You know how your mom always told you not to talk to strangers? Or take sweets from strangers? Or get into a stranger's car? It was good advice and probably saved you (and mom) a lot of heartache. Unfortunately, there was a big gaping hole in her safety and security education. She didn't arm you with the correct knowledge on what to do when strangers rock up at your holiday home and mindlessly terrorise you for no apparent reason.

It would have been knowledge that served Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) well.

The young couple are not really getting on too well. Kristen has just turned down James' offer of marriage so she's feeling decidedly guilty (especially as he has taken her away for a romantic weekend in the middle of nowhere, of course). And he's feeling decidedly dejected and probably a little bit silly about all the wasted rose petals he's strewn all over his family holiday home.

But little do they know that romantic entanglements are the least of their issues. They're about to be brutalised by three mask-wearing axe-wielding maniacs who give new meaning to the phrase "Stranger Danger".

Sound like every other horror movie? Well, truthfully originality isn't its strongest point — largely meaningless comparisons have been made to artsy home invasion drama 'Funny Games' as well as 'Halloween' and even 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.

But, weirdly on some level 'The Strangers' works. Maybe it's the long, lingering shots of a masked man lurking undetected in the shadows, maybe it's the gradual but intense build up to the strangers actually striking, or maybe it's the revelation of why Kristen and James were chosen as their victims.

However you look at it, there is something completely and utterly terrifying about it, something that will have you checking under the beds and lying awake to the wee hours listening for banging at your door.