The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024) Movie Review - Disappointingly Dull Horror Yawn-fest
Welcome to Knockout Horror and to our review of The Strangers: Chapter 1. Back in 2008, the world was introduced to an entirely new horror franchise. The killers here weren’t supernatural, they didn’t have magical powers, and they were far from the usual villains you expect to see in horror. They were, simply, ordinary. The only tools at their disposal were a reckless disregard for the rights of others and a simple mantra – to attack people purely because they were home.
The Strangers was a surprise horror hit but for good reason. Its minimalist approach to horror, slow burn tension, and terrifyingly ordinary killers made it feel worryingly feasible. This could actually happen and, indeed, it actually did. Quite frequently, in fact. Random acts of violence are a common fear of a post 9/11 America. A media all too enthusiastic to loudly broadcast these crimes makes the anxiety all the more prevalent. Despite the relatively rare nature of the crime.
This 2024 release sees the entire franchise rebooted. As you can probably guess by the “Chapter 1” tagline. This movie is the beginning of a brand new trilogy that focuses on the subject of out of town couples falling prey to motiveless killers. The problem is, nobody asked for this and chapter 1 is a dire sign of things to come. In fact, it kind of pains me to think of there being two sequels coming up to this shit show of a movie. Let’s take a look.
A Surprising Horror Fan Hit
I was always slightly surprised by the fan reaction to the 2008 horror movie The Strangers. The premise of the movie was quite simple. A couple, played by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, head out to a vacation home for a getaway. The weekend already starts off on a bad foot after a surprise proposal goes completely wrong. Little do the couple realise that it’s about to get a lot worse as they will soon be stirred by a knock at the door. This prompts the arrival of a group of sadistic masked killers hell bent on doing some stabbing.
At the time, I wasn’t very impressed. In fact, I thought it deserved some serious criticism for making light entertainment out of the Manson family murders that took the lives of Sharon Tate and heir to the Folger’s coffee empire Abigail Folger. I didn’t think it did anything all that new and wasn’t particularly enamoured with it. Years later I would revisit The Strangers for my 2025 31 Days of Halloween marathon and my opinion changed significantly. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot.
The random nation of the violence, the genuinely scary setup, and the feasibility of the plot all clicked with the viewing audience. Despite many critics panning it for being, frankly, a bit derivative. Fans lapped it up and the line “because you were home” uttered by Doll-face became pretty damn iconic. A few sequels followed that repeated the formula and, fast forward to today, we are back with more in the form of The Strangers: Chapter 1.
Why Did They Bother?
That was my immediate thought upon hearing about this movie. I am not sure why this series needed to be rebooted; especially in the form of a trilogy. After all, this is a story without legs, as it is. Random killers killing random people; there is really nothing to expand on. Apparently, director Renny Harlin disagreed and has three movies worth of crap to bore us with from the Strangers’ world. Yay!
This is going to be one continuous story brought to you over three chapters. The first of which we are looking at today, the second of which is coming in October (actually didn’t release for a whole year because of the poor reception this film received, check out our review right here) and the third sometime in 2026. I hope you are excited, because I sure wasn’t and watching chapter 1 didn’t help. This is an absolute yawn-fest of a horror movie.
The story follows late twenties couple Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) as they head out on a road trip. After stopping at a sketchy diner in a backwater town, the pair return to their car to find it won’t start. Offered help by the local mechanic, they accept and decide to stay in a local Air B’n’B for the night. Little do they realise that they are in for a less than hospitable welcome from the local crazies.
More of the Same
The Strangers: Chapter 1 is more of the same. It is a redux of the Strangers’ formula only extended over a series of movies rather than condensed into one. That might be fine for some but you are going to lose a lot of what made the original work by stretching it out. First of all, we spend way too long getting into the story.
Maya and Ryan bum around the town for a silly amount of time and there is way too much canoodling between the two. It takes a long time to get into the action and the entire first half feels woefully padded. We really don’t need to know anything at all about these characters. You can just drop us in right before the action starts and avoid a lot of the pointless preamble. The question is, how would you stretch that out into three movies? The plot is already paper thin as it is.
Secondly, when the action starts. The intense, claustrophobic, and deliberately helpless feeling of the original movie simply isn’t there. Instead, we have an extended and protracted game of cat and mouse that goes on forever.
It’s so formulaic and cliched that it plays out like a game of “guess the horror trope”. You will know what is coming at every turn. Tension is completely absent, the scares are away on their own vacation somewhere else, and it is very difficult to stay invested.
A big part of the problem is that the villains here feel entirely less capable than they did in the original. They are still omnipresent in that cheesy slasher way but they are kind of bumbling and a bit incapable. Maya and Ryan are afforded numerous chances to escape purely so the chase sequences can be padded out even further. It feels like it goes on forever.
Utterly Predictable
Earlier, I briefly touched on how predictable The Strangers: Chapter 1 is but I feel that point needs some emphasis. There are no surprises at all and not a single hint of ingenuity present in this entire film. It’s almost as if each single shot was specifically designed to loudly project every scare. Every scene follows an obvious and apparent path meaning there isn’t a single moment that you won’t see coming. Even the final moments are easily guessed, right up until the last second.
It is entirely disappointing. Look, I get it, horror is a genre that is absolutely packed with tropes. Expecting innovation in every film would be foolish but it is not unreasonable to want said tropes to be handled effectively. It wouldn’t be so bad if the execution was good here but it simply isn’t. This is formulaic slasher crap that’s poorly handled and features no bells and no whistles to make it stand out.
As I said earlier in the review, this formula doesn’t have the legs to carry it through three films. The first movie got everything out of it that you could possibly get without pure recycling. The Strangers: Chapter 1 is trying to squeeze the remaining juice out of a rotten 16 year old lemon and doesn’t manage a single drop.
Acting is Meh!
“Meh”.. That’s betraying my Millennial roots, isn’t it? I just can’t think of a better way to put it. Madelaine Petsch, as Maya, does an okay job. She looks absolutely exhausted in a few scenes, though. Not as in “she is acting”; more as in they are overworking her and she can’t find the energy to emote. They filmed the three iterations of this series concurrently splitting duties between morning, afternoon, and night. That’s a big ask! It’s almost as if you can see her suddenly remembering that she should be looking scared and crying in a few scenes. I actually felt really bad for her.
Froy Gutierrez is pretty bad as Ryan. He is wooden as hell in a few scenes and his performance had both my fiancée and me confused as to his motivations. He has a sinister delivery to some of his lines. Especially when comforting his partner and comes across as very plastic. I can’t really blame him, however, as the script offers his character no depth beyond him being a messy eater and easily angered.
Should You Watch The Strangers: Chapter 1?
You should only watch The Strangers: Chapter 1 if you absolutely need more of the same from the Strangers universe. This movie has so little to offer. It is boring, repetitive, derivative, played out, and simply not very scary. I am not at all looking forward to the subsequent chapters. Young newcomers to horror may find something to like. Non-horror fans might enjoy just how simple the movie is. But any horror vets should just skip this one altogether. It is a waste of your time.
Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight
Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.
A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.
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