“The Strangers: Chapter 1”

Genre: Slasher/home-invasion horror

Country: United States

Directed by: Renny Harlin

Written by: Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, based on the 2008 film “The Strangers” by Bryan Bertino

Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Rachel Shenton, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Richard Brake, Ella Bruccoleri, Matús Lajcák, Olivia Kreutzova, Letizia Fabbri

Rated: Rated R for bloody violence, drug use, language

Run time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Release date: In theaters May 17, 2024

Where I saw it: VIP Legacy 9 in Greenfield, Ind., on a Sunday afternoon, $7.75 with senior discount, one other person in the theater

What it’s about: In a movie that is the third in “The Strangers” series but is a remake/reboot and the first of a planned standalone trilogy, a young couple (Petsch as Maya and Gutierrez as Ryan) on a cross-country drive to Oregon exit the interstate and end up in the small Oregon town of Venus. When their car won’t start after they eat in a diner, the locals offer them a cabin in a remote wooded area. The couple will be in a fight for their lives when three masked strangers – Lajcák as Scarecrow, Kreutzova as Dollface and Fabbri as Pin-Up Girl – pay a visit and get inside the cabin.

What I liked about it: Nearly nothing. The only saving grace of this moviegoing experience was that me and my buddy were the only ones in the theater, so I could, about 20 minutes in, tell him out loud, “Something better start happening soon,” and he could shout advice to the idiotic main couple which would have helped them easily escape had they been able to hear it and assuming they would have heeded it. Which they undoubtedly wouldn’t have. … Though this horror movie is low on gore, it did include a couple of squeamish moments, like a nail through a hand. Ouchy.

What I didn’t like about it: Let’s start with this: This being the third of these things (the second film, “The Strangers: Prey at Night,” didn’t come along until 10 years after the 2008 original), the novelty has worn off. Same goes for the whole “sometimes random acts of violence are perpetuated by psychopathic evil people who walk among us and pick their victims just because they are there” thing, because at this point I kind of want a reason, even a sliver of one, as to why the three masked killers are doing their thing. They have become less menacing with each film because we don’t know them or their motives. It’s like, “Hey, it’s those people again. Oh. OK.” I can’t imagine there being a reason for two more of these movies. … I texted my son after the movie and said, “‘The Strangers’ was awful,” except I put a profanity in there. He wanted to know why, and I replied, “Lazy, clichéd, stupid,” but I should have added “boring.” Because I had seen the first two movies, I knew what was going to happen, so the slow-burn approach was far more slow than burn. … Do people who live in cities who make these things really think that once you get five miles off any interstate in the U.S. that rural folk all are creepy and suspicious and will murder you in the worst ways possible because “you ain’t from around here”? … The evil rural folks hand religious fliers to the young couple, and I thought that was going somewhere, but it had nothing to do with anything.

Who it will appeal to: Apparently moviegoers who see things differently than me, because “The Strangers: Chapter 1” did surprisingly well on its opening weekend and has already exceeded its $8.5 million budget. What do I know?

My score: 11 out of 100