“The Strangers – Chapter 1” is the third film in an ongoing franchise, following the surprise success of 2008’s “The Strangers” and its 2018 sequel, “The Strangers: Prey at Night.” The new film is also the first of three filmed simultaneously and scheduled for release next year.
Director Renny Harlin, new to the series, is no stranger to sequels, with a long resume that includes “Die Hard 2” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.” There is the competence of an officer in “Chapter 1,” but little real spark.
Young couple Maya (Madelaine Petsch, also an executive producer) and Ryan (Froy Gutiérrez) are traveling across the country so Maya can interview for a job at an architecture firm in Portland. After some car trouble, they unexpectedly find themselves spending the night at a remote Airbnb in a small town in Oregon. A stranger knocks on their door asking for someone who isn't there and they soon find themselves besieged by a man and two women, all wearing eccentric masks.
The cleverest moment comes just a few minutes later, when a title card declares how many violent crimes have occurred in America since the film began. There's little else in the film to indicate that kind of self-awareness, other than the scattered acknowledgment of elements lifted from the first film, like a specific Joanna Newsom song on a record player. The most visually inventive idea in the entire film is placing the camera inside a refrigerator while Gutiérrez places a six-pack of beer and his face remains perfectly framed by the bottles.
“The Strangers – Chapter 1” never evokes the feelings of rustic menace of the original.
(John Armor / Lionsgate)
Before the masked invaders have fully launched their attack, Maya and Ryan enjoy a post-coital embrace on the couch of their sketchy rental house, with Maya clad only in a shirt that grazes her upper thighs. Ryan goes to town on some pretext or another (there's a lot of unnecessary business in the movie about a lost inhaler) leaving Maya alone. While the Strangers methodically begin their sordid work, Maya hangs out, smokes marijuana, checks the door, and plays the piano. Instead of wanting to yell at her to be careful of what's behind her, the audience may want to yell at her to put on some of her pants.
The first “Strangers” film had an air of eerie suspense, as the beleaguered couple often stared into blank space, creating an unsettling tension in what was often nothing. The new film never evokes the same feelings of rustic menace.
“The Strangers – Chapter 1” ends with a spoiler alert. – title card that says “To be continued.” (Plus a brief mid-credits stinger scene.) Developing the mythology of the attackers or making this more than a brief, inexplicable, random encounter, as the later films apparently promise to do, diminishes the central horror of the film. essential premise of the first film, that sometimes bad things happen.
There's a strange bravery in assuming that your horror sequel will demand/deserve two more outings. Wanting audiences to sit through a warmed-up rehash of a pre-existing film to even get to the possibility of something new to the story in future installments seems like a big ask.
The original “Strangers” made the drive to the parking lot weird or inspired secure doors and windows at home. Not so with the routine style of the new film. The knock on the door in “The Strangers – Chapter 1” may simply go unanswered.
'The Strangers: Chapter 1'
Classification: R for horror, violence, language and brief drug use.
Execution time: 1 hour, 31 minutes
Playing: In wide release on Friday, May 17
