Review of The Strangers: Chapter 1

"A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" director Renny Harlin helms the reboot of scenarist Bryan Bertino's home invasion horror franchise "The Strangers" with the first entry in the new trilogy "The Strangers: Chapter 1." Mind you, publicity for the trilogy stipulates that the newest film is not a prequel to the previous pair of chillers. For the record, "The Strangers" came out in 2008 with Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as the first ill-fated couple. "The Strangers: Prey At Night," with Christina Hendricks and Martin Henderson followed a decade later. Now, Harlin is officially listed as the director of the two forthcoming sequels "Chapter Two" and "Chapter Three." "Due Date" scribes Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland penned the rather lackluster script about a clueless couple of city slickers from New York, Maya and Ryan (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) traveling cross-country by car for Maya's job interview in Portland with an architectural firm. No, these two aren't married. In fact, they've been dating for five years but Ryan hasn't taken a knee to make Maya an honest woman. Predictably, the three masked assailants from the original movie-Scarecrow, Doll-Face, and Pin-up--show up to send shivers as well as blades into our cute little couple. Although the story takes place in a small town in Oregon, Harlin and company filmed the action in the Central European country of Slovakia. Looking at the scenery, you wouldn't know it since everything looks just like the states. Sadly, "The Strangers, Chapter 1" doesn't qualify as either white-knuckled or different. The filmmakers observe all the usual cliches, with only a few scenes that stand out of this 91-minute opus. Once again the victims of this mayhem are so oblivious to everything happening around them that it is difficult to conjure up a tear or two of sympathy for them. Mind you, despite some occasional touches here and there, nothing in this reboot will come as a surprise for anybody who has seen the first two "Strangers" sagas.