The Strangers: Chapter 1 Review: The Reboot Trilogy Gets Off to a Rough and Redundant Start

The new movie fails to replicate anything that made the original so effective.

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Bryan Bertino's The Strangers wasn't the first home-invasion horror movie, but it arguably set the mold for any contemporary filmmaker who wanted to enter that storytelling realm. Whether it be the ominous masks, the characters' relationships, or the mysterious motivations for our killers, nearly every subsequent movie featuring murderers stalking a home borrows an element from the 2008 film. In an ambitious effort from filmmaker Renny Harlin, the concept is being revived not only as one picture, but as a sprawling trilogy that will allow audiences to spend more time with both the killers and the victims. Unfortunately, based solely on the introductory installment The Strangers: Chapter 1, we're not sure anyone would want to spend any more time in this world, as the movie serves as little more than a rehash of the original movie that not only fails to replicate what made that film work, but also actively made decisions that resulted in a distinct step backward for the series.

On a road trip from Chicago to Portland, couple Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) run into some car trouble in a remote Oregon town, resulting in them having to make an overnight stop in a wooded cabin. What could initially be seen as an impromptu yet romantic evening quickly turns to terror, as a group of masked assailants begin playing a deadly game of cat and mouse, entering the home and evading the couple while also managing to taunt and torment them.

Part of what made the original The Strangers so effective is how it focuses on a couple understandably going through a tumultuous evening, as a rejected marriage proposal has the pair suffering through one tense exchange after the other. The late 2000s and 2010s were saturated with remakes of familiar titles and gore-focused outings like Hostel or the Saw series, while The Strangers focused on layered and complex characters trying to push through an experience, immediately evoking empathy in audiences. Chapter 1, on the other hand, takes the exhausted cliche of "young couple faces car trouble in a small town" that we've seen in dozens if not hundreds of horror movies, which will immediately ignite frustration with any horror fan. 

This complete lack of invention is what holds back Chapter 1 at every level. Petsch and Gutierrez are both likable enough and there isn't anything inherently poor with either their performances or on-screen chemistry, but there's also not anything particularly unique or interesting enough that sets them apart from countless other horror archetypes to pique an audience's interest. Once the first Stranger arrives and asks the familiar question, "Is Tamara home?" every decision these characters make is the most obvious, well-trodden path to possible survival. (Also worth noting is that the specifics of the story mean Maya and Ryan are staying in a stranger's house, so technically they are the strangers in someone else's home and recontextualizes everything they endure, which is never addressed in a reimagined reveal and comes across as storytelling laziness.)

While the merits of the film itself shouldn't be impacted by any marketing materials, it's worth noting that trailers for the film have promised, "Witness how the Strangers became the Strangers." Viewers who are familiar with the original movie might head into the project anticipating a prequel or origin story (which, admittedly, would rob the antagonists of much of their appeal), though the actual narrative follows all of the core beats of the source material. Where The Strangers featured a masked man silently standing behind Liv Tyler's Kirsten, Chapter 1 has this figure silently observing Maya while she's in the shower. When The Strangers frightens the couple with messages scrawled on a window, Chapter 1 features those messages scrawled on a bedroom wall. Not only is Chapter 1 not a prequel or origin story and instead an almost complete remake of the core concept, but every alternate decision feels entirely arbitrary and, with this lack of invention, comes across as a straight-to-video ripoff of the source material. 

The failures of The Strangers: Chapter 1 seem to start at the source, which is the script by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland. Browsing through their writing career, you'll find many more sitcoms in their past than any substantial genre work. This isn't to say that you must have a minimum number of horror credits to your name before venturing into a beloved franchise, but retroactively reading through their credits sheds more insight into why Chapter 1 stuck with storytelling basics as opposed to getting more experimental.

The film isn't entirely without scares, as the masks of the intruders still manage to evoke visceral terror, and Harlin does his best to inject some fright into the experience, with a handful of scenes set in fog-covered woods being the only real standouts. There are a handful of jump scares, yet none that are particularly notable. Novices to the horror genre will likely be more willing to overlook Chapter 1's lack of originality, though more devout horror fans are given little to surprise them. 

Even with The Strangers: Chapter 1 being a rudimentary rehash of the plot points from the original movie, we are still holding out some hope that these were storytelling necessities that had to be established before heading into The Strangers: Chapter 2. While the original The Strangers did earn a sequel of sorts with 2018's The Strangers: Prey at Night, the only connective tissue between the projects were the masks worn by the murderers. While its predecessors were both standalone experiences, this trilogy confirms that we'll be spending more time with the heroes, villains, or both in two more movies, which will mark a new experience for the franchise. In this sense, The Strangers: Chapter 1 could become a necessary evil that had to lay a foundation for Chapters 2 and 3 to get more ambitious and inventive, as it's merely the first act in a three-act structure. As proven with The Devil's Rejects or 2021's Wrong Turn, it also wouldn't be the first series to have sequels that far surpass the accomplishments of their predecessors. Also worth noting, however, is that David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy similarly had a three-act approach that was expanded into three films yet that trilogy both had a stronger debut entry and also wasn't afraid to go experimental with sequels, even if the sequels fell short of expectations.

We're not ready to rule out this entire The Strangers reboot trilogy quite yet, as the nature of having a continuous narrative unfolding over three feature films marks new territory for the concept. Taking this first entry on its own, though, and it feels far more like one of the many derivative The Strangers knockoffs we've been given over the past decade than being a worthy entry into the proper series and doesn't live up to its pedigree. Featuring a predictable plot, generic characters, and wholly unoriginal scares, there's a lot of room for improvement for this trilogy, with the limitless potential of the premise at least leaving us with some hope for the franchise's frightening future.

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Rating: 2 out of 5

The Strangers: Chapter 1 lands in theaters on May 17th.

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