The Strangers: Chapter 1 | Review & Score

About: After their car breaks down in an eerie small town, a young couple is forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive.

"Because you're here."

Not too long after the last Strangers film, we get a fresh new trilogy for the three masked strangers who have been terrorizing random couples (or families) for years now.

In this first chapter, we get basically what we got back in 2008. A young couple are driving cross country, their car breaks down, they have to deal with creepy townsfolk and become terrorized by masked menaces. Sounds about right, right? Well, it is what it is.

Legendary director Renny Harlin marks his return to the big screen with a fresh new set of Strangers films all shot back to back and being released into theaters over the course of the next year or two. We start off, like I already mentioned, with a seemingly retake of the original Strangers film. They even used a few familiar scenes and song choices throughout.

Despite what early reviews have been saying, this is not nearly a bad movie in any way, shape or form. Well, at least not to us moviegoers who go into a movie with not very high expectations. If you're going into this movie looking for a very fresh take on a classic... you're not in for a very tasty treat.

We get a pretty 'by-the-number' thriller here with THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is a fairly entertaining outing for a nice Friday or Saturday night theater experience... in the Summer time. It fits the bill. I thought the acting was decent enough, pretty mediocre at best.

I did enjoy the tone, setting and the performances of the three masked Strangers. So far, I have not seen bad performances from any of the past portrayed masked Strangers in each film. All have been rather well played. These new but the same faces are not any different... well done.

The ending was what I expected it to be, knowing the first movie and it makes sense to set up the continuation of the future films. There is a mid credit scene that you wanna stick around for. All in all, it's a solid thriller with some good set pieces and fine enough performances. Not nearly what the last two Strangers film were/are, but it's a fine enough movie in its own right.

I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

3/5