331: The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024)

SPEAKER_05 0:04

Y'all need to stop crying, get the fuck up, grab the shotgun and run to the car. Now, cry about it when you're already halfway down the road.

SPEAKER_08 0:13

Had some more empathy, Bianca. Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Is Tamra here? If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

A total joke? A waste of time.

SPEAKER_08 0:35

Or a splash. Totally killer. Punintended. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slash enthusiast, and this week I'm joined by the classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

I may be kissing you, but I'm thinking of Rudy.

SPEAKER_08 0:48

And the paranormal paramour, Vinks. Five years and you ain't put a ring on her finger? Back in episode 17, we covered a 2008 home invasion film that has left an indelible mark on horror. Over on our patron feed in Modern Day, we did a rewind episode reviewing that film, and this week we headed back to the theater to check out its 2024 successor. Now, two years ago in 2022, producer Roy Lee announced a bold venture, a trio of films set to rekindle the eerie simplicity of that film, while also expanding its world. This new series kicks off with a seemingly simple premise. A young couple's road trip on a ride leads them to an isolated cabin in a disquietingly small town. But as night falls, their refuge becomes a battleground against three massed assailants. The filmmakers and cast describe these new entries as a deep dive into character study, set in the same universe but expanding the narrative scope to explore broader themes and deeper fears. By filming alongside its sequels, this chapter doesn't just set the tone. It lays the groundwork for an overarching story and tended to unfold over approximately four and a half hours of cinematic terror. This week we're talking about The Strangers, Chapter One. What were you both expecting going into this?

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Well, I think there's there's actually a lot to expect going into this film. I think from the title alone, The Strangers Chapter One, you would initially think that it's going to be a prequel, but obviously it's not. So if you're expecting it to be a prequel, it's it's just it's not that. You know what I mean? It's not that. But I think what are we gonna get out of this one? Is it gonna be a complete like carbon copy remake of this film? Is it going to be its own thing? Are we gonna learn more about the strangers? I don't necessarily say I want to know more about the strangers, but are we gonna dive a little bit deeper into you know what they do, what their behaviors are, maybe not who they are, that kind of thing. And I also think from just watching the trailer, it looks like it's gonna be a really good-looking film. Like like cinematography-wise, the lighting, just everything looks stunning. So hopefully it holds up that same cinematography from the original.

SPEAKER_05 3:07

Yeah, that's such a good point in terms of expecting it to be a prequel. I hadn't even really considered that, but I can see how some might instantly think that with it being chapter one. I know going into it, I had already been told and expected that it was going to be very similar to the first one. The thing is, is that a lot of these films that we're getting are like the requels, the reboots, the sequels, the what are they, you know? So I I wanted to go into this just clean slate, expecting that it's going to be a full-on reboot of the first one, expecting that it's gonna give us the typical framework of a modern horror because it's a big blockbuster. But one thing I wanted to highlight is the director, Rennie Harlan. He did The Covenant and uh Dream Master Nightmare on Elm Street, maybe people's not so favorite films, but I actually enjoy some of them. I think that they're pretty fun and definitely some good cinematography there. So even with him at the helm of this trilogy as a whole, I thought, okay, yeah, it's a remake. Yeah, it's probably not gonna be as great as the original, because I personally hold the original to an extremely high standard. But let me give it the benefit of the doubt, you know. Let me just kind of give this film a chance, knowing full well that with a lot of the reimaginings that we've been getting, they are a hit or miss.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Very hit or miss.

SPEAKER_08 4:31

Yeah. That's really fair. And, you know, being to you mentioned that you hold the original film in a very high regard. I do as well, folks. If you're a patron, you can go and listen to the rewind episode where we revisit the strangers from 2008 and especially doing that ahead of this movie. It's a wild time, and it's one of those where I was surprised to have met two people today or realized that I'd know two people today who don't like the original film because they find it kind of boring. I know, it blew my mind.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

No, this is come on.

SPEAKER_08 5:02

Me too. Me too. I'm I was just surprised. After having those conversations today, something gave me a lot of pause. Going into this, I expected it to echo the original, which in some ways could be great, but it also scared me. I think of the other movies that I love the most and how disappointed I have been by remakes or reboots of those back in 2006 and 2007, respectively. So I was excited, but there are a lot of elements and moments of the original film that I find to be really iconic in their own right, which meant that this had a lot to live up to. And for those folks that I met today or realized today that they don't like the original film, I'm thinking, oh my gosh, what does a film for the modern audience that takes what's good about the strangers and brings it to present day, what does that movie do? And that's where I got nervous. And if I'm being honest, I expected this to be close, but no cigar.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

It's a fair assessment, right? It's hard to live up to something that's really good. Sometimes you just want to leave things where they are. There's just so many things that are being remade right now that even myself, like I'm nervous. I'm nervous for this Nosferatu remake, even though I think there's some really great actors in it, and I'm sure that they can make it good, but most of the time they don't fucking make it good.

SPEAKER_08 6:25

They don't, you know? But you know what? Speaking of Nosferatu, I was feeling like fucking Nostradamus watching this movie. Because it does follow a lot of the same story beats. Bing Chu mentioned it earlier, it's gonna be very similar to the original film, but what I wasn't really anticipating was everything that I would feel despite that. There are moments where I wrote down in my notes, okay, according to the roadmap of the first film, this is what we should get next. This is where I should be looking. And sometimes it follows those expectations, sometimes it subverts those expectations.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 7:02

But the feeling that I got along the way, even having a roadmap, I was so anxious. I was tense, I was impressed, and I was intrigued. If I could compare the two side by side, it's not like I have a Google image satellite view of a town, and that's my map of how to get around, right? Like this is very much like a crude drawing of okay, you're gonna take a left here, there's a bush somewhere in this area, look for a big tree that has some markings. It's like a vague description of how to get to where you want to go without giving you the clearest picture of it. And I don't know if that makes sense, but it felt familiar. It felt like I knew where we were heading, but it still managed to surprise me along the way.

SPEAKER_05 7:50

I can see what you're saying because I think, again, with the expectation of it being a little bit of a reboot, reimagining, or what have you, you're gonna need to come to terms with the fact that there's gonna be things in the film that you've seen before, certain playbooks and what have you. But I want to describe my feeling watching this film as follows. A lot of my friends know that I will order a Venti iced coffee all the time and take all day to fucking drink it because that's just the way that I am, right? So this to me felt like my Venti iced coffee. At one point it was very good, and I'm still drinking it, it's still drinkable, but there's no denying it's watered down by 4 p.m. when I bought it at 9 a.m. Oh, for that. You just can't deny it. And I still am drinking that coffee. It's it's nasty. I know I need to get help, but that's just the way that I am. So I say all this to say that this film, again, like you were mentioning, Chris, although very similar to the first one, it's still drinkable for me. I there are parts of it that entice me enough to finish my iced coffee, but it is still watered down. And I think as I was watching the film, I was like, well, yes, there were certain things that kind of twisted it just a bit. There were some that just felt kind of like, oh, you did this to kind of add a little bit of spice and freshness, the blockbuster of it all. And I couldn't help but feel at the end of it, like, well, maybe they would have been better off just reimagining the whole thing again and not copying so much of the first one. It's it's uh I'm still in that balancing act between it, but that's really the best way I could describe how I felt this. I I really couldn't understand whether I wanted a new film altogether, or if I just wanted them to just really treasure a bit more of what the original film does, the ominous feeling, the lack of jump scares, all of these other things that I think this film does because it's modern day.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

I see both of what you're all saying. I think there is this level of similarity. There is this, there are times where they switch a few things up on you and things like that. And I know we'll probably dive a little bit more in depth on what those things are in the second half in the spoiler zone. I will say there are moments where you get that feeling of anxiousness, like you're talking about, Chris. There are moments where you feel the tension in this film, and it really almost gets you to where you felt maybe most of the time in the original film, and I I think there is little glimpses of that in this film. I also think, especially in the beginning of this film, I really enjoyed how this movie makes you feel like anyone could be these strangers. At least when I'm watching this film, and we're in the beginning of this film without giving anything really away, we're in this town or whatever, and I'm just like, wow. It's really given this vibe that anybody here that I'm seeing right now could be one of these strangers.

