The Strangers: Chapter 1 is a disappointing follow-up to its franchise’s first installment. While it delivers a few moments of genuine tension and dread, the film never comes close to replicating the disturbing magic of Bertino’s breakout horror hit. The new film polishes away the unsteady, rough-and-ready nature of that now-iconic, late 2000s home invasion thriller and, in doing so, loses the intimate, grounded power that makes The Strangers still so unnerving to this day.