...and to put it shortly, it's not as intriguing as Pitch Black but far more enjoyable than Lantana on the other hand.

yes it's true, this is only B-grade low-budget suspense thriller where nothing is as it appears to be (speaking of immediate succession of events) but nonetheless I really liked Radha Mitchell in her role, I really liked the humble setup and I really liked the ending where the story bends into a full circle (well, almost).

maybe it's not an art film of the year with heart-breaking scenes where father and son meet after years of nerve-wrecking separation or something but it's quite enjoyable if you give it a chance. I did and wasn't disappointed.

7/10

***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!

"When Strangers Appear" is a B-movie suspense/thriller flick which is little more than one long string of obvious stalk/scream/run/relax contrivances. This kinetic flick is all about three guys who may be psycho and one other guy who may be psycho running around like rats in a maze looking for a babe (Mitchell) who has something they want. In spite of all the obvious flaws from poor character development to an incorrect spelling of an anti-psychotic drug on a pill bottle, "WSA" does manage nominal no-brainer excitement, builds to a crescendo, and smirks at you at the end. Okay for couch potatoes in the mood for some nail biting escapism. (C)