Not another movie about rural weirdos!

Much as I've tried to avoid election coverage, some of it has apparently rubbed off.

Watching "The Strangers," a story about a hip young couple (Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman) terrorized in a rural vacation home, I kept seeing constituencies instead of characters.

The attractive duo, driving a Volvo and displaying an unfortunate lack of familiarity with firearms, are almost surely Obama voters. (They do not cling to guns, nor can they load one).

They are set upon by locals who terrorize them with an ancient pick-up and vintage country music. Gauging primary results from West Virginia and Kentucky, we can probably classify these as Clinton supporters.

"What do you want?" poor Liv screams, sounding like an exasperated Ivy League pollster.

They never say, but I'm almost certain it's not universal health care. At least judging by the amount of carnage they inflict.

The assailants wear hoods, and say nothing. Their reticence and anonymity are part of what is meant to give them a perverse appeal. While Tyler's character is alone, they drift into the house, taunting her by indicating their presence, but staying out of sight.

Writer-director Bryan Bertino has a knack for creepy composition, and creates a couple of chilling deep-focus scenes with Tyler as his centerpiece: She'll stare out a window in the foreground, while a figure moves silently behind her.

Scenes like this give the movie an appealing (in terms of style) starkness, but style only takes "The Strangers" so far.

In the end, you're looking at another movie about rural weirdos, another masked boogeyman (and in this a case boogeywoman), and you're treated to more of the torture and sadism (though in smaller doses) that have characterized the modern "horror" movie.

I think it's time we voted for change. *

Produced by Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Nathan Kahane; written and directed by Bryan Bertino; music by Tomandandy; distributed by Rogue Pictures.