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Tommy's Corner: "The Strangers: Chapter 1" Review
85 Plays4 months ago
This week on the show Tommy does his review of “The Strangers: Chapter 1"! This episode was a lot of fun and the boys had a blast recording it! We hope you all enjoy it and we will talk to you later!!
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Lastly, thanks to our editors Colin Gallagher & Carson Stienstra for making this show happen!
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Transcript
Episode 9 Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back everyone to episode 9 of my solo adventures on the Popcorn Podcast. For those who are new, I'm Tommy and this is when I do shorter form episodes and I review movies that Ryan did, either Ryan didn't want to see or I don't think would do really well as a full length episode but maybe would do a little bit better as a shorter episode.
00:00:21
Speaker
You hear me? I do these episodes. Excuse me. I have a little bit of a cold right now. If you hear my dogs or anything like that, it's because I do these episodes at my own house. I do not do them at the studio and I use a different mic. So these episodes don't always sound as great, maybe? But I still love doing these episodes and they tend to do really well with you guys, so.
00:00:42
Speaker
Yeah.
Introduction to 'The Strangers, Chapter 1'
00:00:43
Speaker
And today I'm here to talk about the new horror film, The Strangers, Chapter 1. But I don't know, it's kind of a soft reboot of the amazing 2000... What year did the other one come out? Let me check. 2008.
00:01:04
Speaker
when the first one came out, which lived Tyler's in, and it's amazing. And I love that movie. It's lay on my all time list of movies, which some people might find crazy, but that movie terrified me. I love the direction. I love the stage directions in that film, the damn toilet. Shut up.
00:01:24
Speaker
Thank you. Um, well, we're not here to talk about the 2008 version. We're here to talk about the 2024 one, which is supposed to set up a trilogy of these movies. So currently, uh, doesn't, I don't know if that's actually going to happen.
Mixed Reviews and Trilogy Doubts
00:01:39
Speaker
Um, I don't know that it's going to happen because this one's currently sitting at a 5.1 out of town. I'm to be, which isn't horrible for our room, but that's sitting at 17% around tomatoes, a 43 on Fandango and a 58 on Google.
00:01:52
Speaker
Not a great start, but I will say it does have a 43% audience score, which is still not very good. Um, but yeah, uh, what's the critic? Uh, so far the critic consensus is lacking the chilling suspense of the original strangers and proving to just be unpleasant. This chapter one closes the book on itself. So not great.
00:02:22
Speaker
But I didn't mind the movie as much as
Praise for Smart Character Decisions
00:02:26
Speaker
everyone else did. It seems like people really disliked it. I don't think it's horrible. I think people need to calm down on these reviews. Because yes, the movie's not great and no, it's not even close to as good as the other one. But I will say, there's a big thing in horror movies where the characters are dumb. And yes, they of course have to do some of that.
00:02:49
Speaker
the characters do things like smart things i've never seen people do in horror movies and i was very happy with them doing that because there's a scene where she's the one character uh... i keep on saying madeline connie that's not her name madeline pesh she's running and hiding from them and she lee hides in a bush and covers herself with leaves so no one can see her which is such a smart way to sort of
00:03:17
Speaker
Smart thing to do and yeah, so I really like some of that stuff and I do like that They actually hide they try and be quiet and scenes where they would normally yell in a horror movie if they don't and I'd really like their chemistry between Madeline and freak Gutierrez who plays Ryan. She plays Maya But I just think he
00:03:37
Speaker
He was good, but I think there was a drastic difference between their acting chops. I think Madeline had, I thought she was really good, especially for a horror movie.
Lack of Horror Thrills
00:03:53
Speaker
And yeah, so I think this movie has a lot of story. I don't think it was scary enough, which is kind of sad. I think the first 30 minutes are better than the rest of the movie.
