THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 (2024) – Redundant and unnecessary rehash of the original

The Strangers: Chapter 1 is the first of an ambitious new trilogy rebooting The Strangers series which has so far had two movies made. You are not to be blamed if your first reaction is “was there a Strangers movie?” since the original movies did not leave much of an impression both at the box office and critically. The plot of the movie is pretty basic. A couple find themself stranded in a remote cabin when they experienced car problems in a small town. They spend the night in fear and fighting for their lives when three masked strangers terrorises them.

This premise is basically exactly the same as the plot in the first The Strangers in 2008. The three masked strangers even look the same with very similar outfits and face masks. That makes this new Chapter 1 practically a remake of the 2008 movie! This is a strange thing to do especially when the first movie wasn’t exactly a classic or cult favourite. The one thing giving this installment a curious appeal is its director Renny Harlin who has given an impressive list of action movies in the past like Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea, and Die Hard 2. He hasn’t had a hit for many years since, but it is still interesting to see him return to a genre that he should be comfortable with and maybe offer something different to the norm. Unfortunately, this is just wishful thinking as The Strangers: Chapter 1 play very much like a paint by number thriller. The overall production value is very professional but the movie did not do it justice. I have to admit that I found watching this stressful because of its constant use of suspense followed by the jump scares technique. In fact, this film has so many jump scare moments you will probably be kept at the edge of your seat or jumping out of it every few minutes. This is not necessarily a good thing and, in this case, it isn’t since the movie progresses with a paper-thin plot and has characters that you do not really care for. The stress factor is merely something to endure.

Since the title already indicates this as Chapter 1 we can expect the ending to be open ended. However, even this twist is nothing new as most horror movies end with similar twists whether the plan to have a follow-up sequel or not. With a story line that is so basic, and characters that are so bland, it is a wonder that the film makers have the audacity to plan a trilogy! I am pretty sure that Chapters 2 and 3 will offer pretty much the same thing all over again, which begs the question as to why make this at all? I guess in Hollywood horror movies are generally profitable ventures because of their low costs and higher chances of turning in profit.