When Strangers Appear (2001) - IMDb user comments:
--A lonely young woman named Beth (Aussie actress Rahda Mitchell from LOVE & OTHER CATASTROPHES, HIGH ART, and PITCH BLACK) lives in a small town in California with (literally) only five to six residents. She works days at a roadside diner and nights at a motel, both of which were left to her by her late father. A young drifter named Jack Barrett (Barry Watson of TV's 7TH HEAVEN) appears at the diner one day, a knife wound to the abdomen. He tells her that he is being chased, and, soon enough, three men (Josh Lucas, Jonathan Blick, Eryn Wilson), claiming to be surfers, show up (in a Volvo, of all cars). Jack, hiding in the kitchen, tells Beth that these are the men who are chasing him. Jack later collapses in the parking lot, and Beth decides to help him. She gives him a room at the motel, and later also gives the three surfers a room, two doors down. She soon befriends the main surfer, Peter (Lucas). Later that night, Beth takes Jack to a doctor friend of hers, Eric (Steven Ray), who can sew up Jack's wound. Meanwhile, outside, the three surfers wait outside the house in their car, silent. The next day, Eric won't answer his phone. What has happened to him? Beth finds medication in Jack's car. Who can Beth trust? The drifter Jack? The surfers? How about the local (and lone) cop Bryce (Kevin Anderson), whom Beth claims once raped her?
As far as low-budget films go, this one, written and directed by Scott Reynolds, is right on the money in most respects. There are several suspenseful scenes, from Jack hiding in the kitchen while the three surfers make small talk with Beth to Beth hiding in a gas station bathroom stall while the person who is hunting her stands outside the door, switchblade in hand. SPOILER: the best scene involves Jack and Beth hiding in the bathroom while the three surfers try to coax the two out, during which Deep Purple's "Hush" blares loudly on the jukebox.
The use of flashbacks is nice and adds suspense and, in a scene between Beth and Bryce, adds insight into the characters and their motivations. Every actor does their job with conviction, especially Mitchell, whose American accent is so dead-on I would've thought she was American if I hadn't already seen her in earlier films huh I heard an accent & liked it & wondered if Australian or NZ; Watson, who is slowly growing out of his 7TH HEAVEN persona; Anderson, as good here as he was in MILES FROM HOME; and Lucas, who keeps you guessing as to his identity until it is finally revealed. And, you wouldn't really know it unless you're familiar with the territory, but the entire film was filmed in Foxton, New Zealand! I'm from California, and I must say that the beautiful grasslands and coastline of Foxton subbed wonderfully for California, even up to the driftwood.
SPOILER: the ending at the gas station is photographed and shot beautifully with enough suspense to keep you guessing until the very end, but I could've done without the add-on after the credits. what happened there, in the 'epilogue' (also mentioned on boards)
decent sum.
--Stay for the duration of the credits for a nice tongue-in-cheek surprise.
--Stay tuned for the end credits, there's a set up for a possible sequel.

--set in Oregon say several so above probably wrong in taking it as Calif.

--builds to a crescendo, and smirks at you at the end.
is that what it does? I am ok with no answer to what was on the cd - in keeping w how little we know about who the people (including the girl) are.
but I am unsure about her lighting the cigarette.. (at a burning gas station, she's sure to die if she does not run, right?) I kind of like it, I think.

-- A lot of the discussion seems to be about the last two minutes of this film, which seems unfair, but actually makes sense because the ending, for me, is the main beauty of the film. The ending is perfect. This film is fast-paced, with constant turns and surprises, a real, classic thriller basically - and throughout the film there are long scenes where almost nothing happens, just suspense building up, and then it explodes in panic and headlong flight. This film is an attempt to make a thriller that doesn't have to prove itself, that doesn't need an excuse to exist, that simply just works on the basis of atmosphere and mood.

-- Intentionally and entirely claustrophobic, but set in the vast sprawl of the American off-interstate. It's a bit Hitchcockian. Told entirely from one person's point of view, giving you only a tiny bit more information than she knows.
It is like snapshot in time. You only get a hint of what has happened to the people in the story before it began. Enough only to give you a bit of insight into what they are doing and why. But not much. You hardly know the character's names because you don't need to. check.
There is no big twist to the ending or anything which is good as it would have been entirely inappropriate but the last 10 seconds with the cigarette is great. It would have been nice for me though if the film had ended with the bearded Gas Station attendant escaping with the disc and the girl dead, preserving the cyclical symmetry of the story.
I love the fact that you never find out what is on the disc. And that even though the people protecting it do not know either, they are put in a situation where they are (believably) willing to kill and die for it. If they don't know what is on it why should you? check.

--And then the moron goes in the gas station and grabs a cigarette and is about to light it, even though she's covered in gasoline. I don't think anyone is that retarded. Maybe there's some super-meaningful "oh she was trying to kill herself" deep thought-provoking meaning, but if there was, there was no way of telling, and if anyone thinks there was, you are a jackass who reads WAY too much into things. And then, magically at just the right moment, the sprinklers come on, once again MAGICALLY saving her. ah, she was even covered in gasoline, ok all the spraying was gas - someone else complained how it looked like water, I thought it was, not being any good at knowing what I am seeing or anything practical-obvious like that spraying liquid at a gas station is gas.
why did she drive the car into the gas station rather than away?
--here's a sequence towards the end when Beth has a chance to escape in a car, but instead of doing that which any normal human being would, she decides it will be best if she rammed her car into the cars of the bad guys which pretty much prevents her from ever having a chance of getting away. ok so there's not some practical reason (something I missed)? that's all I wanted to know.

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