‘The Strangers: Chapter 1’ Review – Effective In Parts But Fails To Truly Justify Its Existence

Despite initial mixed reviews, 2008’s The Strangers has achieved a bit of cult status due to its unrelenting tension and atmosphere. Written and directed by Bryan Bertino, the film was actually a sleeper hit upon release, grossing a solid $82 million on a slim $9 million budget. A sequel, The Strangers: Prey at Night, followed in 2018 and while it wasn’t as financially or critically successful, it has achieved its own cult badge for leaning in more on its slasher tendencies rather than suspense. Each film has its fans but nothing about them screams what has become of the franchise’s next phase. With The Strangers: Chapter 1, the decision was made to split up a new story into three chapters that will be released within months of each other. This all sounds very ambitious on paper but as directed by Renny Harlin, from a screenplay by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, the end result is a film with a serious identity crisis. It wants to function as a reboot, prequel, and sequel all at once but it essentially comes up short as all three. It’s clear that they wanted to pay homage to the original film with this first chapter but all that does is showcase what the 2008 installment did better. The Strangers: Chapter 1 has moments of effective tension, but by the end, the audience might wonder why this was even made in the first place.

Things do start slightly different before becoming all too familiar. Maya (Madeleine Petsch) and her boyfriend of five years Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) are driving across country as they prepare to begin their new life together in the Pacific Northwest. The pair decide to stop at a diner to grab some food and immediately it appears that everyone where they stopped (Venus, Oregon), is a bit weird and off-putting. When the pair get back to their car, it won’t start, something the boyfriend wisely thinks was done by one of the men who just happens to have a garage, but can’t have their car fixed until morning. Maya is a bit more forgiving of the weird locals, thinking that Ryan is overreacting.

Since they can’t pick up their car until morning, they are forced to spend the night in an isolated Airbnb in the middle of nowhere. From here, the new film becomes eerily like the 2008 installment as a mysterious figure bangs on the door and asks, “Is Tamara there?” The pair thinks it’s strange but it’s only one of many strange occurrences. Once Ryan has to go back to receive his inhaler from his car (more on that later), it becomes clear that Maya isn’t alone in the house and the pair will soon be systematically stalked by a trio of sadistic killers who love to toy with their victims.

In the production notes for the film, Harlin states that the film is neither a sequel, reboot, or prequel but soon says that they wanted to explore what happened the day after the 2008 movie with these next three chapters. It’s a statement alone that defines the film’s lack of reason to truly exist. Much of Chapter 1 hits the same beats as the first film and since the audience has seen them before, and done much better, they don’t land in the same way here. It’s easy to tell that Harlin truly wanted to pay proper homage to the film that started it all but in doing so, it only makes it more uncertain what this movie is. It could be looked at that the movie is trying to establish that “the strangers” have a pattern and that’s why it rings so similar to what we’ve seen before but the reactions of the victims are also eerily similar to what was showcased by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as the ill-fated couple.

While The Strangers shined as an exercise in suspense, it has been heavily agreed upon that the characters did asinine things throughout their night of terror that defied logic. Speedman’s James Hoyt left Tyler’s Kristen McKay alone on more than one occasion despite it being much safer for them to stick together. Maya and Ryan find themselves in similar situations but it’s less tolerable here because they are both isolated in a location they’re both unfamiliar with. At least James and Kristen were at James’s childhood summer home, which would be at least familiar to him on some level. Chapter 1 has Ryan leave Maya alone early on (and after the weird stranger knocking incident) because he needs to retrieve his inhaler from his car back at the garage. The home comes with a motorcycle, conveniently, for Ryan to take into town (and of course, he just knows how to ride it). The inhaler bit appears like it’s going to be a major plot hindrance for Ryan early on because the movie makes it a point to show he really needs it but, given all the plot attention to it, there is no true payoff when he ends up losing it again during one of the chase and stalk scenes. It’s a build-up that goes nowhere.

Oddly enough, the best section of the film is when Maya is alone once Ryan has to go into town. Most of the movie’s effective chills take place here, although some of them were given away in the trailer. In one particular eerie moment, Maya is playing piano in the house as the camera pans away to only see the hooded stranger sitting right behind her, his image eerily present in the mirror placed right above Maya’s head. Another well-done moment of suspense sees Maya in the shower while the hooded stranger stares in on her from right outside the shower door. Again, it’s a moment given away in the trailer but it’s no less chilling, even if you’re expecting it.

If only the movie could maintain a steady level of chills. The big problem is in how the three killers are presented. Harlin uses a lot of POV shots to indicate that someone is watching the pair in the house, which dulls the level of suspense. The 2008 film did a stellar job of letting the audience know they were always nearby without making it entirely obvious. The strength was in that film’s mystery, something that this entry lacks. There is a moment when Ryan returns from his inhaler mission (and to get Maya food) that she’s sure she saw someone in the house (it’s also clear to the audience) but the movie tries to make it seem like Maya is just seeing things. The story tries to use her smoking pot ahead of this scene as the reason she might’ve not seen things clearly but it just represents another cheap device to make the characters feel like nothing is wrong, even though by this point there have been several examples that something is.

Once the game of cat and mouse begins between the victims and their would-be tormentors, the movie truly loses itself because it all feels like a rehash of the first film. Much like in the first movie, the boyfriend accidentally shoots someone he believes to be one of their intruders (this time it’s not Glenn Howerton) and he’s guilt-ridden over the matter. The pair is also separated once again before the climax, with each of them being knocked out before awakening tied up as the three strangers stare down at them. It’s no spoiler that Maya asks why this is all happening (it’s another moment given away in the trailer) and it’s clear “the strangers” are getting their chilling dialogue right because saying “because you’re here” isn’t nearly as frightening as “because you were home.” Maybe they’re workshopping their dialogue in this reboot, prequel, or sequel.

None of what doesn’t work comes down on Petsch and Gutierrez, who are both strong here. They exhibit solid chemistry as a couple and one thing that works better here than in the first film, is actually the relationship between the two leads. In the first movie, the couple was at odds before the terror began because Kristen turned down James’ marriage proposal. In this film, the audience finds a couple completely in love and it does make the viewer care about their fate. Their declaration of love during one moment of terror was surprisingly effective and it goes a long way to show that both actors were 100 percent committed to giving their union as a couple a lot of heart. This is why it’s a real shame the story around them isn’t better or more original because both bring their A-game.

Some of the criticism could change once Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 potentially add more clarity. However, as it stands, The Strangers: Chapter 1 feels like an ambitious, yet baffling experiment. It takes the first film’s chilling take on home invasion suspense, tries to copy it, and comes up magnificently short during its brief 91-minute runtime. Maybe it was more clear what the intention was for the film while they were making it but the finished result feels like a film that wants its cake and to eat it too. If it doesn’t work as a reboot, maybe the audience will buy it as a prequel, and if that is lacking, perhaps some will find merit in it as a sequel. By attempting to be too many things, the movie doesn’t ultimately succeed at much.

The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens exclusively in theaters on May 17, 2024, courtesy of Lionsgate.