Overview
After their car breaks down in an eerie small town, a young couple are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motives.
Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers is apparently set within the world of the first two films, but is planned, over three Chapters, to be its own story, with each chapter going in different directions tonally, but each being directly connected by characters. As a fan of the original film, which tapped into my idea of what makes a good horror with a slow building tension in a very believable manner, I was hoping for a return to that kind of film, and it is safe to say that I walked away from this one pleased with the results.
Maya and her boyfriend Ryan, played by Madeline Petsch and Froy Gutierrez, are on a road trip celebrating their five year anniversary when they break down in a small town called Venus. Whilst waiting for their car to be repaired, they book into an Airbnb lodge in a remote part of the surrounding woodlands, but are interrupted when a strange girl calls asking whether Tamara is home. As Ryan heads back to the town to retrieve his inhaler that he left in the car, Maya begins to suspect someone is in the house with her, and events soon build in familiar ways to what we’ve seen previously.
There is a wonderful slow build to this, with the initial encounters with the townsfolk of Venus leading to an unnerving tension in every interaction – this is a town who don’t appear to be altogether friendly to strangers in their midst – and then the isolated locale of the house creating a cut-off claustrophobic essence to the latter two acts. Harlin’s direction plays with shadows and light, as well as classic double take moments as the masked figures who are stalking Maya and Ryan move around the house just out of sight of the pair. No cliche or trope is left untouched, but Harlin utilises them well, with some skilful camera shots and pacing choices, so that it never feels overly tropish.
Light on bloodshed, and all about atmosphere, Harlin breathes some new life into the genre, whilst sticking firmly to formula, with an approach that feel old-school in nature and keeps you unnerved throughout. A closing moments scene hints at what to expect in Chapter 2, and left me wanting to see where the story goes next.
Nothing original, and anyone familiar with the original film will find no real surprises, but skilfully made and packed with atmosphere, this is a welcome new take on the idea.