The screenplay was inspired by two real-life events: the multiple-homicide Manson family Tate murders and a series of break-ins that occurred in Bertino's neighborhood as a child.

The couple attempts to escape in the car, but are abruptly stopped when the masked brunette woman rear-ends them in a pickup truck.

[10] The film has also been noted by scholar Philip Simpson as highlighting "the divide between the underprivileged and privileged classes," as well as for its inversion of commonly-held beliefs about violence in urban areas and pastoral ethics: "The Strangers, as many horror films do ... undermines the conventional notion of rural society as a simpler, crime-free place.

One might call the narrative sensibility informing The Strangers 'pastoral paranoia', in that danger lurks among the rough folk of the country rather than the suburbs and cities.

Additionally, Williams reads the three masked assailants as metaphors for the "repressed and unresolved tensions affecting the couple inside the house.

[14]In interviews, Bertino stated he was "very impressed" with some of the theories circulating on the Internet about the "true events" the movie is allegedly based on, but said that his main inspiration was the true crime book Helter Skelter, which is about the Manson Family murders;[17] some journalists speculated that the film was also inspired by the unsolved Keddie Cabin Murders of 1981 that occurred in a small vacation community in California's Sierra Nevada.

[20] Bertino entered the screenplay for The Strangers into a screenwriting contest, after which he sold its directorial rights to Universal Pictures.

[14] Tyler, who had not worked for several years after the birth of her son, accepted the part after being impressed by the script, which she read while on a flight from Japan to Los Angeles:[21] "I especially liked Bryan's way of saying a lot, but not saying everything.

[25] Kip Weeks was then chosen as the Man in the Mask, and television actress Laura Margolis, who found the script to be a real "page turner", was cast in the part of Pin-Up Girl.

[14] In retrospect, Bertino said he chose the three actors based on their abilities to convey their characters in spite of the fact that their faces remain unseen onscreen.

[15] Bertino had not initially planned on directing The Strangers, and had been disconnected from the project after selling directorial rights to Universal Pictures.

It was shot on location roughly 10 miles (16 km) outside of Florence, South Carolina, and the 2,000-square-foot (190 m2) house interior was constructed by a set crew.

[14] Tyler described the shoot as mentally and physically taxing due to the "heightened emotional state" that she and her fellow actors had to sustain.

[30] Several changes were made to the film during post-production, primarily regarding the conclusion: In the screenplay and the original footage shot, the three masked strangers reveal their faces on camera.

[30] Following test screenings, it was decided by the producers that the strangers' faces should remain unseen to the audience, which required the sequences following the stabbing to be excised.

[32] "This is an impressive score and adds a tremendous chill-factor to the film," says Zach Freeman of Blogger News, grading it with an A.

[33] All tracks are written by TomandandyIn late July 2007, Bertino, Tyler and Speedman attended San Diego Comic-Con to promote the film; all three were present for a questions-and-answers panel session, as well as a screening of the film's official teaser trailer;[34] this trailer was released on the internet several weeks later.

Two one-sheet posters for the film were released in August 2007, one showing the three masked Strangers,[37] and the other displaying a wounded Liv Tyler.

The website's critical consensus reads: "The Strangers has a handful of genuinely scary moments, but they're not enough to elevate the end results above standard slasher fare.

"[49] Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that "No one is getting at anything in The Strangers, except the cheapest, ugliest kind of sadistic titillation.

'Vacancy' director Nimród Antal gave us a pair of heroes who fought like hell to survive, becoming closer and stronger in the effort.

"[52] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, said the film "uses cinema to ends that are objectionable and vile," but admitted that "it does it well, with more than usual skill.

"[55] Among the positive reviews, Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times said The Strangers is "suspenseful," "highly effective," and "smartly maintain[s] its commitment to tingling creepiness over bludgeoning horror.

"[57] James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying that, "This is one of those rare horror movies that concentrates on suspense and terror rather than on gore and a high body count.

"[59] Additional positive feedback for the film came from JoBlo.com reviewer Berge Garabedian, who praised director Bertino for "building the tension nicely, with lots of silences, creepy voices, jump scares, use of songs and a sharp eye behind the camera, as well as plenty of Steadicam give it all more of a voyeuristic feel.

"[60] Critic Kim Newman, writing for Empire magazine, remarked the film's retro style, noting: "Like much recent horror, from the homages of the grindhouse gang through flat multiplex remakes of drive-in classics, The Strangers looks to the '70s", and ultimately summarized it as "an effective, scary emotional work-out.

[66] In commemoration of the film's 10th anniversary, a two-disc collector's edition Blu-ray by Scream Factory was released on March 6, 2018, featuring a 2K video transfer, as well as a combination of new and archival cast and crew interviews.

[5][6][7] In 2009, it was ranked #13 on "Bravo's 13 Scarier Movie Moments" television piece,[70] and in a 2018 retrospective, Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly deemed the film a "modern-day slasher classic.

[72] In August 2008, Rogue Pictures confirmed that a sequel was in the works,[73] with Brian Bertino co-writing the screenplay with Ben Ketai.

[74] The project was originally slated to enter principal photography in 2009,[74] during which time it was tentatively titled The Strangers: Part II.