On the bright side, at least there’s not a motherly monstrosity underneath this Airbnb. Making it five years in a relationship is a big deal, and for Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Guitierrez), they’ve decided to celebrate theirs by taking a cross-country trip concluding with a big career-making interview for Maya. Day three finds them somewhere in Oregon, making good time and good memories before a near-fatal car crash. Rattled and hungry, the couple grab a sit-down diner bite and are forced to reminisce awkwardly about the past five years after local townsfolk openly question why they’re not married.

Maya and Ryan exit the diner to find their car won’t start. Thankfully, the diner happens to be next to a car shop. Ryan is uneasy, but Maya encourages him not to stress. The car will be repaired, but only by the morning, so they’re forced to wait for it in the town of Venus, Oregon, taking residence at an Airbnb. Their romantic evening is interrupted by a darkness-cloaked stranger, knocking on the door asking “Is Tamara home?” The supposedly innocuous misunderstanding shortly gives way to an intense invasion led by three masked individuals.

Big fan of 2008’s The Strangers here. Bryan Bertino’s directorial debut is legitimately terrifying because it’s extremely believable as a premise then and just as much now. The idea that anyone could terrorize and toy with you and not need a motive or backstory to do so is in many ways the worst fear imaginable. Its sequel 10 years later in Prey at Night didn’t add much, but was stylish and went in a few different directions to understand thinking in greenlighting a follow-up to the original. With The Strangers: Chapter 1, it lives in a weird space of not quite being a remake but adhering awfully close to 2008’s feature, which means that Chapter 1 cannot avoid comparisons to its superior predecessor.

Is Renny Harlin the best choice to direct this? The preceding sentence implies that there’s something untapped about The Strangers: Chapter 1 that a different director could mine, when in reality there’s likely little any director could do to elevate what is present. All that said, Harlin is like quite the curious selection to direct. Competent due to sheer volume but unremarkable; the filmmaker hasn’t had a legitimate success in nearly 25 years since Deep Blue Sea, 30 if looking for a critical success in The Long Kiss Goodnight. Perhaps he needs Samuel L. Jackson to reverse his fortunes. With so many jump scares, a few work just because eventually one or two have to. The Scarecrow stranger reveal in the home is kind of cool. Yet, it’s a reminder of 2008’s better reveal, and much of Harlin’s film feels like a 90% lift from Bertino’s, with much worse and less eerie vinyl tracks. No “My First Lover” type moments to be found here.

The first Strangers succeeded in its simplicity. Its simplicity was its surprise, and the script didn’t do too much. However, Bertino included just enough situational meat to his terrorized couple that allowed them to come off as real people. And generally, the conversations they have feel authentic, not to mention the mostly sound logical decisions they make. Co-written by two Alans in R. Cohen and Freedland, Chapter 1 first fails hard because of the ineptitude of its terrorized couple to work within the situation, particularly as the runtime progresses and the duo arguably get the upper hand here and there.

Sometimes, good chemistry between stars can lessen the impact of a poor script; unfortunately Petsch and Guitierrez’s is stilted more than sizzling, and particularly the movie doesn’t seem to know what it wants to do with Ryan as a character. As the first of a planned trilogy already shot, Harlin’s stated goal is for “…fans to finally learn who Tamara is.” Is this something people clamored for? No direct spoilers, but he appears interested in going in a route that’s very David Gordon Green-like with interest in the lore expansion of their dominant killer(s) and the town they inhabit/denizens who make up the town. If recent history tells us anything, this narrative direction might not be the wisest shape to take your franchise in.

Does The Strangers: Chapter 1 create any excitement for Chapter 2? Mildly, if only because Harlin and co. have no choice but to take a chance or two in the next outing. I might not care to know who Tamara is, but at least it will beat the alternative of sitting through a low-effort first chapter. Knock on wood.

D

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