This article contains major spoilers for "The Strangers: Chapter 1."

The horror genre is no stranger (pun intended) to creatures returning from the dead. After "The Bride of Frankenstein" brought back the Monster in 1935, no major cinematic horror character has lain dormant for too long, with even the unlikeliest of beasties or killers coming back for at least a second go-round or more.

The villains of 2008's "The Strangers" count as one of those unlikely killers, though not because they're difficult to sequelize. On the contrary, the very ethos of the Strangers — that being they kill "because you were home" — is incredibly open-ended and ripe for exploration and expansion in further films. Yet therein lies the rub, as they say, for a large part of what makes "The Strangers" so terrifying is that it's a home invasion movie where absolutely no rationale is given for the tragic fates suffered by the...