-Written by Kyle Bain.
Young couple Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) experience car trouble on their way to Portland, forced to stay at a secluded Airbnb in the tiny town of Venus, Oregon. With nowhere to go, and nowhere to hide, they have no choice but to fight for their lives as a trio of masked individuals appear in the dark and begin hunting them. The Strangers: Chapter 1 is a sequel/soft reboot of the beloved horror-thriller The Strangers (2008), a film that chilled me to my core.
Petsch stars in what is meant to be the first of three films directed by Renny Harlin, and with that tidbit of knowledge I anticipated that The Strangers: Chapter 1 would be something of an incomplete story. That’s exactly what viewers get as the film fades to black and “to be continued…” appears on the screen. I sort of like the idea of there being more to this story, as I adore The Strangers, a film that, more than any other that I’ve ever seen, truly traumatized me for a short bit. However, as we move toward the conclusion of this chapter of the new trilogy we quickly jump from the primary setting of the film to an entirely new location–and there’s a gap, one that steals from the intensity of the rest of the film.
Beyond that, there are some issues with the narrative. With The Strangers, nearly every piece of the puzzle made sense, and there was a clear cause and effect relationship between everything that happens in the film. There weren’t plot points that felt forced or out of place–nothing convenient about anything that transpired in the film–but The Strangers: Chapter 1 falls into the ways of the typical, modern horror film. It develops overly convenient plot points to drive the story and create tension, but some of these instances fall flat. I rolled my eyes a time or two (or ten) at what Harlin and Writers Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland attempted to create–and like the sudden jump toward the conclusion of the film, it steals from the thrill of this psychological horror film.
There were some missed opportunities to develop tension and terror throughout the film, particularly in regard to the sound. The soundtrack is stellar. There’s something about the scratchy sound of an old record that’s just eerie, that almost makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up–and Harlin utilizes this to the best of his ability–much like Bryan Bertino did in The Strangers. These moments play out brilliantly, enticing viewers and setting the tone again and again throughout the course of the film. However, the use of some silly, cliche, and antiquated sound effects create something…well, silly, cliche, and antiquated. There are a handful of moments when sound should have been absent from the film, where silence could have and would have been deafening in The Strangers: Chapter 1–but Harlin misses these opportunities to intensify his film.
The success of horror films doesn’t often hinge on how successful the dialogue is, and that’s a good thing for The Strangers: Chapter 1, as there are many instances of downright laughable bits of dialogue that seem to spew from certain characters’ mouths like vomit. These instances make no sense and they combat the heavy tones of The Strangers: Chapter 1, creating something humorous and out of character for this franchise.
There’s certainly a lot wrong with The Strangers: Chapter 1, and I don’t think that anyone believed that it could live up to the original film. With that said, however, I found this to be an enjoyable film overall. It leans too heavily into the jump scares to instill fear in its audience, but Harlin, Cohen, and Freedland also manage to do a really good job of developing a dark and satisfying tone that exists throughout the majority of the film. Even with the missed opportunities, this team does an effective job of bouncing back, reestablishing itself tonally, and pulling viewers back in. Much of that has to do with the soundtrack as I had mentioned–but that tonal effectiveness stems greatly from the cinematography as well. Part of the brilliance of The Strangers and the subsequent films (The Strangers: Chapter 1 included) is the intense suspense that exists throughout–oftentimes as a result of what we see versus what the characters see. We play something of an omniscient role in the film, seeing far more than the characters, almost more immersed in their stories than they are. With the way in which Director of Photography José David Montero is able to manipulate the frame and pull viewers into the film, The Strangers: Chapter 1 is able to thrive. Seeing things off in the distance or in the darkness exacerbates the tension, creating a visceral experience for viewers.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 had big shoes to fill, desperately needing to live up to the success of The Strangers while still managing to become its own thing. It certainly captures the essence of what this franchise is all about, and it does develop into something unique enough to feel semi-fresh. It’s flawed for sure, and there are a series of missed opportunities and faux pas that exist throughout the film’s entirety–but, again, I found The Strangers: Chapter 1 entertaining nonetheless, transporting me back, again and again, to my favorite horror film of all time. It’s a fun, but equally intense film that will surely scare the shit out of you, likely wanting more once you leave the theater.
Directed by Renny Harlin.
Written by Alan R. Cohen & Alan Freedland.
Starring Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Ben Cartwright, Ema Horvath, Stevee Davies, Richard Brake, Janis Ahern, Rafaella Biscayn, Pablo Sanstrom, Sara Freedland, etc.
7/10 = WATCH IT FOR FREE
