Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Monday, March 27
    Trending
    • This Day in History on March 27th
    • This Day in History on March 26th
    • This Day in History on March 25th
    • This Day in History on March 24th
    • History Short: Has Any US President Ever Been Arrested?
    • This Day in History on March 23rd
    • R.I.P. Lance Reddick (1962-2023)
    • This Day in History on March 22nd
    History and Headlines
    • Arts & Entertainment
      • Cinema & TV
      • Games
      • Literature
      • Music
      • Sports
      • Video Games
    • Bizarre Bulletin
      • Misconceptions
      • The Bizarre
      • The Paranormal
      • The Unexplained
    • Lifestyle
      • Animals/Pets
      • Fashion
      • Food
      • Health/Medicine
      • Home Improvement
      • Horoscopes
      • Travel
    • Science & Tech
      • Inventions
      • Nature
      • Vehicles
    • Society
      • Business and Economics
      • Crime
      • Military
      • Politics
      • Religion
      • Society
    • About
      • Welcome to Our Site!
      • This Day in History
      • Table of Contents: A History of the World
      • Online History Textbooks
      • A Guide to Some of Our Favorite Scholars and Educators
      • Advance Screenings and Movie Reviews Archive
      • Schedule of Video Adaptations of Our Articles
    • Friends
      • Armchair History TV
      • Fact Fiend
      • RealClearHistory
      • Simply Charly
      • TopTenz
      • ​Unique Interpretations
    History and Headlines
    You are at:Home»August»August 19»The Stranger: Creepy, Atmospheric Movie Review
    August 19

    The Stranger: Creepy, Atmospheric Movie Review

    Major DanBy Major DanAugust 21, 2020Updated:August 24, 2020No Comments4 Mins Read
    Email Facebook LinkedIn Pinterest Reddit Telegram Tumblr Twitter VKontakte WhatsApp
    The Stranger

    A Brief History

    On August 19, 2020, we got the opportunity to screen The Stranger, a nifty movie cobbled together from a series of short segments that originally appeared on Quibi, a short form streaming service.  If you are into the pulse pounding, high tension drama of life, death, murder and intrigue, this series/film is for you!

    Digging Deeper

    The series consisted of 13 episodes, each about 9 or 10 minutes long, with each episode representing an hour in a day from hell for a young Kansas woman working as a ride share driver in Los Angeles.  Starting at 7 pm and ending at 7 am, the film follows the series format by labeling each segment with the appropriate hour.  Our heroine picks up a “stranger” at a mansion, and soon finds out the guy is not a regular fare, but a psychopathic murderer!  Over the course of the next 12 hours the young woman is stalked, hunted, framed and harassed by this psycho who seems to always be a step ahead of her and the authorities.  Not surprisingly in today’s anti-cop atmosphere, the police are portrayed as unsympathetic, brutal, bumbling, and generally not all that great.  (Since we do not want to ruin the film for you, we will not be going into plot detail so as to avoid spoilers.)

    Every episode (and thus the entire movie) is written and directed by Canadian Veena Sud, which creates a consistency in the story and the “feel” of the film.  (Sud is the driving force behind the AMC series, The Killing.)  The series debuted in April of 2020, and will now be available in the movie format.  While special effects are not a showcase part of the film, they are extremely effective anyway.  For a noirish type of film, the lighting is sufficient that the audience will not be reaching for their night vision devices.  (A pet peeve of ours is movies and television shows that are so dark, unrealistically so dark, that you can hardly make out what is going on.  That is not the case in this thriller.)  The protagonist is Clare, played by 27 year old Maika Monroe, a California girl that is a kiteboarder as well as an actress.  With credits such as It Follows, The Guest, Tau and Villains, she has street cred as a certifiable “scream queen.”  Her nemesis is her evil fare, Carl E, played by Dane DeHaan who was the title character in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.  Younger looking than his 34 years would indicate, DeHaan conquers his boyish good looks to play a convincing psycho.  Speaking of mental illness, it transpires in the film that our own heroine has skeleton in her closet that makes us question her stability as well.  Supporting actors do a good job as well, notably Avan Tudor Jogia as a stereotypical East Indian mini-mart proprietor.  (He is Canadian of Indian and European heritage.)

