The Strangers: Chapter 1 Review
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Renny Harlin, written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland and starring Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Ryan Brown, Ben Cartwright, Stevee Davies, Richard Brake, Pedro Leandro, Ema Horvath, Janis Ahern, Rafaella Biscayn, Pablo Sandstrom and Sara Freedland.
Director Renny Harlin begins his terrifying The Strangers trilogy with a promising first film. The Strangers: Chapter 1 is set mostly at night as a young couple are stalked by masked psychopaths. One of them wears what looks like a large potato sack on his head, while another wears a mask that looks like that of a clown. Then, there’s yet another lunatic whose mask resembles Betty Boop. Harlin has obviously done his homework and studied ways to make this prequel worthwhile. This is a prelude to the original 2008 film, The Strangers, which starred Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. In terms of building on-screen tension, Harlin does that quite well in this new picture.
Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez are the leading performers in the film and play the romantically involved pair who become the prey of the Strangers referred to in the film’s title. Petsch is Maya and Gutierrez plays Ryan. They are a cute non-married couple who are passing through Oregon and make a pit stop that will become the biggest mistake they’ve ever made. Stopping at a diner proves to be troublesome because when they leave, their car won’t start. A mechanic says it needs serious repairs which means Maya and Ryan will be stuck in town while their vehicle is being worked on.
As they settle into a home for the night, some weirdo comes knocking on their door looking for someone and scares them quite a bit. When Ryan eventually leaves to go back to his car to get something important, Maya is “home alone” and the creepy man wearing a potato sack over his head is watching her from behind. This psycho is in the house unbeknownst to her.
As Ryan goes to get the love of his life, Maya, food after getting what he needs from their car, some townsfolk ask Ryan to sit with them but Ryan just wants to get back to Maya as quickly as possible. I don’t really understand why Maya entertains a knock on the door in Ryan’s absence but she does and, soon, her life becomes a living hell. Harlin’s scenes work best when Ryan is out of the picture and it’s just Maya opening doors, looking for her phone (which was moved) and moving around the house in fear. Petsch is well-cast as the potential Scream Queen of this franchise. She’s the Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween) or Jenna Ortega (Scream) of the film, so to say.
The new movie has its fair share of absurdity. Ryan accidentally shoots a key character who could have been there to help them but talks to the creepy masked woman instead of killing her, thus putting himself into even more danger. True, at this point Maya has been kidnapped but still. Ryan makes stupid decisions that come back to haunt him and it’s hard to understand why he makes these decisions except to serve the mechanics of the plot.
As Maya runs around in the middle of nowhere at night, she ultimately hides from the masked crazies in a ditch and sees the skeleton of a prior victim surrounding her. This is a chilling part of the film and Harlin doesn’t disappoint as he keeps the pace moving rather briskly in the last half hour or so. What could have been boring or repetitive is actually quite suspenseful in Harlin’s capable hands.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 may suffer from a few key issues. Number one, the ending. The last scene of the movie and the mid-end credits sequence seem a bit far fetched but audiences will most likely go with the chain of events to see what Harlin has up his sleeve in the next two installments of the series. Number two, the abundance of sequences where people creep around the house while Maya’s home by herself feels, at times, like overkill. But, the film’s biggest flaw is most likely the part where Maya calls the cops while hiding from the psychopaths. How many times do we see a character unable to get through to the authorities when they are in imminent danger? One too many and Harlin’s film touches on more than a few cliches along the way. Also, the start of the movie which gives statistics on violent crimes doesn’t fit in with the rest of the picture.
Still, The Strangers: Chapter 1 has plenty of intensely scary scenarios. Because of the film’s pacing, one is likely to forgive the flaws, especially if one is a big-time horror buff. Harlin doesn’t play it safe here and by casting Petsch he gets the likability factor right on the nose. The main character is relatable so the audience will stand by her and hope she survives the night. Though Gutierrez has a less showy role, he does a nice job supporting Petsch and playing off her fears. You will want to see the pair make it out alive but…spoiler alert…at least one of them may not make it.
Harlin has kicked off a promising series, as previously stated. This first movie won’t be received as favorably as the 2008 film, The Strangers, which probably had more ambiguity. Petsch and Gutierrez give their roles enough emotions to make their characters feel plausible. The psychos, themselves, needed more depth but that’s what could be coming in the next couple of films. If you like this one, get ready for the next two because Harlin’s just getting warmed up.
Rating: 6.5/10
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