‘The Strangers: Chapter 1’ Review
Stars: Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Rachel Shenton, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath | Written by Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland | Directed by Renny Harlin
Young couple Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) are on their way to Portland, Oregon in order for Maya to attend a job interview. When they need to stop following a near-miss car accident, they end up in the small town of Venus, where the spotlight is clearly on them for being the odd ones out. Staying in a woodland Airbnb while waiting for their car to get fixed, the pair are soon tormented by three ominously masked figures.
That, my friends, is absolutely all you need to know about The Strangers: Chapter 1. Or if you do venture out to see it (please don’t), this is likely all you’ll remember. What is set to be a horror threequel is already unable to answer why two more movies in its name should be financed, offering up zilch in terms of originality, quality, and satisfaction.
You might read the above description and feel that The Strangers: Chapter 1 is exactly like every horror film you’ve ever seen — and that’s because it is, only the previous installments were likely superior. Harlin is drilling into a classic yet generic blueprint with his structure, following two young and love-up victims into a Cabin in the Woods trap where anonymous killers lie in wait. There are no unexpected twists, no timely reveals, and no particular desire to find out what happens next. In short, the movie isn’t adding anything to the smorgasbord of gore that we already have.
What’s more is that our prey, Maya and Ryan, don’t really have much value themselves. Although their chemistry is juvenile yet believable, viewers don’t really need them to live regardless, because the stakes weren’t that high in the first place. Typically in this instance, our intrepid protagonists have children to live for, families to get back to, or some overwhelming sense of responsibility that makes survival something worth fighting for. In The Strangers: Chapter 1, there’s only a half-baked marriage proposal and a job interview who is left mildly inconvenienced by Maya’s absence.
As for the construction of The Strangers: Chapter 1 itself, Harlin’s directorial helm is completely passable and inoffensive. The film makes structural and logical sense, the plot is easy to follow, and the visuals are befitting of an eerie woodland slasher. It’s also a case of the scenery doing most of the work, as opting for somewhere that is going to be scary regardless of how you dress it up is like shooting fish in a barrel. Still, Harlin does the best with what he has, though if The Strangers: Chapter 1 was a spice, it would be flour.
With two chapters unbelievably still to go, The Strangers: Chapter 1 leaves viewers at a loss. How are we supposed to care about what happens next, and how can you build on something which was hardly different in the first place? Lord knows, but Harlin better come up with something unique — and fast.
* 1/5
The Strangers: Chapter 1 is in cinemas now.
