Admittedly, I’m unfamiliar with this franchise; however, I have tried my best to do some contextual research before writing this article, so I feel slightly more prepared. However, I apologise for any mistakes and misconceptions about the franchise as I have not watched the other films.
(Spoilers Ahead)
On Sunday evening I had the pleasure of sitting down to watch one of the year's funniest movies, and it was not a comedy. It was The Strangers: Chapter 1, starring Riverdale’s Madeline Petsch and Teen Wolf’s Froy Gutierrez; two names I am all too familiar with as I was once a 13-year-old girl with a Netflix subscription in 2018. The story unfolds after a couple’s car breaks down in the middle of Venus, Oregon, they’re then offered a place to stay in the middle of the woods while waiting for their car to be fixed.
Credit: Lionsgate (2024)
The film opens in one of the most ridiculous ways I have ever seen, as its attempts to go self-reflexive are laughable. After a forgettable chase sequence, text pops up on the screen telling us that there are x amount of violent crimes per minute in the USA and there have been 7 during the time we’ve been watching the film (so far). This is preceded by the film telling us that this was “one of the most brutal”, (spoiler alert! it was not). I very nearly burst out laughing in the cinema.
After about 500 drone shots of the woods (if you’re a fan of drone shots you’re in luck! This film loves nothing more than a good drone shot of the same woods over and over again!), we meet the main couple, Maya and Ryan, (Petsch and Gutierrez), we’re told that they’re on their way to a couples getaway in celebration of their 5 year anniversary. Zoë Rose Bryant’s Letterboxd review really took the words out of my mouth when she said “This is the gayest straight couple I have ever seen”. Because MY GOD. Some of the worst on-screen chemistry in recent memory, you cannot convince me that these two had a chemistry read. I’m convinced they just cast these two because they were both in popular teen dramas and hoped they would find common ground.
After nearly getting into a car accident, Maya and Ryan stop for food in a Venus, Oregon diner. The staff are hostile in an attempt to unsettle the audience, however, this falls flat on its face as it falls headfirst into overplayed tropes we’ve seen before. They’re then offered a place to stay after finding their car has broken down. Ryan is initially weary but Maya pushes him to let them stay.
Credit: Lionsgate (2024)
When the couple arrives at “the air bnb”, the tropes go feral. The first overplayed trope is introduced when a young girl, dressed in all black, having her face covered, continuously knocks on the door asking “Is Tamra here?”. This was maybe a little creepy the first time, despite being a cheap attempt to achieve the uncanny, but this happens multiple times throughout to the point where I was groaning at the fifth time it happened. These sequences don’t go anywhere, they happen and it’s so boring.
Writing this a week after seeing the film, I can confidently say that the sequences with the titular strangers are unbelievably forgettable. However, one scene that might have changed my life for the better was when Maya was hiding from Dollface. (I believe, to be honest, I didn’t know that there were 3 of the strangers until I saw them all in the same room at the same time). Maya is hiding in a small ditch, covering herself in leaves and dirt to try and hide. She picks up her phone when she believes it to be safe and calls 911. When they ask her where she is, she responds with “the air bnb”.
People on my TikTok video about this scene have argued that this was understandable because it’s likely that this was the only air bnb in town. I would argue that this might be the funniest scene of the year.
Maya does not clarify what town she’s in, she says “the air bnb”. It’s only when the phone loses connection, and she starts to panic about 2 minutes later, she tries to elaborate on where she is. Maybe I’m just a hater and reading too far between the lines but I promise you, watching this unfold is so much funnier than me trying to describe it.
Despite all the negatives from the film, there is one genuinely squeamish moment. I think we all cringed when the man in the mask stabbed Maya in her, you know! But who wouldn’t cringe when watching something like that?
References
https://letterboxd.com/zoerosebryant/film/the-strangers-chapter-1/
Riverdale. (2017). Warner Bros.
Teen Wolf. (2011). MTV.
The Strangers: Chapter 1. (2024). Lionsgate.