After their car breaks down in an eerie small town, a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in THE STRANGERS ― CHAPTER 1, the chilling first entry of this horror feature-film series from master director Renny Harlin.

For in-depth thoughts on The Strangers: Chapter 1, please see my colleague Gaius Bolling’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

The 4K UHD Blu-Ray of The Strangers: Chapter 1 offers an exceptional presentation in 2160p/Dolby Vision which offers an incremental yet welcome improvement over the already fetching accompanying Blu-Ray. The standout aspect of the disc is the Dolby Vision which finds more nuances within the colors and contrast. You need perfect black levels in a horror film, and the results are especially strong here as they stay deep and inky with great detail in the shadows. Highlights are more defined with light sources firm and balanced with no instances of blooming to be found. Elements in all situations are vivid and distinctly delineated.

There is a notable amount of detail present in nearly every frame. From the production design of the cabin to the clothing, you are gaining so much refined texture that allows the film to feel more lived-in. The locations keep things mostly stationed in interiors, but every location is crisp and filled with aspects to creep you out. Skin tones appear natural with facial detail apparent like the increasing presence of grime and blood. This 4K UHD presentation delivers a top-tier presentation on all fronts including depth, clarity, color, and detail. Lionsgate has treated this well.

Audio Quality

This 4K UHD Blu-Ray unleashes a Dolby Atmos presentation that brings this movie to life exactly as intended. This is not intended to be a sonic assault by any means, but there is impressive thought put into sound design that this disc executes impeccably. When the film gets more lively during attacks, this disc brings these exciting moments right into your living room with clarity and robust depth. Every incident is given the amount of heft the scenario necessitates. The low end breaks through when the situation warrants it.

Dialogue comes through clearly without getting overshadowed by the soundtrack or any sound effects. The experience is immersive with various environmental sounds flowing out of your side, rear, and height channels. Each sound is carefully placed with exacting spatial awareness. The track engages all of the channels with an expertly mixed experience that captures the contained setting with treks into nature. This is brought to life even more in the height channels, which rarely take on the focus of any moment but always add some expansion such as footsteps on creaking floors. Lionsgate has delivered a fantastic audio experience on this outing. There are optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Producer Courtney Solomon and Actress Madelaine Petsch provide an informative commentary track in which they discuss how the film came to be, the shooting locations, the contributions of the performers, production hiccups, teases for future chapters, and more.

Reimagining A Classic – Making The Strangers: Chapter 1: A 17-minute piece that takes a look at the process of reimagining this property as a trilogy, the larger inspirations behind certain choices, the realistic nature of the scenario, getting a different perspective, and more.

A Hostile Environment – The Visual Design of The Strangers: Chapter 1: An 11-minute dive into the production design of the film, the locations, the cinematography, and more.

Theatrical Trailer: The two-and-a-half-minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

The Strangers: Chapter 1 is a film that works best in isolation. If you have never seen the original films or your memories are fuzzy if you have, you might find this newest stab at the property to be a serviceable home invasion slasher. There are numerous dumb choices made that will have you yelling at the screen, but this is par for the course in many horror outings. If you have clear memories of the original films, you will probably find yourself wishing you were watching them again, as this reboot feels watered down in nearly every way. There is room for growth with the next installments, but this retread struggles to justify its existence. It is not a terrible movie, it just feels like a very lazy start to a new storyline. Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released a 4K UHD Blu-Ray that sports a fantastic A/V presentation and a decent selection of supplemental features.

The Strangers: Chapter 1 is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital. The film also has a 4K UHD SteelBook available exclusively at Wal-Mart.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Lionsgate Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.