Welcome the Stranger

Alice (Abbey Lee Kershaw) arrives unannounced at her estranged brother Ethan (Caleb Landry Jones)'s mansion. He reluctantly allows her to stay overnight. The siblings have a mysterious mommy issue with their late mother. Ethan's girlfriend Misty (Riley Keough) arrives.

"Hey, stop acting weird.", Ethan tells Alice in front of Misty. That's what I want to say to this movie. Writer/director Justin Kelly is trying really hard to be arthouse worthy with close-ups, mumblecore, a portal to nowhere, and a strange psychosexual mystery. It's trying too hard and being too weird. Abbey Lee has the haunted emaciated look of a supermodel. Caleb looks like a creepy serial killer. They're acting strange for the sake of the movie. It's play acting. It could still be saved by an amazing ending to wrap it up. Instead, it does the amateur move and does it without the kinetic energy to drive it home. This is a slow, long tease to a hollow ending and doesn't explain some of the more weird elements.

This film is a very interesting feature that psychologically ascends reaching many levels. A mystery thriller with very mild hints of disturbing scenarios preparing to unfold. The storyline moves at a slow pace but always remains intriguing and entertaining through out. It also pushes the boundaries a bit but not quite enough to really set this film apart to stand out from others and become memorable.

Now the obstacle with storylines that try to be unique and edgy with a psychological twist boils down to one factor, If they do not know where they are going or if they have no idea how to explain the events that unfolded on film most movies like this one will just quit and run the credits as if it's the viewers fault for not hypothesizing a good ending or leaving it to ones own interpretation to figure it out. Ultimately at the end you'll feel as though you've wasted your time and now your more angry than the chrachters you just watched on screen. Was this scene a dream she had or did this really happen, Was he hallucinating etc.etc. We watch intriguing movies to experience someones story not imagine our own explanation.

This film was a very interesting ride until you realize at the end it's just a hampster wheel going nowhere. I advise you to skip this film it isn't worth the time but if you have a couple hours to waste you should enjoy it.

I wanted to like the movie but that didn't happen. Neither actress is very good at acting so they did little to add anything to the movie.

Welcome the Stranger does not have mass commercial appeal. It's a very loose, uncomfortable film that, depending on how you understand the resolution, can be open to a WIDE range of interpretations. Only the very last scene is presented as something beyond superficial question. Everything else is ultimately to be analyzed in relation to this last scene. Most viewers don't want to analyze, which is fine, but their not liking this movie is not equivalent to its being pretentious.

Apparently this is another of those incredibly arty and sophisticated films that none of us poor proles can understand. Welcoming the stranger beinng taken from the bible and presumably refers to the aliens in the film - really?

The film was a complete borefest from beginning to end. The acting , what there was of it - not much just lots of long stares and supposedly meaningful incestuous looks - lots of things thrown at us from alien abduction to matricide.

I oft hear the reviewers who are so up their own bum they wear their ass for a hat say that the film leaves you to decide what it was all about - No I dont buy that horse manure , I am afraid that is what ass-hat brigade roll out when even they cannot actually explain what the whole thing was all about - It was not artful , it was not particularly well acted and it was nothing more than an exercise in self indulgent pseudo-intellectual celluloid self aggrandisement!

Take from it what you will - No thanks I should have just watched some paint dry!