The original "Strangers" is, to me, a perfect example of a film with a lot of style but absolutely no substance. It has a creepy, almost voyeuristic, and tense vibe that's hard not to admire, but ultimately, it's a astonishingly stupid movie with characters making unrealistically bad decisions contrived to allow the plot to happen.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (I haven't seen the Strangers Prey At Night, I heard it was bad and it has one of the worst titles i've ever heard, so...not holding out a lot of hope) is basically the same thing, except that creepy, voyeuristic, post 9/11, surveillance obsessed vibe of the time isn't here. What he get is a pretty standard looking horror film with the same bad elements that made the first one such a letdown.
EXCEPT, of course, this one is unintentionally hilarious. I couldn't help but chuckle as the film leaned into every horror trope imaginable, given us the classic "city slickers go to the country" storyline and meet needlessly hostile locals. (Okay, can we dispel this notion that in 2024 and in the era of Airbnbs, that people from small town American HAVEN'T seen people from American cities and are somewhat surprised or offended by their presence? Especially two generic white people? PLEASE?) The film of course tries to convince us one of these people are the titular Strangers, but we know the entire point of this franchise is that "anyone" can be the killer and no motive is necessary. (Right? More on that later)
You kind of have to love a movie that sets up a visual set piece - blood dripping from the ceiling - by having our male lead Ryan (Ryan Bowen - don't know if that was coincidental or not) scarf down a burger like a hungry child, getting ketchup and mustard all over his face. How neither he or his partner, Maya (Madeleine Petch) notice a chicken strung up on their ceiling from the light fixture before eating their dinner is beyond me. (Speaking of faces, Petch's lip fillers are so distracting that it honestly took away from the tension the film was trying to generate)
How neither of them decide to LOCK THE DOOR despite a woman literally entering their Airbnb mere moments before is beyond me.
And how Ryan has a shotgun LITERALLY POINTED AT ONE OF THE KILLERS HEADS and does not take the shot...well at that point, my partner and I were just cackling with laughter. It's almost as if these movies purposely want to tick you off with how dumb the characters are.
Aside from the "so bad it's funny" aspect, I do find the idea of them trying to actually continue the storyline slightly intriguing. At the end of the day, I'd rather them do something rather than nothing and the conceit of this franchise - we're given no motive nor identities for the killings - is a little tired at this point. If they want to finally build some lore and do something new, that's fine with me.
Please don't spend money on this, but if you have some drinks and some friends, and love laughing at bad horror, this is a good option.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (I haven't seen the Strangers Prey At Night, I heard it was bad and it has one of the worst titles i've ever heard, so...not holding out a lot of hope) is basically the same thing, except that creepy, voyeuristic, post 9/11, surveillance obsessed vibe of the time isn't here. What he get is a pretty standard looking horror film with the same bad elements that made the first one such a letdown.
EXCEPT, of course, this one is unintentionally hilarious. I couldn't help but chuckle as the film leaned into every horror trope imaginable, given us the classic "city slickers go to the country" storyline and meet needlessly hostile locals. (Okay, can we dispel this notion that in 2024 and in the era of Airbnbs, that people from small town American HAVEN'T seen people from American cities and are somewhat surprised or offended by their presence? Especially two generic white people? PLEASE?) The film of course tries to convince us one of these people are the titular Strangers, but we know the entire point of this franchise is that "anyone" can be the killer and no motive is necessary. (Right? More on that later)
You kind of have to love a movie that sets up a visual set piece - blood dripping from the ceiling - by having our male lead Ryan (Ryan Bowen - don't know if that was coincidental or not) scarf down a burger like a hungry child, getting ketchup and mustard all over his face. How neither he or his partner, Maya (Madeleine Petch) notice a chicken strung up on their ceiling from the light fixture before eating their dinner is beyond me. (Speaking of faces, Petch's lip fillers are so distracting that it honestly took away from the tension the film was trying to generate)
How neither of them decide to LOCK THE DOOR despite a woman literally entering their Airbnb mere moments before is beyond me.
And how Ryan has a shotgun LITERALLY POINTED AT ONE OF THE KILLERS HEADS and does not take the shot...well at that point, my partner and I were just cackling with laughter. It's almost as if these movies purposely want to tick you off with how dumb the characters are.
Aside from the "so bad it's funny" aspect, I do find the idea of them trying to actually continue the storyline slightly intriguing. At the end of the day, I'd rather them do something rather than nothing and the conceit of this franchise - we're given no motive nor identities for the killings - is a little tired at this point. If they want to finally build some lore and do something new, that's fine with me.
Please don't spend money on this, but if you have some drinks and some friends, and love laughing at bad horror, this is a good option.
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