Taking a step back in time to prior entries and the series; The Strangers Chapter 1 kicks off a new trilogy that looks to explore the early days of the homicidal home invaders.
Madelaine Petsch stars as Maya who along with her boyfriend Ryan (Jeff Morell), travel across the country to celebrate their fifth anniversary as they travel to Portland for a job interview for Maya.
The couple decide to pull off the main highway to take a rest break and find themselves lost before coming to the small town of Venus Oregon with a decide to stop the local diner.
To say they stick out would be an understatement and they are forced to spend the night in a local rental when they suddenly develop car problems when attempting to leave the diner.
The cozy rental offers them a pleasant enough experience until someone comes knocking on the door asking for “Tamara”.
Despite repeatedly saying that there is nobody here by that name; the mysterious visitor continues to knock and ask at random times during the evening.
Ryan decides to take a motorcycle that was outside the rental to go into town so that he can retrieve something from his car and pick up food for the evening which leaves Maya on her own but she is not alone as invaders have entered the home and are observing her.
A series of events causes Maya to panic, but Ryan’s return causes her to think that she might be just imagining things and on edge. The duo soon learns that things are not okay as the invaders reveal themselves and play a deadly game of cat and mouse with the couple forcing them to take action to survive the three masked intruders who always seem to be one step ahead of their plans.
While the film is light on gore as horror films go; it does maintain a decent amount of suspense as long as you are willing to suspend certain thought processes such as why didn’t a couple do x or y when the opportunity presented itself.
With two more films to follow and a promise from Director Renny Harlin while promoting the film at WonderCon that we would learn who Tamara is and more about The Strangers in the subsequent films; it will be interesting to see where they go with chapter 2 which is due later this year.
For now; the new entry is more in keeping with the first film in the series and should keep fans satisfied until the next installment.
3 stars out of 5
