The Strangers: Chapter 1 has some decent sized flaws that can’t overwhelm a solid creepy tone and some cool, creepy moments. It’s hardly perfect and sometimes antagonized me (personally) but it shows clear signs of having been filmed well, despite its script.

The flick is about some of them there city slickers who, once again, realize small town life has it out for them. It’s as though Hollywood knows something about small towns… and farmlands… and the wilderness, the suburbs and even cities. It’s like you can’t go anywhere without running into axe murderer. Oh, right, big city couple gets trapped in small town, magic up a late night Airbnb rental, and then get stalked by crazy folks in masks. I think we’ve seen this before.

This flick settles quickly on a pretty effective ambient soundscape… which is where it differentiates itself from much of its brethren. Ticking clocks, creaking floorboards, you know the drill. And even in its dumber moments, the ability of the filmmakers to capture a sense of dread remains solid and effective. I was not surprised to see Renny Harlin’s name show up in the end credits… he’s hardly perfect but he’s been in the biz long enough to know what creepy feels like.

And, yeah, the film has one or five too many creaking floorboard sequences… and you kind of want to slap the shit out of the idiot protagonists too. Oh NOW it’s time to grab a weapon? Not when the axe murderer busted down the door? And why didn’t you try to call the cops a half an hour ago? Jeepers… it’s like these idiots are in an idiot script.

But pause and blow down… it dumbasses in horror films didn’t do dumbass things, then we wouldn’t have horror films. Breathe. Just… let it slide and enjoy the creep factor. It’s going to be ok.

But also… Chapter 1? There are two more of these coming? I don’t see the value of continuing this staggering work of heartbreaking brilliance with these smart, relatable, competent characters. But I guess we’ll see how long they can stretch this out.

I wasn’t in love with this flick’s script, but I can’t argue it doesn’t create an effective environment in which to be creepy. When the characters weren’t being dumb – and when the guy wasn’t being a casual asshole – I even liked them a bit. It’s a pretty effective film and I’ll see parts 2 and 3.

Score: 76