The Strangers: Chapter 1 – A Disappointing Trilogy Starter

The Strangers: Chapter 1 is the first installment of an already shot reboot trilogy of Strangers film directed by Renny Harlin (Chapter 2 and 3 are expected to released this fall and early next year respectively). The first chapter follows Maya (Petsch) who is driving across the country with her longtime boyfriend, Ryan (Gutierrez) to celebrate their five-year anniversary. After their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they are forced to spend the night in an isolated Airbnb home in the middle of the woods. Throughout the night, the couple are terrorized by three murderous masked strangers. This new Strangers trilogy is an interesting experiment that audiences haven’t seen attempted before at least not theatrically nor in the horror genre. For those looking forward to seeing what was this trilogy had in store, unfortunately, it is not off to the best start as its first entry is not only terrible but also very underwhelming.

While the film has been heavily as a prequel to the original 2008 film, in reality, it is essentially a beat for beat remake of the the original, but worse. For the most part, it feels so cheap, lazy, and uninspired by comparison to the point that it will seriously make one question why this new trilogy was devised in the first place and what the filmmakers could possibly have in store for two more films. The film isn’t scary in the absolute slightest, there’s hardly any tension or suspense in moments where there should be a ton, and Harlin basically directs on autopilot as it has none of the energy, edge, or flashy style of his better works and that might have been the most disappointing part. With this new film, the potential was there as it could have done so many different things or at least changed up the basic storyline but instead, it settled on doing the exact same thing again, only with none of the impact or shock of the original.

But honestly, what’s even worse than all of that is its awful script which might very well be the worst of the entire year. This script is filled with just about every modern horror trope and cliché one could possibly think of, and the dialogue is completely ridiculous and feels so unnatural to the point of unintentional comedy. Maya and Ryan constantly make the most idiotic, unforgivable, and frustrating decisions possible to the point where audiences are sure to find themselves honestly stop caring about them and eventually want the film’s masked antagonists to triumph over them. The titular strangers look cool and their slightly updated designs are appreciated, but they don’t have the same impact or creep factor they once had due to how poorly they are handled. Every member of this town behaves like a complete cartoon and every performance from the townsfolk is dialed up to 11 which feels so out of place compared to the rest of the film.

Even though it is far from a good film, there were enough decent elements here to keep it from being a complete disaster. Not only was it a well shot film, especially a chase sequence in the woods, the different setup was a nice touch although it didn’t make a big difference in the end. Petsch and Gutierrez each do their best with what their given but they are truly let down by both the script and dialogue they were forced to read. But other than that, The Strangers Chapter 1 unfortunately just isn’t it. While it may start decent enough, it falls apart as soon as the actual strangers arrive. It is merely the kind of horror film that gets increasingly worse upon further reflection and hopefully the film doesn’t completely kill audience interest in the other two films in the trilogy which have already been shot.

In the grand scheme, one can only hope that this film was just a misstep, and the best ideas were saved for the sequels. Otherwise, audiences are in for a long year of Strangers films.

still courtesy of Lionsgate

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/