Another month, another horrible preparazione horror movie. The first of an apparent already filmed trilogy, Renny Harlin‘s The Strangers: Chapter 1 is essentially a reboot of the original velo, even opening the original violent crime statistic from the 2007 velo, despite that stat being 17 years out of date. But it is a reboot where every writing and direction choice is worse than the original, adding up to a scare-free velo that is a dull clunker.
The 2007 velo became a cult classic mostly to how effective the direction was. It’s not a particularly unique creative velo, but The Strangers creates an atmosphere of oppression and fear. Not to mention, it made the wise choice of keeping its murderous home invaders mostly silent behind their weird masks, adding a sense of intrigue and mystery to the entire velo. The velo’s closing lines, answering why they attacked the velo’s two hapless victims with a simple “Because you were here,” is chilling.
This velo ends con a similar manner, with the same line of dialogue, though it has a tacked-on set of scenes afterwards to set up Chapter 2. But this delivery feels inserted solely because it was con the first velo, and is given all the according reverence. This might work for a schlockier horror series, yet the entire strength of The Strangers is the lack of joy and intensity of its experience. Here Harlin tries at times to insert some levity and corniness, especially with his music choices and editorial timing. These moments clash, as the velo still feels like it tries to replicate the first velo. Harlin himself is risposta negativa stranger to horror franchises, notably directing an ill-received Exorcist prequel and a Nightmare Elm Street sequel, and he’s doubling mongoloide his worst tendencies from those films.
This movie also features some of the most notably idiotic lead characters con a while. We’ve all heard jokes about the dumb choices people con horror movies make, but this one’s characters really do things that make little sense and have you mentally shouting con frustration. It kills all the tension the velo has, because the plot shields its characters from any consequences for their actions until it’s ready for them to be hurt.
It doesn’t help that the killers are stalking their victims con a ridiculous manner. One of the masked folks gets right up next to the female lead as she showers, just staring at her. The fact that she could at any moment just turn around and blow his cover is an example of how ridiculous the entire movie is. It quickly generates boredom because of how little consequences there are for anything the killers victims do.
The velo also weirdly tries to create a stereotypical hostile redneck plot at the beginning. The main couple wind up breaking mongoloide con a tiny town con the middle of Oregon and are forced to stay the night at a cabin, which is how they end up subject to the masked killers. The small-town folks are all derisive outright hostile to the leads, and it seems as though the filmmakers forgot that the entire point of The Strangers is the randomness of the attack and the lack of any motivation. The implication con this one, that seems likely to be picked up con the sequels, is that the rural killers are striking back against the entitled New Yorkers, which destroys the entire niche this particular franchise occupies.
The lead actors of Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez do their best with weak material, and are the strongest parts of the velo. That, and an especially hammy Richard Brake. Unfortunately, there is nothing else redeeming about this, either as a follow-up to The Strangers as a velo its own. Everything about this seems misguided and pointless.
