Movie Review: The Strangers, Chapter 1 (2024)
Synopsis: While driving to a job interview in Portland, Maya and her boyfriend Ryan stop in Venus, Oregon for lunch. When their car doesn't start, Ryan is suspicious of the local mechanic, but Maya accepts an offer to rent a remote cabin for the night. This proves to be a mistake as she and Ryan soon find themselves being terrorized by a group of three masked strangers.
Who's in it? The movie stars Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Ben Cartwright, Matus Lajcak and Olivia Kreutzova.
Review: My wife and I are caught up on all the seasons of The Traitors (though we did wind up watching an episode of the UK version) so, since we were expecting bad weather last night, we ended up picking out a horror movie to watch. I wasn't completely sure what to expect from The Strangers, Chapter 1 but was familiar with Madelaine Petsch from her time on Riverdale and decided to give it a try.
Overall, it turned out to be a solid slasher movie.
I'll start out by saying the film is far from perfect. For one, I thought Ryan (Gutierrez) was a bit of an ass, both because of his attitude toward some of the locals (which may or may not have been the reason they were targeted) and because his explanation for never proposing to Maya (Petsch) despite being together for five years seemed weak at best.
While I did like Maya a lot better overall, she certainly made some decisions that were questionable as well. What woman decides to get undressed and take a shower immediately after a creepy stranger keeps knocking at the door? And clearly neither of them was smart enough to barricade themselves inside the shed with the gun, the weapon that gave them the upper hand temporarily.
Despite this, I did find I liked the overall plot. In particular, I loved how the attackers' identities were kept hidden throughout, which also kept their motives a mystery as well. Were they there because of something Ryan said or were they there because they just enjoyed killing? I also wondered how much, if any, the advertisement of a church meeting played into it.
Adding some additional intrigue was how the three strangers seemed to be toying with Maya and Ryan. There were plenty of opportunities for them to commit murder, but they would choose not to do it. For a while, I wondered if they were even planning on committing murder or if they were just trying to scare the couple.
While I'm normally not a fan of movies that end in a way that assumes there will be a sequel, I was admittedly OK with this film's ending, complete with the dozens of unanswered questions about who was behind the attack and why. With us expecting a winter storm this evening, we will even likely be watching the second chapter at some point today.
Final Opinion: It wasn't a perfect film, especially with some of the questionable decisions made by the protagonists and an unlikable Ryan. However, it was an entertaining movie that I enjoyed more than expected and would recommend.
My Grade: B+
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Here are some reviews of other slasher movies:
Movie Review: The Final Girls (2015)
Movie Review: Slasher Party (2019)
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