Movie Review: ‘Welcome The Stranger’

Review by Caitlin Zeigler

Alice (Abbey Lee) shows up at her brother Ethan’s (Caleb Landry Jones) home unannounced and they start getting paranoid. Alice showed up to make amends with Ethan, while he’s in the middle of trying to finish writing a book that’s past its deadline. Her paranoia makes Ethan paranoid and they promise to stick together until Ethan’s girlfriend Misty (Riley Keough) shows up and causes a divide. The problem is if Alice is paranoid, suspicious and going crazy, then why is Ethan also experiencing the same things?

This film is a weird, mysterious thriller, but it feels like it’s missing something. It’s possible that Alice and Ethan were both going crazy and that strange things were really happening. It’s also possible that Alice never existed and Ethan was going crazy trying to finish his book, while never leaving home or taking a break. The problem is the film just ends with no explanation. If the things they were seeing were real, there was no explanation of who, what, when, where and why. It is well acted, edited and shot, but it still feels like it’s missing a purpose or at least a good one.