SPEAKER_05 11:02

Wow. I'm so fascinating. I'm actually really surprised by that take because that was something that maybe really led me to feel a bit disappointed about it. I really was disappointed by that. And I think it's because again, we're looking at the blueprint of the modern day blockbuster, you know, like in these in these 2020s that we're in, where you gotta have the red herrings and you gotta have the exposition of where we're at. And maybe that's like the mystery solver, the the true crime junkie that I am, that I love something to solve. I love the puzzle, I love figuring out the who done it. So if you give me those options, I'm stuck there. I'd rather not even have options. I'd rather you don't even tell me who the options could be, so that the anonymity of the strangers remains. Okay. So that actually was one of my disappointments.

SPEAKER_08 12:05

Fascinating. It's almost as if to a far less offensive degree, you're getting the let's explore Michael Myers' childhood and Rob Zombies 2007 Halloween. Except you're getting that in a more respectful way, but for the strangers as opposed to Halloween. You're almost getting a little bit too much of the world building around it. And Sean, I actually had a very similar take as you. At least going on the journey that I think the movie wants you to go on. And maybe it's not the journey that the movie wants you to go on if you've never even seen the original strangers. I think that's possible. But I think coming into this, understanding the direction and the vision of what they're going for coming from the original source material, you get, oh, okay, all right, I'm just gonna look around a little bit, see what's up, look out for some trucks, maybe, and see what we can find. But the biggest surprise for me were those things that they tweaked and modified from the original. For example, this is not a big spoiler, not gonna really give anything away here, but think about how late in the night the original film starts, and this one is at like 10:30. So you have a long time where a lot of shit can happen, and I think it opens it up in a very beautiful way to a lot more potential, there's a lot more possibility ahead of you. Whether it delivers on that, it's up to you to see in the theater if you decide to go. But I'm gonna tell you my one disappointment. I was so disappointed that I fell for the marketing in this movie and there wasn't near a ring cam footage to be found. All I wanted was a ring cam shot of the strangers.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

No ring cam. That's so true, but you know.

SPEAKER_08 13:50

If you're going in here, I want you to get that shit out of your head. I'm telling you right now, so you don't have the same sadness I did.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

I mean, this is an old cabin though, folks, alright? It's not uh, you know. We'll see. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see what happens with that. I I don't know. Here's the thing. I feel like for me, and we'll unpack more on like the whole thing banks around the strangers and like what do we want to solve or whatnot. But I do think I one thing that I will agree with is that the biggest surprise and disappointment was the fact that they did try to do so much similar things, like it just felt like I was yes, they tweaked some things, and that might be your biggest surprise, but for me, the tweaks weren't enough to really separate it, and it just felt like when I when I'm seeing interviews or reading interviews and things with producers that are saying, This isn't a remake, this isn't a reboot, and then you give me what you gave me, uh, buddy, it's pretty much a remake.

SPEAKER_08 15:00

Listen, you may think this is a duck because it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, but maybe it's a platypus.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 15:07

Same, same, but different.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

I listen, I'm just surprised. I'm just surprised that they decided to be that similar. When you'd want to take like the base of the original film and build off of it, that's really cool. But when you take like the exact formula, it's it's a whole different thing.

SPEAKER_08 15:26

But it's not quite the exact formula. I can't wait to get into this and the spoilers. I really cannot. Again, the beats, it follows a lot of things, it's very similar, but I think the soul of what it is is different.

SPEAKER_05 15:36

Okay, okay. I think I'm on to you in terms of what you're saying. The soul in the circumstances-ish, different, and I'm glad. I think it's refreshing on that part, but the bones of it, almost exact. Maybe just jumbled in different order, but it's almost exact. And I feel like there's a lot of opportunity here, or rather, there was a lot of opportunity here to kind of change it just enough, like really pick one. Either you're gonna really do the movie completely the same, or you're going to really just shift it entirely. It does make me feel like, all right, well, this is what we've got. So what's gonna happen from here, especially knowing that they're filming this or it's really written in a way where it's a four and a half hour film rather than just segmented. So my curiosity is piqued. But one thing that I didn't get to mention in terms of disappointments, too, is really one aspect of the original that is very different, I think, is the whole stalking element, the way that fear is conveyed here. And this goes back to again, I can't say it enough, like our blockbusters all have these you know, jump scares that you can tell from a mile away and whatnot. We've got that here. I think there's definitely some effective jump scares in general, but they're still textbook. The original, however, definitely leans more into the stocking element. There's not a lot of jump scares, you know. So just I'm I say this so that you can kind of set your expectations right. Even if you haven't seen the original, you can see why we keep comparing the two because they're so similar and you can then identify the differences. So it was a disappointment for me. And then and obviously now talking about was I scared? Not really. And I'm one to get pretty scared. There was like one or two that got me, but in general, whether you consume horror often or you've seen the original, I don't think you're gonna get scared by this one. I went with two of my friends, we re-watched The Strangers to do the re-wind episode, and then we went together now to see this one. They don't consume horror nearly as much as I do, and they weren't even as scared. So using that as a benchmark, right? Maybe not me, but them as the common audience, they weren't that scared.

SPEAKER_08 17:56

I do think I want some of our friends out there who listened to this and have seen the original, maybe last saw it in 2008, maybe go into this and don't re-watch the original just yet. Maybe watch it after and compare it. Because I do think that can numb a lot of what you would get in here. I wasn't scared during this movie, but I was tense and I was anxious. And it's that sense of dread where maybe the jump scares didn't uh get me, they didn't affect me in such a way. Uh maybe because I already knew again this vague direction that we're going in because of the map that has been that has been drawn from me from my previous experience with the original film. Maybe I just wasn't ripe for being scared. But this movie has atmosphere, and I cannot stress this enough. I feel like if I were to take Allie to see this and she has not seen the original Strangers, I feel like she'd be scared by it. And I think that is really promising.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I could see a lot of people being scared of the film. If you don't consume horror as much, yes, I think if you react to jump scares that are just loud noises, then yes, I think you definitely can. There is atmosphere, there is a hundred percent moments where you feel anxious, where you feel tense, where you feel like it's unnerving a little bit, that does take you on that kind of roller coaster. They are there are jump scares for sure. I think the jump scares, for some reason, maybe it was just me. It felt like the noise, the audio decibels just spiked right before they gave you the visuals, so it almost just didn't even hit right. It almost just fell like it was just like loud, and then I saw the thing, and I was like, hmm, that's interesting. It didn't really. I kind of need that to pair a little bit better for me. I don't know how to describe that. And maybe it's just a me thing, but it's something that I hadn't really noticed in other films. So I don't know if this is something different that they tried. I don't know if it's something accidental, and I don't know if it's just my mind just lagging as I'm watching this film. It's one of the three.

SPEAKER_08 20:07

I'd be curious to know if there's an issue, much like the original Strangers film had issues with audio when it was delivered to theaters, if it's a similar thing where yours are just slightly out of sync on some moments.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

If it is, it would have to be just some moments because I will pick apart a movie that the audio is behind the lips moving. For sure. Or ahead. Like that will bother the shit out of me, and that's not something that I noticed. So I don't know. But I do think there are things that can scare the average viewer for this type of horror movie. It's definitely one that will get you if you're just someone that's looking for a fright night on a Friday night or something like that, right? I think definitely it can get you. There's nothing super crazy, there are some tense moments. There are also some silly moments that I feel like I didn't get from the original that I got in this one that almost made me laugh out loud a couple of times, which was interesting.

