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The Strangers Chapter 1 is the first of three planned chapters, and by planned, I mean they’ve already been filmed, so there’s no escape for any of us.
Following an initial segment which sets the scene for what we’re about to experience, we move forward to see young adults Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) out and about, until their car mysteriously breaks down, with the mechanic being creepy as hell.
And, yes, they have to spend the night in a cabin in the woods…
The jump scares start early, as someone comes a-knocking, asking for Thelma – whoever that is, but their initial thud on the door really packed a punch in the trailer, whereas in the film, it’s very watered down, by comparison. Why would you do that? You had one job…
Meanwhile, obvious creepy people are obvious, in the form of Scarecrow (Matúš Lajcák), Dollface (Olivia Kreutzova) and Pin-Up Girl (Letizia Fabbri), who turn up to seriously hassle the pair, but it just turns into more obvious jump scares, then the power goes out – so they have to find the fuse box, their phone signal is bad, they get chased through the woods, and all with the trio turning up at every corner, as if they’re omnipresent. What a load of old fanny!
Everything is just so clichéd and massively predictable in this film, so I can’t understand why director Renny Harlin would commit to a trilogy of movies, when he can’t even struggle to find one original item for the first film!
However, there is nice moment where a particular door has the word “Hello” written on it, the door gets smashed at one point, and now, you can only read ‘hell’.
All that said, the biggest irritation was another member of the audience in what was quite a sparse screening. The film is only 91 minutes long, yet one man turned up TWENTY FIVE MINUTES into the film. He’d booked a seat in my row, yet despite being able to have gone round the other side, he decided to come to my side first and walk past me – and didn’t even say thankyou!
Even if his eyes hadn’t initially adjusted to the darkness, they certainly had by an hour later when it finished, but he STILL came past me again! And still didn’t say thankyou! Good Lord!
Oh, and he ate a loud packet of crisps at one point, and while it was very quiet, he slapped the packet multiple times after finishing it, to scrunch it up.. JUST DROP IT ON THE FLOOR!!!
And as I said, The Strangers Chapter 1 is the first part of a trilogy. Chapter 2 is due out in the autumn, with Chapter 3 some time in 2025. Please don’t hurry.
There’s also a mid-credits scene, and you can find out more about that in the video above.
The Strangers Chapter 1 is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release date TBA.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 91 minutes
Release date: May 17th 2024
Studio: Lionsgate Movies
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRI Alexa Mini LF (Main Camera), ARRI Alexa Mini LF, Hawk class-X Anamorphic, Mini Hawk Hybrid Lenses, Zeiss Standard Speed, DJI Action Cam 2, RED Komodo)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 1/10
Director: Renny Harlin
Producers: Alastair Burlingham, Mark Canton, Charlie Dombek, Christopher Milburn, Gary Raskin, Courtney Solomon
Screeenplay: Alan R Cohen, Alan Freedland
Music: Justin Caine Burnett
Cast:
Maya: Madelaine Petsch
Ryan: Froy Gutierrez
Debbie: Rachel Shenton
Scarecrow: Matúš Lajcák
Dollface: Olivia Kreutzova
Pin-Up Girl: Letizia Fabbri
Gregory: Gabriel Basso
Shelly: Ema Horvath
Sheriff Rotter: Richard Brake
Jasmine: Ella Bruccoleri
Jeff Morell: Ryan Bown
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.