The Strangers: Chapter 1 Review

“Is Tamara here?” - ?

I’d hate to even guesstimate how many horror films I’ve watched over the last fifty years but in all that time there’s only one type that has really managed to freak me out to the point of not really embracing them as much as the rest. I tend to avoid home invasion movies. They’re just too close and too realistic. Let’s face it, you’re hardly likely to meet a vampire, a man made of bits and pieces of corpses, a werewolf, an indestructible killer, dream demon, killer doll or even to be possessed. But a psychopath coming into your home and torturing you, that’s within the realms of possibility (but not, I suppose, probability.) So, for years, I never bothered checking out The Strangers (2008) until recently. The cover image of two victims, tied to chairs facing three menacing masked psychos was enough.

Until – in my usual seat at Cineworld, waiting for a movie to start, a trailer was screened that caught my attention and intrigued me. The Strangers: Chapter 1. Yes, they were still making those and somehow it had slipped my notice. (This would not have been the case back in the day, when there were a wealth of magazines covering every aspect of the horror and sci-fi industry on a monthly basis. I still miss Fangoria and my old stomping ground, GoreZone.)

Thanks to my OCD, this meant now that I had to get my eyes on a screening of The Strangers before seeing this one – right? (Okay, THIS is one of the reasons I remain dedicated to physical media rather than streaming, kids. Getting hold of discs of the first two films was incredibly easy. Streaming – forget it.) Long story short – I found the first film a little underwhelming and pedestrian. I didn’t really feel involved, nor did I care much about the victims. The sequel, The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018) however was surprisingly entertaining, and I really enjoyed it. Had I not bought them together, I would probably never have seen the vastly superior sequel. I don’t suppose many have, sadly. But it’s worth checking out.

And all that leads us here, to Chapter 1. Another film I had no idea was in production until I saw the trailer, but judging from the Chapter 1 suffix, I took to be a prequel. A prequel would be valid, because over the past two films, we’ve learned nothing about the three killers except one is male and wears a mask made of sack cloth over his head and face. The two females also have masks, like novelty masks. They barely speak, they move quietly with deadly intent. They like to toy with their victims and are individually referred to as Scarecrow, Pin-Up and Dollface. We have no idea why they kill, who they are or where they come from. There is absolutely no background detail on them at all. And this serves to make them scarier, along with their seemingly random choosing of victims in isolated areas. Their attacks taking place on one single night, from first contact to final execution. Their first contact is usually a girl knocking loudly on the victims’ door and asking “Is Tamara here?”. We don’t even know if she’s wearing a mask, because she’s always in shadow, we don’t know if she’s one of the masked killers, or just an accomplice scouting ahead.

Well, Chapter 1 doesn’t seem to be a prequel, but then again, it’s not a sequel either. Is it a reboot or a remake, with a bigger budget and a big-name director in Renny Harlin? Could be. In any event, it’s a pretty good movie, very closely following the events of the first but better directed. Story-wise, it’s pretty much by-the-numbers, to the point of being predictable. A young couple on a touring vacation find themselves stranded in a remote part of Oregon overnight when their car breaks down at a diner. They don’t exactly ingratiate themselves with the locals with their requests for vegetarian food, or sarcasm. They find themselves having to rent an Air B&B cabin in the woods overnight while their car’s being fixed and then comes the knock at the door.

Parts of the film taking place as Scarecrow is stalking his victim through a forest are very reminiscent of Friday the 13th, especially F13 Part 2, when Jason is seen wearing a sack cloth mask, before he found himself a better look with a hockey mask in the following movie. (I’d be pretty happy if they announced a reboot of that series with Renny Harlin in the director’s chair.)

So, there’s a lot of chasing, some good suspense – but again, we’re no wiser about the origins of the homicidal trio, and the ending is very similar to that of the second movie. So, what’s the deal here?

The producers have taken a leaf out of the Halloween movies’ book. This is Chapter 1 of three! Yes, it’s a trilogy and they’ve all been filmed back-to-back. They’re all in the can already and Chapter 2 is set for release later this year, with Chapter 3 following in 2025. Hence the cliffhanger, which I’m going into no detail about. Reassuringly, all three have been directed by Harlin (whose previous works include A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Cliffhanger and Deep Blue Sea) so we have plenty to look forward to, and I’ll be along for the ride because they’ve transcended my dislike for home invasion films.

As this is the beginning of a trilogy detailing one character’s four-day journey, my rating could well go up when I’ve seen the remaining two movies.

Rob Rating = 7