SPEAKER_05 21:07

You certainly don't expect that in a stranger's film, that's for sure. To be laughing.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 21:12

Yeah. I think though we've we talked a lot about how this film compares to the original, so I won't feed a dead horse in that sense. But I do want to say this within seconds of this movie starting, I was immediately reminded of two unrelated horror films. That is Us, Petrium Pew, and Pet Cemetery. And I can't wait to get into the spoiler zone and share why. I'm talking about like the first things that you see on screen outs outside of like production company titles. I it started and I was like, Oh, okay, all right, yeah, we really are getting a 2024 film here. Um so again, this is one where the original starts out very simply. And we do get a little bit of that here, but I think this movie approaches from the very beginning, trying to unnerve you. It doesn't let you work up to being unnerved. And I think it trying so hard to establish that feeling, even from the first thing you hear and the first thing you see. I think that is one of the many notes of how different they're trying to be with the tone of this film.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Yeah, we don't want to beat a dead horse. The film definitely feels very similar. We've talked about that, but I think that it'll be interesting to see what they do with chapter two and chapter three, and that because in my mind now, if you don't know, right, this movie we've alluded to already with the four and a half hours or whatever, this film, this movie, chapter one, two, and three were all filmed in one go, 56 days. Like they just knocked it the fuck out. That's a really interesting way to film a trilogy of sorts. And so it'll be interesting to see from like where they go with chapter two and chapter three, if chapter one is so similar to the original, because the original outside of Pray at Night, which I don't think they're gonna play into, there's nowhere to go with the original film anymore. Now they have to do something different. So I think it'll be interesting, even though this film, very similar, changed a little bit of things, changed some backdrop, changed a couple things about the characters here and there. Uh, we'll see what they do at chapter two and three. That's where I think the originality will will come into play. And I'll consider that all one entity if they all made it in one go. You know what I mean? Like I feel like that's only fair.

SPEAKER_08 23:46

Yeah, there is something to be said about the fierce treat treatment of it all.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:50

Well, I think that ultimately that kind of excites me though, because now we just start fresh. Now we can really see what they're able to do. In terms of my perspective of there being a lot of potential and them not necessarily meeting it with this particular film. I'm hoping that in the second and the third installment we can really see what they're capable of. And I think that there's a lot of exposition in terms of where these main characters were located, and we talked a little bit about it, you know, like the town and whatnot that I may have not necessarily loved, but I can see and you know, reflecting on it, necessary because we're gonna keep going, but I wanted to sprinkle a couple of films that came up in my mind as we we were watching this. It was giving a little dabble of the devil's rejects, it was giving a little dabble of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it was giving a little dabble of Hunger Games.

SPEAKER_08 24:49

Okay, I'm so fucking glad you said that. There was a moment where I turned to Ripley, who saw this movie with me, and I was like, wow, she's really serving X character here. And I'm like, Alright, here we are.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_08 25:00

It was also serving a little pinch of wrong turn in both the original and the remake. Sure.

SPEAKER_05 25:08

Yep, yep, yep, yep. So I you know, there's little homages here and there, and I love that. I'm here for that. I wasn't expecting the last one, absolutely, in terms of Hunger Games, so there's that. But for sure.

SPEAKER_08 25:20

You know, it also plays another homage to Strangers Prey at Night with its ending.

SPEAKER_05 25:26

And I, of course, much like you know my opinion of that film, God, I you said it, and I instantly was like, I had got chills. I was like, I wanted to purposely forget that film existed. Yeah, you know, this ending for sure, it was giving that. I want to say that my best friend looked at me as I was laughing at the ending and she said, Bianca, please have a little bit more empathy. So I got scolded in the middle of the You got scolded. I got scolded ending, the whole government name and everything. Yeah. It's just that by the time that we arrived, I gave so little care about what happened to our main characters because I was so heated about the scene prior. I just couldn't get past it. I was like blind rage, I couldn't let it go. I was so pissed that I was like, you know what? Let's go. Just do it. And then the worst part of it all is the last seconds. That's what really just solidified my rating here. It was the last couple seconds where I was like, why? And then we've got our mid-credit scene where I was like, Did they did they mess up an editing or something? Like, was something wrong here? It felt like they were spoon feeding the audience when there's no need to. It's called chapter one. It was giving that.

SPEAKER_08 26:47

Yeah, but also sometimes people just roll into a theater and watch any fucking random thing. Like the people I ran into in the theater who were asking me if I knew which theater the new Planet of the Apes movie was. And I'm like, dude, it should be on your ticket. And then I realized, wait, you don't have one. So listen, people get surprised, Binks. People get surprised, and that's okay. I personally enjoyed the ending. It's basic, it's simple. There's nothing here to really razzle-dazzle you. However, there was this element of me wondering if it would subvert my expectations. I'm a little disappointed that it didn't. Because there were some specific things that we discussed in our rewind on the original film. And I was like, oh, are we gonna do a little swappado here? And then, you know, it didn't. Or maybe it did, and we don't know because we haven't seen chapter two yet. I'm excited for potential. The ending did not sway me against the film.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Yeah, basic's a good word for the ending for sure, I would say. I think it doesn't hit the same as the original ending. You get you get the moments, and we'll dive into it a little bit later, but you get the moments, they didn't feel as severe to me. So it basic is definitely a good word. I think you know, the mid-credit scene, there is a mid-credit scene. So if you're if you're gonna go watch this in theaters, definitely wait for that. But the mid-credit scene, I think, was kind of fun. It's predictable, but it was it was pretty fun. And that I think we'll we'll dive more a little bit later as well as to like how that kind of backs my initial theory of uh of what happened in the original one, you know what I mean? I just think that you know, we'll see.

SPEAKER_08 28:41

But yeah, perhaps it doesn't bother me so much is be it's because I see it less of an ending and more as an intermission.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

It yeah, well, but would you think that if we didn't know chapter two and three, if it wasn't called chapter one, if it was just a whatever, you know what I mean? Like I don't know if our if we didn't know it was there was two more for sure coming.

SPEAKER_08 29:06

Yeah. Here's the thing. I cannot answer that question in good faith yet because we're not in the spoiler zone, but we will unpack that. We're gonna fried shrimp emoji that and just circle right back. But let's, I think, start making our way towards our ratings. Before we actually score this film, though, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_01 29:25

There it there really isn't much in terms of gore in this movie. It's even less gory, I think, than the original. It definitely feels like a really safe, low gore score. You're not getting a ton. There's blood for sure, so you know, expect some of that. But even that really one distinctive scene from the original doesn't feel like it hits the same in terms of visuals and gore and what they put into it. And so I think this one here is a very safe low gore score.

SPEAKER_05 30:00

And what about the animal report? Well, unfortunately, on this front, we are not safe. You would think they would be on SKES, but unfortunately, there is one brief casualty.

SPEAKER_08 30:09

Yikes. Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. The Strangers, chapter one from 2024, now showing in theaters. Was it a hack or was it a slash? And I think I want to kick us off here just to get this out of the way. But this movie, in my mind, is a faithful, respectful reboot of a franchise that began 16 years ago. I mentioned before it echoes a lot of the same story beats, but for me, looking a little bit deeper into it, it does so in a way that makes you look at it from a different point of view, with different characters and different stakes. And that's what I appreciate. They set out to make a film that dives deeply into character study. We heard this in the episode introduction, but I I think that's part of what makes it so successful. This movie is at its best when it makes us question the lens through which we examine the very concept of strangers when we're surrounded by strangers, when we're grateful for or wary of the kindness of strangers, and when we're gripped by the fear or of the danger that strangers can present. And the original film made us question uh and really made us afraid of strangers knocking at our door, but this one this one makes you consider the moments when you are the stranger. And I think that is a fascinating direction to take the rest of the trilogy, if that's the direction they're going. So for now, it's a slash.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Look, I think we're gonna have a lot of agreements and disagreements. I think it as we progress in talking about this movie. Overall, I feel like this movie has its ups and downs. It definitely has its flaws, but it's not a bad movie. It's definitely not a bad movie. I know we're talking about we're gonna be talking about comparing it to the original a lot, I'm sure, because of how similar it is, but I do want to preface that it's not a bad movie. I don't understand the whole it's not a remake thing that was clearly said, but it definitely feels like a remake or a reboot. I think it does tap into that feeling from the original, but it doesn't always hit the same way. It's not as consistent in my mind, or in my opinion. Somehow the blow just doesn't it just doesn't take the wind out of you, or it doesn't have that same gut-wrenching feeling that the original film had more consistently throughout. The story is still good for sure. The acting is not terrible, it's not great all the time, the movie is still shot beautifully, the cinematography is still good, the sound design is good. Uh, I I think it doesn't have the same exact camera feeling as the original, where it feels like that camera is moving the whole time, but you do get some of that feeling here and there. I think the soundtrack is on point with this film because it just it works, you know what I mean? And and that's what this movie does. It just works. It just works, and it's still entertaining and fun to watch. It's not a bad movie. I wish they did a little bit more to separate themselves, but maybe that's what they're going to give us in chapter two and chapter three. And when they say that it's not a remake, maybe they mean because they in their minds are thinking of the four and a half hour fucking film that they shot, and they can't differentiate what they just gave us because this what they just gave us was the original film plug-in, plug out a few things, very minor things, in my opinion. It's a it's a little bit more silly here and there, but it's still good enough and fun enough for a slash in my book.

