The Strangers: Chapter 1

The heavy trailing of this and the fact that it's part one does little to help any sense of menace as we follow the young "Maya" (Madelaine Petsch) and boyfriend "Ryan" (Froy Gutierrez) on their road trip to Portland. She's heading to start a new job as an architect, and it looks like she might have been responsible for manscaping her boyfriend's perfect visage as this annoyingly loved up and clingy couple arrive at a remote rural diner. They're not married, which seems to rile the locals and when they go to leave, their brand new car won't start. Ha! Luckily, there's an air b'n'b nearby. A remote cabin fully equipped with all the home comforts - even some Dolly to play on vinyl. They're famished so he borrows a motor bike to go fetch some ...

'The Strangers: Chapter 1' is a let-down.

It sets the scene well with some tension and is held together by a strong score, visually in terms of cinematography and literally in the case of the masks it is fairly effective too but the film doesn't really do enough - with those aforementioned positives and just in general. It starts onscreen by describing forthcoming events as "brutal", yet by the end I don't really feel like I saw anything all that noteworthy; just your standard horror fare, at best, really.

Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez are good in the lead roles I will say, though some of their character decisions (as is typical with this genre, I guess) are frustratingly dumb; I'm looking at you in particular, Gutierrez's Ryan....

This reimagining of the far superior original was an abysmal disappointment. While attempting to build a trilogy or franchise, it's crucial to ensure that each movie can stand on its own. Unfortunately, this film fails to achieve that, presenting a boring three-act structure where nothing significant happens.

The film's suspense is nonexistent, failing to create any sense of tension or atmosphere. A suspenseful movie should keep viewers on the edge of their seats, but this one falls flat.

The characters are mostly unlikable, making it hard to invest in their fates. In a horror film, it's essential to have characters that the audience can either root for or fear for. Here, the protagonists' lack of depth and development leaves viewers...