The Strangers: Chapter 1
Lionsgate | Release Date: May 17, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
15
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 16, 2024
In a pair of elegantly chilling sequences (the editing in this film is superb), Maya and Ryan fight for their lives against the needle-drop background of first “Nights in White Satin” by the Moody Blues and later “The Best of Times” by Styx. You’ll never think of those classic rock tunes in the same way again. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 20, 2024
As a follow-up/homage, Chapter 1 isn’t bad but it feels superfluous, adding little substantive to what was previously provided by The Strangers and the second film in the series, 2018’s The Strangers: Prey at Night. Read full review
60
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackMay 16, 2024
While it’s not as much of a slow-burn of psychological torture as Bertino’s original, Chapter 1 sticks to the course and doesn’t let up on its lead characters once. Read full review
60
VarietyMichael NordineMay 16, 2024
"Chapter 1” can’t help feeling like an ersatz imitation at times, but it seems the franchise’s well hasn’t run dry just yet. Read full review
58
IndieWireAlison ForemanMay 16, 2024
Yes, the masks are great. And yes, home invasions will aways be scary. But when it comes to messing with genre classics, your answer to “Why remake a near-perfect film?” can’t be “It was here.” Read full review
57
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerMay 17, 2024
Younger horror fans who haven’t caught up with the earlier films may well receive this one as a perfectly creepy little genre exercise, and there are moments where it plays that way even to a more experienced audience. Read full review
50
Original-CinThom ErnstMay 17, 2024
I'll admit that The Strangers had me on the edge of my seat, mostly because I wasn't sure if I planned on staying. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMay 17, 2024
Once we're able to see Harlin's new trilogy as a whole, “Chapter 1” might feel more essential to the 4.5-hour experience. Right now, it just feels overly familiar. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 16, 2024
The script is hopeless in both senses of the word, offering no hope and lacking in quality. But I enjoyed the two victims, at least until they started screaming, and appreciate the way director Renny Harlin creates a sense of menace by his choice of lenses and his placement of the camera. Read full review
50
Screen RantRachel LaBonteMay 16, 2024
The Strangers: Chapter 1 ends with a cliffhanger that paves the way for Chapter 2 , and that, I feel, is where this new trilogy will really get the chance to take off. Read full review
45
SlashfilmBJ ColangeloMay 16, 2024
The Strangers didn't need these horror tropes to become a sensation, so it's very odd to see them shoehorned into this new trilogy. Read full review
40
Total FilmJamie GrahamMay 20, 2024
Marking Harlin’s trumpeted return to a genre in which he established himself as something of a journeyman (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Exorcist: The Beginning), The Strangers: Chapter 1 makes decent use of its contained setting – the house itself, to wheel out the cliché, is its own character – but can’t cut through the sense of fatigue. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMarco Vito OddoMay 16, 2024
The Strangers: Chapter 1 just feels like an overstretched introduction. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenMay 16, 2024
There is a journeyman’s proficiency to “Chapter 1” but little in the way of real spark. Read full review
40
The Daily BeastNick SchagerMay 16, 2024
Whereas Bertino’s original was sleek, sinister and deft, this do-over is noisy, dull and dumb as a bag of rocks. Read full review
40
ColliderEmma KielyMay 16, 2024
For now, stick with the original. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeMay 16, 2024
The director, Renny Harlin, is a competent and experienced hand, so there’s a sturdy workmanlike quality here but, more typically associated with bombastic action movies, he just doesn’t have the patience required to build real, clammy suspense or the awareness of the smaller specificities that are needed to immerse us in an intimate story such as this. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineMark HansonMay 16, 2024
This film’s approach to slasher film mayhem is liable to induce some serious déjà vu. Read full review
30
The New York TimesErik PiepenburgMay 16, 2024
The hapless script — written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland and based on the original — offers nothing fresh in a tiring 91 minutes, and nothing daring to justify a new “Strangers” film, let alone a new series, especially when Bertino’s formidable film is streaming on Max. Read full review
30
IGNLena WilsonMay 16, 2024
The Strangers: Chapter 1 might freak you out if you aren’t old enough to remember The Strangers, but where its predecessor was subtle and interesting, Renny Harlin’s reboot chooses to be ridiculous and boring. Read full review
20
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiMay 16, 2024
It’s a pat retread of all the violence from the original film, with no emotional investment and no creativity in the mayhem department. Read full review
0
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 19, 2024
Sometimes the over-the-top violence can be a saving grace in such genre films. Sometimes the villain makes them worth watching. Occasionally, the suspense atones for a world of shortcomings. Not here. Read full review
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