Lessons learned from "The Strangers"

[Mr. Bruce]

I have not taken any tactical classes, but I was intrigued by the violent premise of the new movie, "The Strangers" and tried to watch it with an eye to what-did-the-good-guys-do-wrong.

Warning: possible spoilers.

Synopsis: After a friend's wedding, Guy and Girl return late to vacation home owned by Guy's parents.

Shortly after they arrive, Creepy Girl bangs on door. Guy opens door to talk to Creepy Girl, who apparently unscrewed outdoor lights by door.

Guy goes out to get cigarettes for Girl; Girl is freaked out by scary noises and calls...Guy, tells him to come home soo--hello? hello?

Guy comes home, more scary stuff, more scary stuff, more scary stuff, "my dad's got a shotgun! I wonder where he keeps it...and the ammo".

And when Guy said "Me and the shotgun are going out to the barn--you stay here", that was pretty much it. :banghead:

So. Home defense, lessons learned:

--Harden the house. If you can't harden the house, at least lock the freakin' doors. And don't open the door to anyone at 4 in the morning, just on general principle.

--Keep your cell phone charged. If something weird happens, call the cops.

--Have independent sources of light (big flashlights).

--Mobility and appropriate footwear. If you're going to change from your slinky nightie to jeans, put your shoes on.

--Have a weapon. And for the love of Mike, hang onto it!

--Try to see the big picture. The vacation house, while isolated, is right next to a two-lane country road and lit by streetlights on a non-interruptible power source. The woods around the streetlights is mowed back. It wasn't snowing and it wasn't raining. Once you've got the shotgun, grab warm clothing (hats!) and blankets, and abandon your indefensible position for one that you can dominate.

In the final extreme, set fire to your own house to deny the invaders any advantage they might get from the house!

 

[Fred Fuller]

Unless you have a team of scriptwriters handling the outcome of your real-life encounters, it's often a dangerous thing to attempt to draw lessons from movies... 8^)

Far better you should find someone near you teaching the NRA PPITH (Personal Protection In The Home) class and take that, or at least watch the DVD. You'll get a lot more useful information out of either one than any dozen of Hollywood's finest screamfests.

http://www.nrahq.org/education/training/basictraining.asp (NRA Class Locator)

http://materials.nrahq.org/go/product.aspx?productid=ES 26840 (PPITH DVD)

http://www.nrastore.com/nra/Product.aspx?productid=PB+01781 (PPITH Text)

Stay Safe,

lpl/nc

 

[JWarren]

Mr. Bruce,


Thanks for posting this, and thanks for adding your lessons learned.

I've not watched the movie yet, but will be. It seems that the premise is a valuable reminder of what can happen.

It seems that --despite the seemingly increasing home invasions on the news-- many people just dont' seem to believe that it can happen to them.

Over the last year, I am happy to say that my own mother and father have finally realized the threat of such things and are taking measures to have a more secure and defendable home. I think they kinda thought my wife and I were a tad over-paranoid after our break-in a couple years ago.


At any rate, I have a few perspectives on this as well. Living in a rural area, we have a lot of "bumps" in the night that I often check out. We rarely get any people showing up in the middle of the night, but it has happened.

If I may, I'd like to use your lessons as talking points to add my own ideas/perspectives.

--Harden the house. If you can't harden the house, at least lock the freakin' doors. And don't open the door to anyone at 4 in the morning, just on general principle.

I agree obviously on hardening the house and locking the doors.

In theory, I agree with not opening the doors for anyone at 4 AM. In practice, however, I have a hard time doing this.

My experience has shown that anyone who comes to my home in the wee- early hours has a valid reason to come, or has an emergency and needs help. I can't turn my back on either.

Bear in mind... I'd feel differently if I lived in a different area or in different circumstances.

So, does my area or circumstances magically make me immune to home invasion? Hardly. And at the same time, I have community obligations/expectations. Sometimes you just have to do things you'd rather not do.

Fortunately, my wife is very mindful of what can happen. It isn't just me that addresses any issues. I'll use a recent issue as an example.

A few months ago, we had a guy pull up at the house at 4:50 AM. Instead of knocking at the front door, he started walking down the side of my house and to the back with a flashlight. This drew an alarm for me. I had Jenn get her Glock 19 and gave her a phone. I told her that if she heard anything at ALL call 911 and be ready to shoot anything that came through the front door without announcing itself. She got in a position where she had a line of sight to the door, but was not visible.

I slipped on pants, a T-shirt, and shoes. I put on my 1911 in an IWB Galco holster, and shouldered my AR. I went out the front door and went around the house the opposite way so that I would head off our visitor.

When I came around the corner, he was looking at the side of my house bewildered.

Turns out that this was a guy who has a hunting camp a bit down from my home. He's a good guy, and active in our church.

We have an electronic gate on the only access road to several properties that join us and use our road. For some reason, the gate's remote sensor did not open for him and he was looking for the automatic gate kill switch that USED to be on a meterbox on the rear of my house. He was surprised that it wasn't there anymore. After I came around the corner and got his story, I explained that I had all breakers and kill switches moved inside my house for security.

In his own way, he was trying to be considerate by not waking us at such an earlier hour. But I still couldn't believe that he'd take such a risk-- considering EVERYONE is armed around here. At any rate, I made sure that he was aware that it would be best to knock or call me in the future.