SPEAKER_05 33:49

All right, well, here we go. I understand what you're talking about in terms of where the logic is with them calling it a remake or a reboot or it not calling it a remake or a reboot and all that. It could potentially be because they're looking at the bigger picture, and I respect that. So that in mind, I was trying to go into this with an open mind, timid my expectations, and really it comes down to being honest here, the fact that I love the original so so much, and I feel like there's a an inherent bias with that, right? So keeping that in mind, I think there's a lot of opportunity to make an homage to the original while changing certain things up. And the film did do that successfully in some areas. But for me, the issue is that where they failed, they failed hard. And the modern day blockbuster horror film formula thing that they were doing, it's so evident. And then I go back to the original and I think you know, the strangers in 2008 was nothing like the 2000s era of horror. They did it, they did something different. Why couldn't that be this here? That's what I want the Strangers franchise, if we want to call it that. I want that to be it, the poster child of doing horror differently in the blockbuster. And so that didn't really pan out the way that I hoped. And the biggest indicator of that really was those last, last final moments of the ending that just soured it for me. And there was no turning back. I will say I was entertained way more than the sequel, and I did have a good time sometimes. So, you know, is it enough for a slash though? I can't say. Obviously, it doesn't hold a candle to the original, but I don't think it holds a candle to the standard that I have for slashes, and I'm trying to change it up, friends. I'm trying to be harsher. So I am gonna give this one a hack.

SPEAKER_08 35:59

Ouch. That's fine. For now, there you have it, folks. The Strangers Chapter 1, 2024 now showing in theaters, has earned two slashes and a hack. Now, it's very important that we unpack the reasonings for these scorings, and there's a lot that was left unsaid so far. So go check out the film, or if you're on Team Binks and you think it might not be worth it, go join us in the second half so we can break down these spoilers together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

Do you find yourself screaming at the screen? Why would you go into the basement alone? Or just call the police already? Introduce the stuff of course. And next time you find yourself trying to do this, you'll be the one the monsters are afraid of.

SPEAKER_08 37:50

We have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through those kills.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

We have three kills, so we don't have a lot to really diversify our judgments here on what the best kill is. So we'll probably just end up breaking them down. I think that we may, as we progress through this franchise, we might, you know, we may have a fourth kill. We don't know. But I think for now, three kills is cool. There's one that's a little bit different, right? And then I think we have some very, very similar kills.

SPEAKER_05 38:24

Two out of the three we've seen before, and you can see coming. The third, however, that being our first kill, Jeff, acts in the face. That's unexpected. We don't see well, in the other films, we don't see the strangers, I guess, victimizing somebody else. Usually it's just whoever our main characters are. So they definitely change the structure of the original in terms of it being a frame story. We're used to seeing how the end is the beginning in the film. This time around, we're seeing almost like that. Was our prequel, really, in a sense. That was our our kind of prequel to what they've been up to in that town with Jeff being axed.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

That's true, and I think that's another interesting element that they do in this film is they give you the this little snippet that we get with this kill, and then we get these other little feelings that they kind of give you, whether it's intentional or not. And this is kind of what you were talking about in the beginning that I feel like you don't like, but I feel like enhances the experience because they're giving you a little bit of some kind of look into the behaviors of these strangers. They're giving you some kind of look into like what they're up to, what they what are they doing? What is this all about? Are they doing this to other people? How many other people? But they don't ever give you enough to really give away their identity or make it anything like that. So I see it's like, is it a whodunit? Is it not a whodunit? They make you feel these vibes. But with this kill, I think it's a good example of what they are doing differently to give you some kind of in-depth look at what these strangers are all about and why they tick, what makes them tick, what do they do. They're not giving you a lot, but I feel like it's different in that regard, which I think adds to we'll see what they do with it. But I think it will be interesting to see if we get continue to see different things like this throughout the rest of these next chapters, if you will.

SPEAKER_08 40:28

Yeah. Man, when this movie opens up and we get that aerial view of the Oregon Woods, yeah. I was immediately reminded of the Pet Cemetery.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Of course.

SPEAKER_08 40:39

Because it's exactly how the remake opens up, and then that plucky string reminded me of the strings and the adaptation of I've got five on it that played in us. Oh and so now that's all I can think about. Every time I see written down Jeff's kill in the beginning, Man Falling in the Woods, I'm like, all right, I got five on it. That's all I can think about. It's like it's just completely locked up in my brain.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

I got five on it.

SPEAKER_05 41:10

Jordan Peel's nailed it with that. I got five on it. Yeah, I didn't. I was trying to think when you mentioned it where that connection was. Now I see. The Oregon aerial shot for sure, the Pet Cemetery remake. In general, I just feel like putting it in Oregon in that setting is just phenomenal because it's such a beautiful place, and I love Oregon immensely, but it it can be very frightening with how vast and middle of nowhere vibes it can give. That's for fucking sure.

SPEAKER_08 41:41

We love the Pacific Northwest. We sure do. We really do.

SPEAKER_05 41:45

Yeah, I I feel like Jeff's Kill was fun, and I am interested to see if we get to see the strangers uh kill other random people. I hate to put it that way, but yeah, that'd be kind of fun to see. I think it can bring out a little bit more of their pair, you know, their personality traits and who they are. But when we then look at the other two, right? We've got Joe, was it yeah, his name was Joe, right? The Airbnb owner.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

Owner, presumably.

SPEAKER_05 42:13

Yeah. Shot in the face by Ryan. Okay, where have we seen that before? However, here's what I'll say. I think I would have really liked to see Joe's perspective going out of his car, getting into you know what I mean? If we're gonna do this so similar, let's really do it.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

Yeah. Give us something different. Yeah, give us something well, give us something a little bit different. You know what I mean? Right, right.

SPEAKER_05 42:38

You know what I mean? Like different because it's already different. It's not his best friend, it's the owner of the Airbnb, sure, but something different for sure. Because at the same time, let's rewind the tape. The fridge is broken. I'm thinking to myself, girl, why the fuck do you even care about the fridge being broken? You're there one night. Who cares? Why even get it repaired? Why go through all that trouble?

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Serious. That it I thought that same thing. I'm like, is this fucking worth it? And who the fuck is coming out in the middle of the night to to get this fridge up and running?

SPEAKER_05 43:11

When it's 10 30 or 11 o'clock at night. Good guy Joe. Good guy Joe.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

I guess where the fuck is this guy? He just like has a tent out in the woods or some shit.

SPEAKER_05 43:20

Like well, he was apparently out hunting. He owns the property, and they said that he was gone hunting on a hunting trip. That's why his house was vacant. So I'm like, so you stopped your hunting trip to go fix a fridge?

SPEAKER_01 43:31

That was a red herring thing too for me at first when they mentioned the hunting thing at the beginning. Yeah. I was like, oh man, maybe this owner is one of the is one of the strangers. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 43:43

Yeah. Yeah, I got that vibe too. I got that vibe too.

SPEAKER_08 43:46

The thing about Joe, I love that I get enough of a difference there with him not being Mike, with him not being the best friend. Because then you have this different layer of guilt. And what immediately came to mind as I was watching this, as you see Joe get killed, it's like damn, is chapter two gonna have some flashback different vantage points of different people in the town and what happened here in this night. Are the strangers now Ryan and Maya?

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Interesting.

