English, baby!

The Strangers

Date: Jul 02 2008

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Can a scary movie be too scary? That’s the point, right? But what if it’s so scary you can barely watch it. Wouldn’t that be like food so spicy you can’t eat it?

The concept behind The Strangers is familiar. Everyone has been in a house in the middle of nowhere and thought, “If something happened out here, no one would hear me scream.”

Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman are a couple spending the night at a house in the woods. They’re stalked by three masked killers who hide in the background of many of the shots unbeknownst to the characters.

Now, Beren loves scary movies. But The Strangers was almost too much. Listen to her talk to Marni about it.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Beren

Marni

Beren: I just went and saw this movie, a scary movie, called The Strangers.

Marni: You love scary movies. I do too and I’ve been wondering. So how was it? Scary?

Beren: Oh my God! OK, so I kinda got roped into going, like I didn’t really want to go. I was like, “Oh, that looks stupid and I already went and saw The Ruins,” which was awesome too. Anyway, I was like, “I don’t really want to go.” And I’d read reviews and I remember being on the Internet that day and just glancing over CNN or something like there was a critic weighing in, “Is it maybe too scary? Is that why it’s getting ripped to shreds?”

Marni: Oh, interesting!

Beren: So that piqued my curiosity.

Marni: Too scary? What is that? What constitutes “too scary”?

Beren: So I went to the theater and I was with two friends. The movie starts and I’d say within 15, 20 minutes, I wanted to run to the front of the screen, in front of all those people and just scream and shake my head and run out of the theater. I seriously was so scared…

Marni: You couldn’t handle it?

Beren: I couldn’t handle it. I can handle really scary movies, but I was hiding. I was just like, “Oh my God.”

Marni: Because it’s based on true events, right?

Beren: Mm-hmm. Like a couple goes out into the country…out in the middle of nowhere. It was brutal from beginning to end. You’re just like, “I cannot believe this.” And I think that’s what makes it so scary it’s…there’s no humor, really. It’s unrelenting.

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Discussion

Beren’s friends took her to see The Strangers even though she didn’t really want to see it. A few minutes in, she thought about leaving, but not because the movie was bad…because it was just so scary!

The story was inspired by true events, and like a real-life murder there is little humor. It’s terrifying from beginning to end. So if that sounds like fun to you, check it out.

Have you ever been afraid while you were in the woods? What’s sort of setting is the scariest to you?

Comments

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CatcheR

Iceland

No, I am not afraid at all, I’m not afraid of anything hehe

Amy90

China

i don’t like this movie … sometimes when i am alone , i will think so many bad thing, like ghost will eat me , ghost will take me away from this world….

The scary movie in china are most about the ghost ,oh my god .that make me timid…

lovingjessy

China

the lesson is great,while the film is,emmmm,so boring_~lol

stand by me

Saudi Arabia

i like this lesson cuz. i like the scary movies

sapuna

Maldives

hi ! are u Maldivian

swufeyaya

China

i seldom see scary movie,because i can't sleep after watching it.

it is funny.i kinda like to tell friends scary story before.But,the story always scare nobody excepyt myself.

jeongminjeon

South Korea

TOO SCARY!

metal21

Nicaragua

As for me, movies about murders aren't really horror movies, that's "gore" because in
this kind of movies there's always blood everywhere, I prefer movies about ghosts, possessions, and japanesse horror movies which are the best. Because of the plot that I've heard about this movie THE STRANGERS" I think I'm fed up with these stories about murders, we have many movies with this plot such as: SCREAM, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, URBAN LEDGENDS, HOUSE OF WAX, FRIDAY 13…..............

Adriana15

Mexico

I haven´t seen this movie, but this lesson piqued my curiosity

Sawdestination

Mexico

Vitaly 111:

Low budgets doesn´t mean bad movies. It depends of the director and the actors he/she choose, don´t you think? There´s a lot of big budget films that sucks!!! You can see, for example "Jumper" (action – science fiction) vs "The descent" (horror). Did you see "The descent" at the movies? I recommend you to see it at night, it´s so scary!!!

GHado0o0sh

Saudi Arabia

I agree with baren..sometimes movies are too scary..so we dont finsh it!!!what’s the point??

zhalanlan

China

i donot like scary movies,but i like to frighten friends for fun.They frighten me sometimes.

SÉRGIO

Brazil

It sounds nice!!

iamtorik

Uzbekistan

I LOVEEEE scary movies!! not the stupid ones !!

i guess the scaries one i've ever seen was "one missed call", but not the american version!!

it was the first time when i closed my eyes )) n even after that i kept on screaming .. haha

***angel***

Italy

Who has never seen a scary movie? In my opinion it's a way to exorcize our dreads.. just as u are walking in the dark..and your mind imagine someone either a strange animal or insect is going to hit you! ONE's as you have seen such kind of movies nothing could frighten you anymore! At heart its only a movie.. if it was a real life experience,it would be much more owesome! I just think that I'd like to see one's..mmh mhh

Vitaly111

Russian Federation

Well, I ve got to check "The Strangers". But i am quite sure that it's not as scary as they say. This movie is not really expencsive: the budget was just $10000000. That's why i don't think they could create a scariest movie in the world.

We ll see