Renny Harlin’s movie is the first part of a trilogy that, we’re told, will open out the Strangers universe to an epic scale and explain just why randoms in masks are invading houses to do horrible things (thus missing the entire point). In the meantime, Chapter 1 starts things off small, content with effectively being a remake of Bryan Bertino’s gloriously senseless and suspenseful 2008 movie.
It opens with loved-up young couple Maya and Gregory (Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso) enjoying a road trip and establishing just how happy they are. Such bliss can only be fleeting, and sure enough their car breaks down in Hicksville, USA, forcing them to spend the night in a remote house. But wait… who’s that rapping at the door? Why, it’s Pinup Girl, Dollface and the Man in the Mask, of course…