SPEAKER_08 44:21

It's like the strangers, the newscomer in town, interesting local beloved Joe. Yeah. I hope that's not the the direction that they take. But getting the difference there of just like this sense of guilt, and then also looking at how you know Maya says, like, oh, you did it in self-defense, you did it in self-defense, you were trying to protect us. This man is still dead. This is still an innocent man who's dead, and I feel like it didn't get the reaction it deserved.

SPEAKER_05 44:49

Okay, but y'all, on the other s spectrum of things, here I am being like, Y'all need to stop crying, get the fuck up, grab the shotgun and run to the car. Now cry about it when you're already halfway down the road.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

I mean, it is true. You gotta get out.

SPEAKER_05 45:06

Has some more empathy, Bianca?

SPEAKER_01 45:07

There's the empathy, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:09

Okay, no, that's not even when Sapedo told me that. Sabedo told me that actually, going into our third kill, let's talk about it, Ryan. When they're crying and they're asking, or rather, Ryan is asking Maya to marry him. I laughed so loud in the middle of a very large theater without a care in the world. I full on laughed. And my best friend in the whole world, Sipedo, looked to me and said, Bianca, have some more fucking empathy, please. And I was like, What do you want from me? This is a middle of a marriage proposal, and then the best part of it all is all of a sudden you're then realizing that the three strangers are watching this whole encounter, and I'm like, oh, so they're the witnesses to the matrimony. Here we are. They got married. So cute.

SPEAKER_01 45:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:58

Yeah, it's it's something. It's something, and the something is awkward to me.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

You want to know where I laughed? I laughed when they said when Maya said, They got us. They got us.

SPEAKER_05 46:10

They got Miguel. Gosh darn it.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

It's like, no fucking shit, they got you. Yeah. Good job. Fucking fantastic. Can you take her first?

SPEAKER_05 46:20

And you know why they got you? Because we should have had a fourth kill. And it should have been frickin' pinup girl if Ryan had some balls.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

Dude, motherfucker should have pulled the trigger.

SPEAKER_08 46:31

Ryan had the cool guy monologue, and he shouldn't have fucking done it. I was gonna get there later because it is my fucking worst part of this goddamn movie. Absolutely fucking ridiculous. You're my second, you say it after you fucking shoot her. You just predicted this thing and then you just got got. You got got. You got Jason Voorhees knocked out from the Friday the 13th, 2009 reboot. What the fuck are you doing, Ryan? What are you thinking, bro? You overcame asthma.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 46:59

You made your own inhaler. You MacGyvered the fuck out of that. You seem like you got a fucking good head on your shoulders. I'm rooting for you, Ryan. You're the chosen one. And then he had to go be a guy.

SPEAKER_05 47:11

He got it, yeah. He MacGyvered the fuck out of that inhaler. I saw it with my other best friend Mary. She looked at me and she was like, wait a minute, is that for real? It's like, yeah, dude, you can actually make your own inhaler. This is incredible. The guy's, I guess, smart enough to do that. Nope. And that was that was the cap.

SPEAKER_00 47:27

Dang.

SPEAKER_05 47:28

That was where his intellectual property just it met there.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

What a bummer.

SPEAKER_05 47:32

To make his own inhaler. It is a bummer. It truly is. And I'm not, it's not to say that his death wasn't emotional either. Let me not be a complete cold-hearted bitch. I think that I actually appreciate that the two of them loved each other. We can get into that a little bit. But I love that they had a strong relationship, or at least it seemed that way, that they cared about each other so starkly different from the original. It's not that I didn't love the fact that he was proposing to her in that moment. I just feel like it was so cheesy and then made even worse when we don't get that iconic visual that is known throughout horror of the three of them just staring at the two of them sitting. It was oddly timed and inappropriate in terms of the dialogue that was spent there.

SPEAKER_08 48:17

Here are two circles: The Strangers from 2008, The Strangers Chapter 1, 2024, The Overlap, Shitty Marriage Proposals.

SPEAKER_05 48:29

Shitty marriage proposals. Wow.

SPEAKER_08 48:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:32

Take notes.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

I don't think it had the same emotional value. I don't think it had the same emotional value. I think the like the things that they changed about both of these kills, they might be enough for you, Chris. They weren't enough for me at all. I think what I would have done in this scenario, I feel like Ryan should have been like at least more brutally killed right in front of her to be more impactful. Like, give me one more like you gave me one less fucking stab than the fucking original movie, and then you just kicked him over and he choked on his own blood. It was fucking it fell flat. It was terrible, and it was comical, and it sucks for Ryan because he should have gone a little bit better than that. And you know what? Now that I'm thinking about it, with fucking Joe, we should have flipped the script and we should have we should have done what we were talking about, Binks, and get it from his perspective, and then it should have flipped to Ryan being the one that's like the antagonist from Joe's perspective and getting a jump scare with Ryan and then getting shot in the face, and that would have been more creative, and that would have been enough for me to appreciate the similarity.

SPEAKER_08 49:41

I actually had to check when I walked out of the theater what this movie was rated because they really took the bite out of those stabs at the end. Granted, I feel like this is a movie that now my sister can see. I talked about in the rewind, she can't watch The Strangers from 2008 because she has a thing with torture. And this took away all that bite and all that brutality. I'm sure for a very intentional reason. It's rated R. Exactly. I'm shocked, I don't know how this movie is rated R. This is giving PG 13. This is giving PG 13 100%.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

It's giving fucking borderline G.

SPEAKER_08 50:16

Rated E for everyone. But here's the thing. We talked about the moments of are they gonna subvert my expectations or not? In the rewind, I mentioned, damn, James really wanted to be with her the rest of his life, and he got what he wanted. And when she fucking said, I want to be with you the rest of my life, I was like, You gonna get your fucking wish, bitch. But then she didn't. I was really hoping that she was gonna be the James of this movie. I really hoped she had like the injured hand. There's so many possibilities here, there's a lot of potential, but I think I'm still satisfied with the ending as it is because the emotional weight that we get from them being on the same page, I think the proposal's fucking dumb. I could have gone with a I wanted to marry you. You know what I mean? Like if you want to reveal some kind of romantic thing here, sure. It's like, don't fucking don't make this the way you propose. Under duress. That's not a good omen. That's not a good way to start your marriage. You're gonna have to really hard reset and redo this bad boy if you manage to make it out of your life.

SPEAKER_01 51:26

Oh man, what an anniversary remembering that shit. Holy fuck.

SPEAKER_08 51:30

Yeah, no, I mean, could you even stay together? Could she even stay together?

SPEAKER_01 51:35

Probably not.

SPEAKER_08 51:37

Looking into how this movie is crafted, we have the iconic shot from the original. It hits in a less iconic way here because we don't have that beautiful daylight breaking into the scene. But there is a lot that is done well in this movie in terms of its production. From the dripping blood to the next of the catch-up, to the hello writing, to the brutality of the axe to the door, to the quality of the masks. This in some ways was a little bit of a glow-up that we didn't really need. I still prefer, I think, the charm and the rusticness of the original. And that's where I think I struggle a little bit. This movie though, it looks great. Like there's a moment where we get Scarecrow walking in the woods, and there's like almost like a hero shot of him. Looks identical to a shot of Michael Myers in Halloween 2018. It really has a good modern polished feel, which I can appreciate.

SPEAKER_05 52:35

Yeah, because I think the original is reminiscent of the early 2000s with just enough of a warm-toned, little bit of a slight grunge look to it. And this one, obviously very crisp. It's telling of its time. In particular, I think of the overall set design is very different, which then gives us the opportunity to see our main characters try to subvert or try to trick, try to get out of this situation that they're in with the strangers. The house is vastly bigger than the one from the original.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

Definitely.

