Sixteen years after the cult classic changed the horror genre, The Strangers are back with another installment that lacks all the original’s magic.
In 2022, it was announced that the lore would be expanding. The Strangers would be relaunched with intention to introduce new audiences to the sadistic, masked killers but, 15 minutes into the movie, I found myself asking – whose idea was this?
I absolutely loved the original film. As someone who doesn’t do horror, this psychological thriller balanced the joy of watching someone fight to stay alive with the real-life possibility of this situation happening to you. That is what made The Strangers so unique and different. The main characters were just this normal couple going through some marital issues who become targets of a family of serial killers. Watching two normal people, with no basic survival skills fighting for their lives was extremely relatable because it put viewers in their position and made us ask how I would survive if this happened to me.
It was absolutely terrifying and made its impact in this first film. There was absolutely no need to explore the bigger world of these three serial killers and that lack of need or interest is why I think The Strangers: Chapter 1 falls flat on it’s face.
As soon as the film opens, we are brought right back to the same story that we saw in 2008. A couple teetering on what feels like the end of their relationship; they are disconnected and out of sync yet they book a pseudo-romantic getaway in hopes of saving what is left of their love. Unfortunately, Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) have zero chemistry but perhaps that was intentional? To further push how far a part they’ve drifted from each other? These questions are left to be answered because, as the story goes on and the killings ensue, their on-screen time had me rolling my eyes for many reasons.
The one most egregious reason was the cliché writing of Maya. Horror has never been kind to women. They were historically written to be helpless as plot devices for men to be a hero or written as helpless and mindless as punishment for being ‘loose’ or ‘un-holy’. Of course, as a society we’ve aged out of these sexist movie rules but the female horror archetype hasn’t been fully set free from them and this is especially the case for Maya. She has no survival skills, she is helpless and useless the entire time. It’s so bad that I actually would have been relieved to see her lose to the killers. It’s as if she didn’t even want to live.
The second reason was the poor writing of how millennials behave. Even amid a murder spree, the everyday millennial would NEVER put down their phone and walk away from it. At most, they would put it in their pocket. But, for the plot, those smartphones were never on them when it was most important. My third reason is the second main character, Ryan. I have never wanted to scream at a character more. Of course he doesn’t believe Maya when she tells him someone is in the house. Of course, his over-confidence is more important than making smart decisions to survive. Just like Maya, he has zero survival skills and because of it, I also didn’t care if he survived. In fact, I would have preferred it if he didn’t because he was just so frustrating.
I am unsure why anyone thought continuing this lore was a good idea if they would not change the story or introduce something new. If the killers only target people who come to stay in the town, maybe switch up who is coming to stay- a mother trying to help her son heal after a traumatic event, siblings who are depressed after the death of a parent and just want to detach and not think about it. ANYTHING would have been better than watching the same story, beat for beat, unfold sixteen years later. This story worked in 2008 because our culture and world were different. It doesn’t work in 2024 because millennials are a highly adaptive generation due to technology and their hyper independent natures. When three masked killers show up, they would act on the first indication. And if not, there needs to be a reason as to why their survival instincts would be disarmed. With Maya and Ryan, there is no reason why the two of them are so thoughtless in the face of death.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 is theatres on Friday, May 17th.
