‘Strangers’ dangers blunted by horror cliches, dumbness
“The Strangers: Chapter 1” — 1.5 stars
This generic, jump-scary horror tale — the first of a planned trilogy directed by Renny Harlin — can be viewed two ways.
One, as a stylish, technically proficient horror story that successfully caters to the lowest expectations of indiscriminating audiences.
Two, as a nihilistic and manipulative formula slasher movie pushing the envelope of dumbness to near comic extremes.
Dumb characters in “The Strangers: Chapter 1” excel at making dumb decisions while being stalked by a trio of incompetent serial killers who never bother to check that their victims are actually dead.
Mad slasher movies of the 1980s sported many dummy herds waiting to be thinned, such as the woman in “Relentless” who flees a killer by running past a sliding-glass door to hide in a basement.
In “Chapter 1,” a lovely young couple, Ryan and Maya (Froy Gutierrez and “Riverdale” actress Madelaine Petsch), helplessly huddle on a bedroom floor as a hooded axman chops through the door. They pay no attention to the large window behind them.
Maya and Ryan are celebrating their fifth anniversary by taking a road trip through the rustic hamlet of Venus, Oregon, population 468. (This will be lowered very soon.)
The odd and vaguely threatening locals don’t take a like’en to the strangers and their haughty, big-city ways. When Maya and Ryan come out of a tiny cafe, their car suddenly won’t start. Ryan suspects sabotage.
A frightening mechanic says he must order a part to fix their car the next day, prompting the couple to spend the night at a cabin “in the middle of nowhere,” Ryan astutely observes.
William Friedkin famously noted that the scariest thing on film is a closed door. “Chapter 1” ups the ante by adding a thunderous knock.
A shadowy girl on the other side eerily asks, “Is Tamarin there?” infusing the movie with a much-needed dose of impending terror, mitigating the silliness of Ryan conveniently finding a motorcycle in the woods, with a helmet his size, a full gas tank and, apparently, the key in the ignition.
Harlin — the Finnish director known for “Die Hard 2,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4,” and one of the biggest flops of all-time, “Cutthroat Island” — denies that “Chapter 1” is connected to Bryan Bertino’s 2008 release “The Strangers,” starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as victims of the same three masked killers.
Harlin says in the production notes he wanted to give fans “something fresh and surprising.”
Surprising? No.
Jump-scary? Yes.
Fresh? Not when “Chapter 1” traffics in tired, expired genre cliches such as old pop songs playing on LP records, another naked woman in the shower, electricity going out at night, and the obligatory thunderstorm (this one squeezed in after the closing credits begin).
Shocking? Nothing like Chris Nash’s gruesome “In a Violent Nature” opening May 31.
At least Harlin’s film shocked the TikTok censors, who shut down Lionsgate’s “Chapter 1” page last week for “showing or promoting dangerous activities and challenges.”
Credit Petsch for Tikking off the Toks with her quiet implosion of sheer fear, a soul-searing performance of restrained power and effusive vulnerability that should instantly establish her as the premiere Anti-Scream Queen.
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Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Other: A Lionsgate release. Rated R for drug use, violence. 91 minutes