It is a performances centric movie

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

WHEN STRANGERS APPEAR, a low budget Kiwi thriller set around a remote diner, has the potential to be a minor classic of the genre. It has a tight, focused script and lots of suspense scenes that work well given the constraints of the budget. A shame, then, that Scott Reynolds is a better writer than he is director, because it's the indifferent direction that really lets this down.The first half hour of the film is the best. We're introduced to the tough, focused heroine (an easy job for Radha Mitchell), her life, and the mysterious strangers who come into it. We don't know much and things work better that way. As the story goes on, though, it seems to become less focused and just involves people chasing other people around, and I felt less and less invested in the story. Sure, there are some good twists here, but by the time of the unbelievable climax I was eager for the story to end. The plot is too simplistic and the running time seems padded out.It's not all bad, and in places this is much better than your average Hollywood thriller, but it could have been so much more had greater effort been made in terms of staging and originality. More set-pieces and less waffle would have been better, I think. Still, there's quite a lot to commend here, not least some assured performances from Josh Lucas and Barry Watson.

***SPOILERS*** It's when drifter Jack Barrett, Barry Watson, showed up at Beth's , Radha Mitchell, out of the way off the beaten track, or main highway, diner that things started getting real interesting as well as deadly. Acting as if he has something to hide, in what turned out to be a mysterious CD, Jack kept looking outside expecting someone to show up looking for him. That didn't take long when this trio of surfers Peter Steven & Roger, Josh Lucas Jon Blick & Eryn Wilson, drove up an hour later.Terrified and fearing for his life Jack, hiding behind the counter, begged Beth not to reveal him to the three strangers, which what seemed at the time to be against her worst suspicions about him, which she didn't. As things soon turned out the three surfer boys were anything but the happy go lucky lads, looking for the perfect wave, that they seemed to be. Whatever they did and whatever they had against Jack was left up to the viewers and Beth's imagination. But it was enough for them to murder anyone who stood in the way between them and Jack and the CD he had on him that they were so desperately after.What at first seemed to be the films most weakest point in the end turned out to be its strongest: The mysterious CD that Jack had on him that he guarded with his very life. We never get to know what exactly is on the CD but that's the very reason were so interested in it. Beth for her part slowly starts to believe in what Jack was telling her about the three strangers in that he was suffering from an almost fatal stab wound that they supposedly inflicted on him. Beth is also pestered and threatened by local cop Bryce, Kevin Anderson, whom she accused of raping her and who's wife Lynda, Dra Mckay, who accuses her of having and affair with him. This makes for an interesting side-story in the movie but doesn't add anything to the terror and suspense in it.***SPOILERS*** It takes a while for Beth to finally be convinced in what Jack was telling her about the three strangers and that's only after Dr. Eric Leonard, Steven Ray, who was treating Jack's knife wound ended up being murdered by them. The three killers lead by the smooth talking and friendly Peter then came out into the open and showed exactly what they were all about with Beth, in Jack accidentally electrocuting himself, on her own in single handedly taking them on! That's until the unexpected hero in the movie gas station attendant Bernie, Michael Lowe, almost by accident showed up on the scene!Nerve wrecking and tense filled climax with the heroic gas station attendant Bernie, who was savagely worked over by the three thugs, coming to Beth's rescue only to end up losing his life by doing it. It was Bernie's brave action that gave Beth the precious time to set into motion the events that finally lead to the movie's flaming and explosive climatic scene. It was then that Peter & Co. got everything that was coming to them! Everything except the mysterious CD that they were after, and murdered so many people for, all throughout the film!

It's extremely manipulative, some scenes make little sense, character development is weak, absurd coincidences abound, and the ending leaves the audience hanging cruelly. Nevertheless, "When Strangers Appear" keeps moving along and does maintain interest. It's just a little too cute for it's own good, and in the final analysis acceptable entertainment but nothing more. One last point, none of the characters are likable, including the heroine. If you want to watch a much better twisty movie which at least makes sense, and is far more entertaining, I highly recommend "Clay Pidgeons", with Jaquin Phoenix and Vince Vaughn. - MERK

Am I the only one that disliked this? I found myself rooting for the villains. For surely Radha Mitchell was absolutely the worst actress ever. Her screaming, over acting and generally annoying presence made me want the three guys to do her in. No such luck. She survives. I didn't even find her that attractive. With acting talent that maybe goes to a 2 level, she ruined this film for me. Scott Mitchell who wrote and directed this must have been in cloud nine when he cast her, as everybody else wasn't that bad. I liked Josh Lucas and Barry Watson and would like to see more of these guys in a more likable movie. Glad this was on LMN TV as I didn't have to pay for it. If I did, I'd ask for my money back. What kind of a name is Radha anyway?