My quick rating – 4.5/10. The Strangers: Chapter 1 sets up a familiar scenario that should work effortlessly. A couple driving cross-country toward a fresh start in the Pacific Northwest breaks down, rent a secluded house for the night, and is stalked by three masked strangers from dusk till dawn. It’s a premise that practically writes itself, and even more so when one takes into account what made The Strangers so memorable. Sadly, this particular entry in the now extensive canon of slasher remakes feels more like a comedic example of how not to be scared and how characters have obviously never seen a slasher film before.
First, the script makes nonsensical decisions right off the bat. “Ladies, if you really think someone is sneaking around your home, do you really think your first move should be to climb in the shower?” Not to barricade the door, not to grab a weapon, no call for assistance, but to take a nice warm rinse? Moments like this pile up quickly. At one point, after an axe has literally been taken to both the front door and the bedroom door, a character suggests, “Maybe they left. They’re fucking with us.” No. They’re very clearly not just “fucking with you.” IMDb lists three writers, and somehow not one of them stopped to ask whether any of this behavior resembles something a real human being might do.
Because of these constant lapses in logic, the tension never truly takes hold. It flickers on for a brief moment and then dies out almost instantly as the confounding choices that seem to plague the series catch up to it once again. There’s surprisingly little suspense in the series, given the fact that the series is meant to rely on suspense. This entry moves at a crawl, and the tension never really builds to the sense of suffocating dread that the series is famous for.
The acting doesn’t help. A lot of blank staring, mute emotions, and emotional numbness in the face of fear and desperation. When your leads do not credibly display terror, it becomes extremely difficult to find concern for them to make it through the night. That’s especially damaging here, since this flick leans heavily on mood rather than action.
Speaking of action, there are essentially no kills to speak of. This is a glaring deficiency for a home invasion slasher film. There are a couple of good frights scattered throughout, but they are nothing more than isolated instances. The masked strangers themselves appear like decorations instead of actual threats when they are reduced down to nothing but darkness.
The most notable moment arrives at the end, when the movie slaps up an inevitable “To Be Continued.” If you loved what you saw here, that might be welcome news. However, for most people, it is more of a warning. The Strangers: Chapter 1 is not suspenseful, scary, or smart enough to be needed as chapter one in this story. It merely feels like an oversized prologue that’s been suffocated by poor writing, illogical thinking, and some absurd underdelivering. Apart from two or three interesting frights, you will be left more irked than frightened, and that’s not exactly the feeling I was hoping for.