SPEAKER_05 53:17

We are seeing them run through the forest, which in the original sometimes you're thinking, like, why the fuck are they not running into the woods, like lose them? You know what I mean? Here you see that. And even with that, it's the it's the mist, it's the beauty of Oregon, of nowhere Oregon, where tall ass trees and it's beautiful, and there's a bit of a fog, and you're just as lost as an audience member as the actual characters themselves. I loved that. I think in general, when you have these different sets, we're able to see that these characters tried to get out of there as best as they could. At least that's what I gathered, and I'll give them the credit for it. I feel like Maya and Ryan really tried just a bit harder than you know, James and uh Kristen, right? Our main characters. Yeah, so it feels like they worked a little bit harder because they had more lay of the land to do so. And honestly, the production team didn't cheap out on it. I think they did everything extremely well. The house and the cabin was lived in, there was trinkets everywhere. It felt like someone was living here. So maybe to your point earlier, Sean, could Joe have been Scarecrow? Maybe, very likely. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 54:36

Yeah, you never know. Who knows? There's a a lot of really great shots in the film, and I you're talking about the the way that the woods look at night with the with the fog, and we're we're talking about just the crispness and the colors and how it doesn't feel as grungy. And I think, yeah, I think the cinematography was still really well done in this film. It's not exactly the same. Uh I talked earlier about, you know, we don't have the exact same feeling of, you know, with the handheld camera kind of feeling like you are kind of stalking your victim, and that's how you're seeing the camera point of view at times. But you do get some really great shots, some really great angles that you get a little bit of that feeling, but you're also it keeps you really focused and invested in everything that's happening in the frame of that shot, and just trying to see in every little area like, am I gonna see a little goody over here? Am I gonna see something happen over here? And I think that really pulls you in, and that's not always easy to do. And I think that part was really well done, so I will still give it up for the cinematography in this film.

SPEAKER_08 55:48

Yeah, I actually want to throw over to the cinematography in what is hands down my favorite scene. It's gonna be a little rinse-repeat for me. It's the mirror, it's the reflection of my favorite scene from The Strangers.

SPEAKER_01 56:05

Oh, so good.

SPEAKER_08 56:07

Well, I say that the mirror and a reflection is also part of this favorite scene, but it is the entirety of the infiltration of this home when Maya is home alone. Oh my gosh, we gotta run through it. How do you top Liv Tyler lurking in the foreground while the man in the mask in the original was lurking in the back when he just appears hidden in plain sight? Yeah, you cannot top that. Yeah, so what do they do here? There's no way they do it different. He's already in the house, he just walks across the screen, and you have a little musical sting, and that was still chilling. It was effective. It didn't try to be its original. That's why I think I don't struggle with this movie because yes, it repeats a lot, but it doesn't repeat the some of the what I think are the most important things. There are slight changes and they feel intentional. So I absolutely love that. The rockaby baby lullaby that gets sung outside. These motherfuckers were musical in the original, they weren't singing to anybody, they weren't doing little show tunes.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

Definitely not. They were definitely having more fun with the music in this one. Yeah, yeah, it's it's so true. It is super hard to top that one really memorable shot from the original Strangers, with you know, the man in the mask in the hallway just peering, and you know, you just have to catch it with your eye, you just have to catch it, and it hits different. And this is really great what they did with this piano mirror shot. It was still a very good shot, but it doesn't hit the exact same. And that was one thing I was hoping that we were gonna have something as impactful as that, because that's what you really latch on to uh from the visuals of what they did with this kind of disturbing feeling of being stalked or whatever from the original. But uh I'm happy with it overall. I don't think it was as impactful, but it is one of the most beautiful one of the more beautiful shots in the movie.

SPEAKER_08 58:14

For sure. And I think the thing for me though, is this entire moment, this whole scene from the mirror to the just walking across to the shower when he's there as soon as she cannot see, and her eyes and her face are underneath the water. It's a terrifying moment. And Madeline actually, to a degree, and they actually inserted it in the movie because she thought of it. Like, oh, I always feel like when I have suds in my eyes, that's gonna be the moment that a killer's gonna come up on me.

SPEAKER_01 58:43

So relatable.

SPEAKER_08 58:44

So I loved that influence. But the biggest thing here, guys, is this scene made me paranoid. And it made me paranoid, and I realized it when she looks outside and there's a shadow that's cast against the side of the building, and I was like, Does that fucking shadow have legs? And I thought it was one of the strangers outside the door. It's a quick blink and you miss it moment, just like we have a quick blink and you missant moment from Dollface later on in the woods.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_08 59:16

There's so much of that there with a tension in the atmosphere. This scene just like really went in, took all my anxiety and twisted it up in a ball and like shoved it into my throat.

SPEAKER_05 59:27

God, I I I love that for you. I really do. I feel like perhaps this is a moment where you think, well, if you're looking for that too harsh, when you finally get it, you're not gonna be as impressed. Perhaps maybe that's what I was experiencing as I felt, you know, or rather, that's what I was experiencing while I was watching the film. I thought some of it was pretty cool, but that's what I was hoping for, and that's what I was looking for. The only time where I was surprised, and it is my favorite scene, is that piano scene. I was not expecting it to look that way. And this kind of ties all the way back to man, why I really was hoping for better in this film. Because I would dare say that this entire film gives us the strangers doing a lot more overtly violent things and just in your face, running at your face or running and like really hacking at the doors and doing all of these physical things versus the silent stalking that they're known for. I wanted more silent stalking. And when we see her by herself, especially with the piano bit, it's that it's literally Scarecrow sitting on that chair as if she's playing for him, as if he is having the time of his life just relaxed listening to her. And that's when the smile on his mask really just permeates. It makes you feel like this man is full-on smiling for real, watching her play. It's those moments that make you realize oh, that's why The Strangers is so scary. That's why they are so scary as characters, because they co-occupy this space with their victims as if they belong there. As if they're not, and they don't. As if they're roomies, as if they're besties, and that piano scene is the embodiment of that. And I felt like in general, outside of it, I didn't get enough of it. Even that shower scene, it felt so obvious and almost impossible. Because to some extent, yes, I understand that Scarecrow is like as light as a feather, truthfully. That big ass man is no one is faster than him.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:50

Very sneaky.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:51

Even down to a shower scene that with a glass door, you can't see this big ass man. I don't know, and that disappears in seconds. I don't know. That felt a little bit of fan service, then effectiveness for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:06

Yeah. You want to know what scene I feel like gave me the most tension, I feel like in this movie, I dare say. And it was that shot where Maya is home alone and the knock at the door happens, and it's the whole, you know, looking through the peephole in the door, going back and forth, like that. Just you could feel every some of her best work in the film. You can feel so much of the tension and the anxiety and the fear and the nervousness that was going through her as a character and trying to figure out who the fuck, why, why is this happening, where are they? Then you see the shot of them, they put their it just all of it was so good. And I felt like the most tension, really most unnerving part of the film was just that scene for me.

SPEAKER_08 1:02:59

It's so freaking good. You get the stranger covering the people, and then she kind of rests against it. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Folks, if anyone is on the opposite side of a wall, a door, a piece of a drywall, nah, you're not gonna catch my body against that surface. Absolutely the fuck not. No way. But another scene that really did some great things for me, and this is also, I think, an exploration of just the dynamic between Ryan and Maya's characters, they're in the crawl space under the house. That nail, straight through her hand. Absolutely terrible.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:40

Cringy.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:41

The restraint with which, as a character, and again, this is not I'm not talking about the actress, I'm talking about the character, to scream, to yelp, and then hold it in and just be so silent with your pain.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:57

But then he does the countdown, he pulls it out, and then he's holding her, he says, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. And that's where I'm like, you all, you both are making it further than James and Kristen because you're working together, and because you're actually working as a team.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:13

Kudos to them for really like I'm just putting myself in that scenario, and I'm crawling under this house, and there's rats crawling on me, and then my hand goes through a nail. I don't honestly know if I would be able to not make a sound. Kudos to them for being very quiet in those moments where I feel like it's very hard to stay quiet, and that was impressive. That was their that was their peak for sure.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:44

They survived rats, they survived tetanus, yeah. Most likely, they really did it all. I I again I love the fact that the two of them love each other. I think that that's a nice, refreshing way to change it. I think it embodies a normal young couple that's been together for several years, you know. The fact that townsfolk are questioning why they haven't gotten married yet after five years, like been there.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:12

Oh my god, but I love the I'm just waiting for my turkey melt comment back. Oh, so good.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:18

It's so good because yes, that's a perfect response clap back. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:23

