never a shortage of idiots, who not only go there but stay there until one or the other inevitably utters the three obligatory words, "You wait here," while the other one goes for help or cigarettes.

And then, as Mother would say, there'll be tears.

Well, I'm being a little hard on Kristen and James (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman). They're not really idiots. They're just a problematic yuppie couple about to be engaged, and it was James' bright idea to propose over a romantic late dinner at his dad's isolated vacation house (which he has thoughtfully strewn with rose petals in advance). But they've been quarreling. "I'm just not ready," she says, and it looks like they're off to separate beds -- with maybe a little breakup sex first -- when suddenly, at 4 a.m. ...

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Stranger.

Stranger who?

Stranger than fiction (allegedly based on fact).

Strangers plural, actually, wearing eerie masks, insistent on gaining entry and becoming increasingly terroristic when refused.

In his feature film debut, writer-director Bertino takes his time pacing and ominously building the tension. "Will you just stay on the phone with me?" Kristen asks James. (Click.) A smoke detector goes off. Words appear on walls and windows. The victims keep retreating to a smaller and smaller space -- inevitably, the basement -- as things go bump and thump, ever louder, in the night.

But the most wonderfully terrifying device is a phonograph that keeps playing inappropriate country songs (Woody Guthrie's "At My Window, Sad and Lonely" and Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried"), with the needle stuck and skipping in the final groove.

Kudos to Tyler and Speedman for their vulnerable, believable, low-key performances and to Bertino for an accomplished exercise in diabolical terror -- even if it makes no particular sense. His operating theory (and justification) is, neither did the Manson-Tate killings.

Yes, well. This is pure sadomasochism, albeit well-made, complete with a "Carrie"-like final fillip. It's the stuff of nightmares, for people who like to be truly creeped out. "The Strangers" is just the opposite of a date movie: Take someone you want to break up with.