    We really would like to talk about the character development of Clare and Carl, but we fear doing so would give away too much spoiler material.  Suffice to say, Clare especially evolves as the nightmare unfolds into the long hours approaching dawn.  The film features murder and mayhem, life and death struggle, and may not be suitable for sensitive children, though most teens should be just fine.

    Moving quickly and logically, The Stranger is engaging and will keep your attention focused during the entire movie/series.  We strongly recommend the film and think that fans of damsel in distress films will too!  Enjoy!

    Question for students (and subscribers): What is your favorite damsel in distress thriller? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.

    If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!

    Your readership is much appreciated!

    Historical Evidence

    For more information, please see…

    Malone, Alicia.  The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women.  Mango, 2018.

    Silver, Alain, James Ursini and Elizabeth Ward, editors.  The Film Noir Encyclopedia.  Harry N. Abrams, 2010.

    The featured image in this article, a promotional poster for the 2020 series, The Stranger, is of a poster, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher or the creator of the work depicted.  It is believed that the use of scaled-down, low-resolution images of posters to provide critical commentary on the film, event, etc. in question or of the poster itself, not solely for illustration on a website intended for educational purposes, hosted on servers in the United States, qualifies as fair use under the copyright law of the United States.

    Share. Email Facebook LinkedIn Pinterest Reddit Telegram Twitter Tumblr
    Previous ArticleBizarre Natural Disaster Kills 1800 People!
    Next Article Sharks! Deep Blue Sea 3, Another Sequel
    Major Dan

    Major Dan is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.

    Related Posts

    History Short: Has Any US President Ever Been Arrested?

    March 24, 2023

    R.I.P. Lance Reddick (1962-2023)

    March 23, 2023

    April 4, 2023: Your Chance to Preview Air

    March 19, 2023
    Follow Us!
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Patreon
    Sign Up For Our Newsletter!
    Most Recent

    This Day in History on March 27th

    March 27, 2023

    This Day in History on March 26th

    March 26, 2023

    This Day in History on March 25th

    March 25, 2023

    This Day in History on March 24th

    March 24, 2023

    History Short: Has Any US President Ever Been Arrested?

    March 24, 2023
    This Day in History Video

    Advertisements




    Amazon Affiliate Disclosure Statement

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases via links in the “Historical Evidence” sections of articles.

    About HistoryAndHeadlines.com

    Thanks for visiting History and Headlines!  This site exists primarily for educational purposes and is intended as a resource for Dr. Zar’s students.  Articles are mostly written by either Dr. Zar or his dad (Major Dan).  To any guest readers, please keep that in mind when commenting on articles.   Thank you!

    We try to present our students with historical topics that are both diverse and a bit out of the ordinary.  Our motto is “We try until we succeed!”

    Contact us at admin@historyandheadlines.com

    Guidelines and Policies for Images used on This Site, as well as for Guest and Sponsored Articles, and Other Terms of Use

    Privacy Statement

    © 2023 History and Headlines

    All-Time Most Commented

    July 28, 1866: 18 Year Old Girl Wins Commission to Sculpt Statue of Lincoln (A Truly Great American Woman)

    July 28, 2014

    December 24, 1865: Birth of the Ku Klux Klan

    December 24, 2015

    December 25, 1868: President Johnson Pardons all Confederate Veterans

    December 25, 2015

    February 5, 1909: First Plastic Invented was called Bakelite!

    February 5, 2014

    November 23, 1876: “Boss” Tweed Turned Over to Authorities

    November 23, 2013
    Recommended Book
    © 2023 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

    You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

    History and Headlines
    Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

    Strictly Necessary Cookies

    Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

    If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.