So you just never know....

--Keep your cell phone charged. If something weird happens, call the cops.

Exactly. However, around here, cops are at least 30 minutes out from a 911 call.

--Have independent sources of light (big flashlights).

Yes, BUT.....

ALSO have motion-sensor lights that are on thier own power supply seperate from the house. The solar rechargable ones are great for this. MAKE SURE you mount them so high that a guy can not easily unscrew the bulb.

If the lights are on your home's power, they are down if the power to your home is cut. If they are too low, they just get unscrewed.

I have a double pair of these lights on each corner of my home in such a way that they can essentially light up any part of my home's close by parameter.

--Mobility and appropriate footwear. If you're going to change from your slinky nightie to jeans, put your shoes on.

Agree 100% on the footwear. I keep a pair of jeans, a T-Shirt and some decent shoes next to my bed at night-- Mainly because they end up there when I change cloths. They work in a pinch.

--Have a weapon. And for the love of Mike, hang onto it!

'Nuff said.

--Try to see the big picture. The vacation house, while isolated, is right next to a two-lane country road and lit by streetlights on a non-interruptible power source. The woods around the streetlights is mowed back. It wasn't snowing and it wasn't raining. Once you've got the shotgun, grab warm clothing (hats!) and blankets, and abandon your indefensible position for one that you can dominate.

Confused here. Having not seen the movie, I have to ask.... was the home THAT indefensible?

In the final extreme, set fire to your own house to deny the invaders any advantage they might get from the house!

Really confused now. If it was so indefensible that you leave it, why would it be an advantage to invaders?




-- John

 

[maxxwilde]

ALSO have motion-sensor lights that are on thier own power supply seperate from the house. The solar rechargable ones are great for this.

Sorry to veer the thread slightly off topic, but I have to ask. How do these work? I've been looking at them, but my experiences with solar powered stuff havent been very good at times. Do they throw out a good ammount of light? And, is there enough of a charge to last the entire night?


Mike

 

[Robert Hairless]

Do they throw out a good ammount of light? And, is there enough of a charge to last the entire night?

My experiences with solar powered lighting hasn't been good either. They seem to charge adequately only when there is sufficient sunlight.

The problem could be that I live in a low budget movie, though, or that my producer is too stingy to get the good kind.

 

[Dravur]

but... but

I get all my good defensive moves from the movies.

Ive been looking for a Glock 7 for ages.

I know that tactically, putting on headphones, jumping into a bean bag chair is just not good for your health. That's why my Bean bag chair is equipped with a rear view mirror and a tactical holster.

I also learned from movies that you don't have to do a tactical reload... The ammo fairy magically keeps the mags full on the good guy guns. Also, if the ammo fairy is busy, I know I will have just enough bullets to kill ALL of the bad guys.

Also, if there is spooky music, I should definitly turn around to see what is creeping up on me.

but the MOST important thing I learned from the movies is.... The bad guy always fakes his death and I should not drop my guard or go up to the "corpse" until I have unloaded the contents of a fully loaded Dillon Aero, a cruise missile and 5 anvils on the "corpse". Even then, I have to keep one more round for the "coup de grace"

There, a tactical lesson. All you really need to know.

Next week, we can have the lesson, "What has John Wayne Taught Me about Gun Safety"

 

[sacp81170a]

a cruise missile and 5 anvils on the "corpse"

Obviously you need a six anvil shooter.

 

[DFW1911]

The bad guy always fakes his death and I should not drop my guard or go up to the "corpse" until I have unloaded the contents of a fully loaded Dillon Aero, a cruise missile and 5 anvils on the "corpse". Even then, I have to keep one more round for the "coup de grace"

That's one of the funniest things I've read in quite a while...so accurate

We should also add that all the intended victims are horrible with firearms (if they have any), readily give up a stronghold to "check something out", and their general IQs would equal that of a cool-day room temperature!

Let's be honest. If the bad guys in this movie broke into a home of some THR'ers the bad guys would be stumbling over themselves to get out

Take care,
DFW1911

 

[Macpherson]

Do NOT abandon your house, it's certainly more defensible than running around in the dark outside with an unknown number of assailants. First rule of war is to use the terrain to YOUR advantage. If said assailants are trying to get in, retreat to a chokepoint in the house, and watch the hilarity ensue when Mr. big bad killer with mask and cleaver meets Mr 12 gauge

 

[sacp81170a]

watch the hilarity ensue when Mr. big bad killer with mask and cleaver meets Mr 12 gauge

"Say hello to my little friend..."

Seriously, I don't watch most of the drivel that comes out of Hollyweird these days. My basic barometer as to whether I get into the movie is whether or not I can identify with the characters. If the characters do something so blatantly stupid that I can't maintain the illusion, then the movie loses me. I can suspend my disbelief long enough to say, "OK, he's got a cool phased plasma rifle" or whatever, but when the character does something really stupid with the phased plasma rifle like throwing it down to go hand to hand with the monster, they just lost me.

Same with this movie. I don't even need to watch it.

 

[Jeff White]

Unless the screenwriter purposely wrote a scene to be instructive (how often does that happen? ) I don't think we should look at fictional screenplays for training material.

Entertainment is entertainment and training is training...and there is very little overlap.

I don't think that there is much to be learned from Hollywood.
Jeff