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5.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Strange People remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have an hour to kill and a soft spot for grainy, old-school mystery movies, sure. It’s barely a feature film length, which is honestly its biggest strength. Anyone looking for high-octane thrills or modern pacing should probably skip it. You will likely hate this if you get annoyed by characters who stand around explaining the plot to each other while a dead body is literally right there.
The whole thing feels like a stage play that someone accidentally dragged in front of a camera. There’s a lot of yelling, a lot of sweating, and a whole lot of pointing fingers at people who clearly didn't do it. Walter Brennan shows up, and as always, he's the only one who feels like he’s actually in a real movie.
There is this one moment where the jurors are arguing about circumstantial evidence, and the background noise sounds like they recorded it in a wind tunnel. It's distracting. I spent more time trying to figure out if that was a radiator hissing or a bad microphone issue than paying attention to the supposed murder plot. That’s the kind of movie this is.
You can tell they didn't have much of a budget for sets, so they just put everyone in one room and hoped for the best. It reminds me a bit of the claustrophobia in The Stronger Sex, though way less refined. There’s a specific kind of crankiness in the acting here that feels very '1930s courtroom drama.'
The transition from the 'fake' murder to the 'real' one is handled with about as much grace as a car crash. One minute they're laughing at a prop knife, and the next, someone is gasping for air. It’s hilariously abrupt. I almost rewatched the scene just to make sure I didn't miss a line of dialogue, but then I realized it didn't matter. The movie wasn't going to explain it anyway.
It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even a particularly good mystery. But it has that weird, specific energy of a movie that just wants to get to the point and leave. There's something honest about how thin the script is. It doesn't pretend to be more than a quick whodunit. Sometimes, that's fine. Grab a coffee, watch the clock tick, and don't think too hard about the logic gaps. 🕵️♂️
IMDb 6.9
1922
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