The Strangers: Chapter 1

The Strangers: Chapter 1
Starring Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Matus Lajcak, Olivia Kreutzova
Directed by Renny Harlin

2008's "The Strangers" was a simple film with a simple premise delivered with impeccable talent. The story of a couple vacationing in a remote home who find themselves under attack from three masked intruders is terrifying at its core, mostly because we never get the motive for why they're doing it (other than the now-iconic line: "because you're home"), but also because it's something that many people fear: home invasion. When you have a killer with motive, it makes it a little less frightening, because you know in your everyday life you don't have a serial killer brother, or have a vengeful family hunting you down after you survived a murder attempt by one of their own. This is terror just because the killers enjoyed it. No motive, no reason, no understanding - just pure animalistic desire for carnage. So when director Renny Harlin announced he would be doing his own trilogy of "The Strangers," people wondered why...and hoped that it wouldn't either humanize the killers or give them a reason for their madness. "Chapter 1," thankfully, doesn't do that - but sadly it also serves as a bland remake of the original that is the cinematic equivalent of a young child saying they want McDonald's on the way home, while his mother tells him they have McDonald's at home - why see this lesser film in theaters when you can watch the far superior original at home?

Young couple Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) are traveling across the country to celebrate their five-year anniversary when they stop in a small town called Venus for something to eat. The townspeople treat them with contempt, and when they find that their car doesn't work, one of them offers an Airbnb at a cabin in the woods. At first it looks quaint and tranquil, but they soon find it anything but as they come under attack from three masked killers - Scarecrow (Matus Lajcak), Dollface (Olivia Kreutzova), and Pin-Up Girl (Letizia Fabbri).

The original film was truly terrifying for one important reason: it didn't rely on cheap jump scares. When the Strangers enter the house, you see them in numerous scenes in the peripheral, but not accompanied by loud piano notes or strings, but dead silence. It added a new sense of dread as you never know where they're at, or when they're going to pop up next. Renny Harlin - to his credit - did include this once in the most effective scene, but every other scene their presence is met with loud music to make you jump just because it's loud - and that is a great disservice to the audience, making it feel to us that he didn't trust us enough to be scared just because of the nature of the event.

When you got the talent of Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, it's hard to top, and "Riverdale" star Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez do not carry that torch well. Their relationship feels more brother-sister than a five-year couple (possibly due to Gutierrez being gay in real life, as I'm a proponent of straight characters being played by straight people and vice versa, hot take), and their chemistry was nonexistent. Their acting as well is stinted and stale, mostly going from good-natured jabs to somewhat-loving tones and then just terrified whispers, moans and gasps. You want antagonists to be relatable and people to root for, but I just wanted them to be dispatched as soon as possible.

As it is with most horror films, they adhere to the traditional tropes of being truly stupid. The moment you see a silhouetted woman knocking on your door in the middle of the night, the normal person would think, "well, we got a motorcycle here, might as well pack up and head out of town and stay in a well-lit and well-occupied hotel instead of this out-of-the-way death trap." Or when the lights go out and Maya sees one of the Strangers in the home, they should've GTFO'd ASAP, but instead they remain and have dinner as if nothing happened. Then the cat-and-mouse game is so silly and stupid you'll injure your forehead with all the face-palming you'll do. Finally the film ends on a highly anti-climactic note as it's only the first of a three-part series of films where I'm wondering how the heck that'll happen. Maybe that's the magic of it all, and maybe I'll be totally surprised and impressed with the last two chapters. But I doubt it.

Bland acting, typical storytelling and cheap jump scares make you want to close the book on "The Strangers: Chapter 1" before even watching the other two chapters.

The Score: D-