![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Strangers-Chapter-1-PIC.jpg?resize=620%2C348&ssl=1\")
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The Strangers: Chapter 1<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lionsgate\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 91 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (horror violence, language, brief drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Renny Harlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Justin Caine Burnett\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jose David Montero\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 17, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Matus Lajcak, Olivia Kreutzova, Letizia Fabbri, Ryan Brown, Ben Cartwright, Stevee Davies, Richard Brake, Pedro Leandro, Ema Horvath, Janis Ahern.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Let it be known that The Strangers: Chapter 1<\/strong> is actually a \u201crelaunch\u201d as opposed to a remake or prequel. Apparently, the makers are scrapping the previous two films- The Strangers (2008) and the sequel The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)- and starting fresh. It\u2019s the first installment of a new trilogy from director Renny Harlin (remember him?). The second is due later this year and the third some time in 2025. Now that you\u2019re all caught up, let\u2019s get to the review.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The first thing that struck me about The Strangers: Chapter 1<\/strong> was the two protagonists, Maya (Petsch, Riverdale) and Ryan (Gutierrez, Cruel Summer). They have to be two of the dumbest people in the world. They make every mistake a horror movie character can possibly make. I am astonished they made it to the 45-minute mark with all the dumb s*** they do. I realize that horror movie characters are inherently stupid because if they actually possessed a shred of intelligence or common sense, you wouldn\u2019t have a movie. HOWEVER, these two people go above and beyond the call of duty in terms of idiocy. They make the teens in the Friday the 13th<\/sup> movies look like rocket scientists.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Young unmarried couple Maya and Ryan get lost while driving cross-country and end up in the small, barely a blip on the GPS town of Venus, OR. They stop at a diner to get a bite to eat where they find themselves the center of attention- i.e. everybody stops and stares when they enter the joint. When they go to leave, their car won\u2019t start (big surprise). The mechanic tells them he won\u2019t have the part he needs until tomorrow (another big surprise) which means the hapless couple will have to stay the night. With the town motel closed for renovations (do I need to say it?), the locals suggest they stay at the town \u201cinternet house\u201d- i.e. Airbnb- a remote cabin deep in the woods. What other choice do they have?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Anybody familiar with the series knows what happens next. The titular trio- Man in the Mask, Dollface and Pin-Up Girl- shows up and starts terrorizing Maya and Ryan. This is when their stupidity really shows. Ryan has to return to town and leaves Maya alone in a strange place. She hears noises outside. What does she do? She pokes her head outside to see who or what is making the noise. You think that\u2019s dumb, wait until you get a load of this. With all the freaky stuff happening, Maya decides it\u2019s a good time to take a shower. Neither she nor Ryan thinks to call 9-1-1 until it\u2019s close to too late. These two make so many poor judgment calls that you start to root for the killers to put these idiots out of their blissful ignorance.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Some people regard Harlin as a hack. I don\u2019t. I think he\u2019s a decent filmmaker. Sure, he has a few duds to his credit (e.g. Born American, Exorcist: The Beginning), but the good definitely outweighs the bad in his case. My favorite Renny movies include A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Die Hard 2, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea. With The Strangers: Chapter 1<\/strong>, he has crafted a fairly effective thriller with plenty of tension. There are even a few nice \u201cBOO!\u201d scenes. However, it\u2019s all the same stuff we\u2019ve seen before. Every clich\u00e9 associated with horror and thrillers are on full display here. What keeps it interesting are the protagonists\u2019 continuous acts of stupidity. You\u2019ll be rolling your eyes and gripping your arm rests at the same time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The two leads, despite their characters\u2019 lack of intelligence, turn in decent performances. By that, I mean they give the kinds of performances the genre calls for. They get scared convincingly and look good doing it. What more do you want? It\u2019s not like they\u2019re doing Hamlet. The cinematography by Jose David Montero is very good. He makes excellent use of both confined and wide-open spaces. Sure, potential victims running through the woods at night is a total clich\u00e9, but it works here thanks to the way it was filmed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0It\u2019s been a pretty strong year for horror and while I may have a few misgivings about The Strangers: Chapter 1<\/strong>, I\u2019m putting it on the good list. I have a lot of respect for filmmakers who don\u2019t succumb to studio pressure and deliver a toothless, watered-down PG-13 borefest (I\u2019m looking at you, Tarot!). Thank you for keeping it R, Renny.<\/p>\r\n The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lionsgate\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 91 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (horror violence, language, brief drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Renny Harlin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Justin Caine Burnett\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jose David Montero\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 17, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Matus Lajcak, Olivia Kreutzova, Letizia Fabbri, Ryan Brown, Ben […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Strangers-Chapter-1-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":781,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Strangers-Chapter-1-POSTER.jpg?resize=620%2C918&ssl=1\")
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