Mind your fucking business.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:25

Of minding your fucking business. Exactly. I've been there and I I love that representation of normal ass people because that is a normal ass in conversation that you would have today, no matter where the fuck you are. So I love it. I love that we get normal people because that is what the strangers are about. They're victimizing normal people, you know, and I think the two of them and their dynamic working together is really nice. Ryan specifically, I would love to hear what you guys think about him in terms of the typical male character gaslighting the girlfriend, you know. No, I didn't get that much of a vibe here.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:06

Why did they why did that have to be? I didn't like the whole um douchey boyfriend angle of like not believing Maya at first and then downplaying it because she smoked weed and then doing Oh, but I don't but I don't think it was as violent as we've seen before, though.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:22

That's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:24

Like I think I think it wasn't that way in the original by any means.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:28

Well, in the original, he just straight up did not fucking believe her, period, and just insisted nothing was there at all. But in this one, I felt listening to Ryan that he believed that something was happening. He was unclear about what it was, knows that she had weed to smoke, and she even was a little less confident and a little vague. She knows damn well that mask was in the hallway. This person was right behind her, not in the fucking room. So if I think she had said no, it wasn't here, she kind of went along with it and kind of convinced herself, I think. You know what I mean? Like I got in no sense that he would not have believed her if she had been a little bit more no, I definitely it was a mask, it was a person physically in front of me. Maybe it seemed like he was just drawing what I think might have been a reasonable conclusion. And listen, I'm not one to throw men bones over bullshit moments like this. I'm like, ah, whatever, fuck it. You're still gaslighting. Now, I think in this case, Ryan proved himself to be someone who loved her very much and was very consistent with how he treated her the entire movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:44

Yeah, I think the but for me, I think the thing is, is that the most of this movie he does seem like a very attentive and caring partner. You know what I mean? Where I feel like this was it, this moment felt really it stood out, it felt really on the nose, and it felt really just like too heavily played into that trope and that moment that just the rest of the movie didn't resonate with, and so I think it just didn't for me, it just didn't work. And I think back to the original, and even though even though you know he doesn't believe her at first, I feel like there's just more empathy for this character from the get-go. So I don't think it hits the same as it does in this movie, because in the first in the original movie, the guy basically gets turned down from a marriage proposal, and in this movie, they're not even, you know, like they're at they're at a point where he's just clueless and doesn't propose. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:54

Well, and even and even then, it's not not even so much clueless as much as it is him going off of what she said five years ago in terms of not watching.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:02

But I guess that's a bullshit cop-out response. So you never unsaid it. Okay, buddy, five years, okay? Five years, you gotta know by now.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:12

You know what, Sean? I'm gonna you're right. You would know, and I'm not gonna try to justify that kind of decision because that's what led me to where I am today. So you're right. There you go.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:22

It does become a question for me, though, if someone in the beginning of your relationship is so adamant about not believing in marriage or not wanting to be married, and then you can like let's just say, right? Like, let's say it's Ryan and Maya removed out of this movie, it's just two humans who are dating, right? Let's say Ryan is someone who wants to get married and believes in that, is falling in love with Maya. She said, fuck that, no, marriage is not for me. I could be committed with someone, I can you know be in a monogamous relationship. Maybe in his mind he has to make up early the decision, okay, do I want to be with her even though it means no marriage? And he's probably already reconciled that in his mind to make that compromise. Uh but either way, in this movie, in this like dynamic between them, he's probably a little clueless for sure. But it sounds like and looks like they have a relationship in which they can express what they're thinking, and she's able to voice that and he picks up on it immediately, and then you know it's a shame that he proposes while they're being fucking stabbed. It's stupid, but I have faith in a bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:32

But they didn't have to it just you're telling it just doesn't make sense that you wouldn't have a conversation about it in five years. That it's like the moment you said when we first met that you don't want to get married, and I latched onto that for five fucking years, and we never had a serious conversation throughout five years of dating. That are we gonna do this or are we not kind of thing, and you didn't have a bunch of friends talking about it and pushing you and family members talking about it and pushing you. That's reality. So a little bit, you know, I don't know. Here's what I think buying into it.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:07

Here's what I think. I think A, both of them are avoidant attachment styles, and B, the writers said, Hey, in the original, there was some qualm about marriage. Here we go. This is a nice Easter egg. So that's my theory on both accounts, on their dynamic for sure. One last thing about Maya, though, because I don't want to overlook this, for a hot minute there, I thought that they wrote her as some dumbass bitch, truly. Because there were some things that were going on at the very beginning that I was like, wait a second. No, don't do this to the female character. She's she might be our final girl. Don't write her as a dumbass. You really want me to believe that she doesn't remember she moved her phone on the opposite side of the whole ass room? You really want me to believe like she's been harassed by someone multiple times and thinks now is a right time to get high and dance around? I don't know. I'm getting real scared. So as as the film was going along, as she was by herself, I was like, Maya, get it together. You're a smart architecture student, uh, something like that. Like, you're you're a genius. You're a woman and you know better. Please don't do silly things.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:20

Those kids in the beginning of the movie asked, Are you sinners? Are you a sinner? Let me tell you, Maya sin. Maya didn't keep that damn piece of guarding equipment with her when Ryan found that shotgun. Girl, you need a way to arm yourself. You need a way. Also, Ryan could have shot your damn fucking head off. Could you imagine? What a twist.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:42

That would have been wild.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:43

That would have been nuts.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:45

That would have been a different similarity that I would have been here for. A different similarity just fucking blew your head off. My bad. Can you imagine? Holy shit.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:02

I would have How are you gonna get our A-list?

SPEAKER_05 1:13:06

First of all, well, I wouldn't say that Madeline's like an A-list celebrity, but she's pretty fucking high up there. She's probably the most expensive person on this bill. So if they had shot her, I would have been like, Holy shit, this is this is it.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:20

This movie's fantastic. Slash the fuck out of it.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:23

They don't give a single fuck about the rules. Go for it. Not because I would want her dead, never. But the audacity of the of doing so would be insane.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:32

Dude.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:32

Would have been insane. I do want to get into this next bit, which is the town. You know, I I want to kind of express myself a little bit more about as to why I feel like it wasn't necessary. I just feel like the moment that they introduced all the townsfolk and all of them were being assholes, I was like, is this really what this town would be like? A. And then B, are they trying to say that all of these people could be the strangers, which is what you're saying, or all of them know that the strangers exist out there and they're kind of like supporting them and letting them fucking kill people? I hate that though, because the strangers are supposed to be strangers, and they should be strangers to townsfolk.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:19

They are. You don't know, you still don't know.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:23

Yes, we don't.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:24

But they are playing with you a little bit.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:27

This could be a prequel to the prequel to the prequel of the purge.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:34

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:35

As the strangers. Maybe these motherfuckers are chosen like the reaping, and they're fucking chosen to embody the spirit of the strangers. Who knows?

SPEAKER_05 1:14:45

So wait a second. So this is how it's tied to Hunger Games and not the the PETA shot of Maya in the freaking.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:53

No, it's absolutely her starving her best Pita Mullark, but also it could be the reaping. It could be. There's potential, there's possibility. I love it.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:01

There's no way that we almost finished this episode without addressing the Pita Mullark of it all. I feel like PETA would have had to have consulted Maya and been like, girl, put the leaves over your face.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:14

Put the leaves over your face, bitch.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:16

Please.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:18

That was I for sure thought that was gonna be a fail. A hundred percent. It should have been.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:24

It should have. I I'm gonna tell you what happened. Pen up girl, she knows her shit, okay? She looked at you dead in the face and probably thought, that was stupid. I'm gonna let you have this and walked away.

SPEAKER_08 1:15:35

She's like, I'm gonna let you have a second to yourself. Yeah. She probably got a secondhand embarrassment.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:40

Yeah, she was like, Okay, Bina, let me give let me give this girl a beat, okay? Let me give this girl a beat because this was stupid. Yikes.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:50

Yeah. I see, I think the I think the whole thing with the town, though, if we go back to that, I think it doesn't take away from the feeling of the strangers. I think it gives you a little bit more to play with. It it gives you a little bit of fun to just go back and forth with and think. You're never gonna know. You're never gonna get that full satisfaction of knowing. And maybe we will, I don't know. But as of right now, we don't, and I think that's okay. I think it would have been shitty if they do, I think it will be shitty if they do reveal that. I think I don't ever want to know who the strangers are. I would love to just always ponder if this person maybe had anything in there or maybe really try to watch these films to see if there's any kind of little hint or Easter egg that they slipped in there that they want you to try to find on a second, third, fourth, fifth watch or something like that. That's kind of fun to think about, right? Um, some kind of conspiracy theory bullshit. But can we can we just before we get too far away from the subject of these characters, like, can we acknowledge that these strangers are they're cock blockers, man? Every damn time. Their timing is fucking impeccable. They fucking up relationships.

SPEAKER_08 1:17:09

Their timing is impeccable, but I almost feel like giving the religious undertone to some of the characters in all these films. I want to say it's more like um strangers are coming in, leave room for Jesus. They have those sex alarms going off.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:26

Yeah, what's with the Jesus thing?

SPEAKER_08 1:17:28

I don't know, small town, a little rural, likes Jesus, Sean. I think that's all there is to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:34

No, man, they put too much emphasis on the Jesus thing. The creepy ass fucking kids. They tried to hand them the pamphlet again later on. Like, it I feel like there was too much on that to just be a random thing to throw in there.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:48

It's fine for the first time because okay, we get it. The Easter egg, sure. It was the second time at the food truck stop or whatever that I was like, uh odd.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:01

I want you both to read a book. And it's not the Bible, but it is Clown in a Cornfield. And then I want you to revisit this movie with the invitation to a meeting with the idea of the town strangers or strangers, who are the strangers? Maya, Ryan, again, are strangers to this new town. Because I just finished Clown in a Cornfield, and now I'm on Clown in a Cornfield to Frendo Lives. And it's all I had in my fucking head watching this movie. And I enjoy it. It's good, it's great, it's a great experience.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:37

Interesting. Interesting. You know, when you say that Maya and Ryan are strangers to this town, that could also be just that depiction of, you know, anytime I feel like it anytime you just go into like you're on a road trip or something, and you just go into some random place that's really kind of not familiar, it's a little bit different, you know, it's a little bit rural, you might feel like, whoa, I feel out of place here. And maybe that makes you perceive that everyone else is out of place and they're maybe treating you differently, but maybe you're just not used to it because let's face it, we we may live in like more I don't know, populated cities and things like that, but when we don't really we don't really interact with a lot of people very often, we are around a lot of people, but we don't really interact with those people on a day-to-day. And I feel like when you go into a small town diner and there's three people in there that fucking probably are all married to each other in some way, you know, it's a little bit different. It's a little bit different.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:47

Yeah, and Sean really said we're surrounded by people, but we're all strangers.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:51

No, no, no. Look, uh I in reality, the best part of the film for me is actually two things tied. One is Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues. Love that song. The moment it dropped, I looked at my best friends and I was like, oh, this gives it points for sure. I listen to that song every day. It's on my daily playlist, it's a hit. And honestly, it's Scarecrow, you know, our big boy. It's our Jason Voorhees of the Strangers. He's built like one hell of a motherfucker, and yet somehow he's silent as a feather, and he's fast as shit, and he's still intimidating. I actually would say he's more violent in this film than he is in the first one, more like a force of nature, and it could be because, again, in general, we do lack that sense of silent stalking. But with him in particular, I think it was refreshing to see even just a little bit of the silent stalking that I think you're just so surprised by how this fucking massive ass man can somehow maneuver everything so qu silently, while also just hack the fuck out of a door, stare at you dead in the face, and walk away. He's just intimidating as hell. Love him.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:00

Yeah. Oh, it's great. It's absolutely great. What wasn't great were the two things that I said were the worst part of this movie. One, Ryan's cool guy monologue. She could have been your second, bro. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:12

This is my second.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:14

However, the additional note of Maya not bringing the weapon with her. Girl, this man could have been taken out with a shotgun. He needs some backup. What are you doing not swinging around?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:25

Of course she wouldn't bring the weapon. Come on.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:28

She seemed capable. She could have done it.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:30

Yeah. You know what? The worst thing for me was really just the there was too many silly moments. They might not be silly for other people. They were fucking damn sure silly for me, and they took away from the severity of the film in those moments. There's three that I can think of off the top of my head. One is part of what is odd because my favorite scene being, you know, Maya at the door. But what they did in some moments as that scene progressed was they did this whole is Tamara home too many fucking times, and it got overplayed, and it got to a point where, like, if I hear this again, it's just too much comedic value. And then the bike blowing up for some reason was really intense. Like, just slash the tires or something. Like, we did not need to blow the fucking bike up. That was way over the top. And then that I already said the line at the end, they got us, was just too much. It was too much. I laughed out loud almost in that moment. And it just I don't we didn't need campiness in this film. This isn't a film for campiness. This isn't a film for silly moments. I don't need comedic value to cut through anything in this. I want severity. I want to feel like when I go home, I want my doors locked. You know what I mean? For sure.

SPEAKER_08 1:22:53

We come to this place for magic, Sean. We don't come to this place for laughs and giggles. Duh.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:58

Duh.

SPEAKER_08 1:22:59

However, all that aside, I cannot wait to watch this movie again. And I specifically cannot wait to watch it to uncover the entirety of the Easter eggs that are in this that link to both The Strangers Prey at Night and The Strangers from 2008. Being so I know that you caught a bunch of them.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:18

We hit a lot of them. They used some of the songs from the first one, which was a really nice surprise. We mentioned the kids. I I am really glad that they did a good homages to the first and the second, you know, that shall not be named. But some of them felt a little too on the nose and too obvious, others very subtle, which I appreciate. Even the whole phone bit, actually, like the fact that the phone is broken, uh the fact that she's smoking marijuana instead of a cigarette, you know, very no nicotine.

SPEAKER_08 1:23:55

The fact that that flip phone is probably a fucking circa 2008 flip phone from Joe.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:01

Exactly. Exactly. Like even the small bits I think were really fun and very subtle, and others maybe more obvious. Uh really when I say more obvious, I think of the two kids giving the pamphlets out. That was like very, very blatant. But yeah, I think we got a lot of them. So that being said, despite my hack, I I would say that I'd be down to see it again if it hit streaming. I think I'll definitely save the rewatch though once the entire trilogy is complete. Maybe just do it a a trilogy marathon situation. It wasn't entirely a waste of my time. Again, I I did enjoy it more than Pray at Night. I did have some fun with it. Um it wasn't entirely terrible, but not enough for me to revisit it, I guess, because I felt like it. I feel like for me, I will just watch the original for now and do that. But for sure, part two and part three, I'm still holding out hopes for it. I'm still looking forward to it because it's going to be original, and thus part one will be saved for that marathon.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:11

Yeah, I think it I'm also right there with you. I'm excited for chapter two and chapter three because I want to see where they can take this story. I want to see where they can go with it. This film, you know, chapter one, it was a you know, overall, it was a good remake, reboot, not a remake. I don't know. It was good. It will be interesting because of how it was filmed and all three chapters being filmed together at one time is cool because I think the actors and the people involved carry that same momentum that they had with the first film, which we don't often get to see as we film movies at separate times, years apart, and things like that. So there's a continuity there that I think might be very good. So we'll see what happens. I'm excited for those. I'll definitely revisit this one again. It doesn't top the original 2008 by any means, so that one's still gonna hold at the top of my list for this franchise, if you will. But I definitely see myself revisiting chapter one as we progress through this new trilogy.

SPEAKER_08 1:26:22

Well, I can't wait to see how time, space, and the rest of the trilogy will shape your opinions. But for now, there you have it, folks. The Strangers, chapter one from 2024, has earned two slashes and one hack. We certainly had a robust discussion here, but the conversation doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:41

We want to know what you think. What are you hoping to see in the Strangers chapters two and three? Let us know. You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:52

And if you've enjoyed listening to this episode, consider opening your door and letting us in by becoming one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash hackerslash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows. That was weird.