00:04:04
Speaker
when you see the strangers moving around in the background and all that kind of stuff. That's when I think this movie found its footing a little bit. But, again, in a horror movie, the final 10-15 minutes, the final 10-15 minutes can ruin the movie. And it doesn't ruin in this one. It has very similar ending to the original. But then,
Madeline's Survival and Impact
00:04:30
Speaker
I didn't like a decision they made. I thought they were going to do maybe... Each movie's going to be a different lead. Well, that's not going to happen. Madeline is coming back. Spoiler. Yeah, she's going to be coming back in the next one, because she does live. Which you don't think she lives, but for some reason she does, and I think it was a very bad idea for them. I think you should have just killed them all. Like, you already had it. And just done... Each movie has a different...
00:05:01
Speaker
Husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend. I think that girlfriend, girlfriend, boyfriend, any kind of couple. And I think that would have just been the better choice for this franchise, because then they always die. The strangers always win. I like that idea.
Production Details
00:05:16
Speaker
But yeah, Renny Harlan directed this film. Of course, it was distributed by Lionsgate. It's based on the original streams by Brian Bertino. The cinematographer was Jose David Montero. I will say the budget was only eight and a half million. For eight and a half million, it looked pretty good.
00:05:30
Speaker
But it was just for a horror movie, because you'll see some horror movies. They really are not good. But who else has this guy directed? OK, so this guy did direct some other movie, like a legitimate movie. He directed Deep Blue. That's something. He did Cliff Hanger with Sylvester Stallone. He did Die Hard 2. He did a movie The Devil's Pass a decade ago. I don't remember if that was even good.
00:05:59
Speaker
fifty horrible school uh... yet nothing great about it looks like uh... that's cuss it's a good documentary my commander uh... but yeah i e
00:06:24
Speaker
I want to say I did like The Stranger. I think I did like
Comparison to 2008 Version
00:06:27
Speaker
it. I don't think I disliked this movie. It just never was scary enough and it was not able to match up with The Original Stranger, which I think is so iconic in just the horror community of the early 2000s. I think that just fits. But that movie stands up today. It still makes sense today.
00:06:47
Speaker
It wouldn't happen as much today because of technology and other stuff like that. But they did find a way to make it happen in this one, having to go into the woods and all that. And this one was a lot more rural, you know, because I know the other one is like a small town. But you can see other houses near this one. There's no within five miles of them and.
Setting's Impact on Fear Factor
00:07:11
Speaker
I think that decision kind of made it a little less scary. I think it was so scary than the other one because it could have happened to any of us. Not all of us live in a log cabin up in the woods or ever go up into a log cabin in the woods. But yeah, I think there was just like, there's a scene, spoilers. If you don't want to hear me talk more about the spoilers, definitely go check out the movie and then come back to this episode. Cause now from out now, I'm going to say spoilers. So make sure you haven't seen the movie.
00:07:39
Speaker
go watch it then come back or don't watch it just listen to me talk about it but yeah there's um there's a sequence when they're hiding from the strangers if you see you know what I'm talking about and they're in the woods and they kind of get split up and what's it what's I think it's Ryan yep Ryan has a shotgun now and he's starting to fend them off a little bit and he catches the one and he could have killed her right then and there I think it's hard to take off the mask but
Character Critique
00:08:10
Speaker
He had her dead to rights and he just doesn't shoot her and he just sits there. After already killing someone. So that was kind of frustrating. Because you know what they're gonna do to you. You gotta even the playing field. And he doesn't. And then he gets caught and then the ending happens. Stuff like that is what makes me mad. Like, you should be willing, you gotta know what you have to do to survive right then there and he just doesn't.
00:08:40
Speaker
And yeah, uh, that was something I didn't like. I didn't love the guy's mask in this one. The main, uh, one stranger who's a guy who wears like the tape sack over his head. He, they drew a smile on it, which I know it is, you know, the other one's kind of very subtle. This one looks kind of derpy in certain shots. Like it's so scary.
Optimism for Sequel
00:09:02
Speaker
Don't, don't get me wrong. Cause I don't show up in my house like that. I'm going to freak out, but it just looked a little goofy in certain shots.
00:09:11
Speaker
So I think that was an issue. So I'm definitely not against the sequel that's happening. I'm still all in. I still love this franchise, so I will watch them. But knowing the ending of this one and what the story seems like it's leaning towards, it is starting to take me a little out of it. So I'll watch this next one when it comes down next year. And if that one isn't as good, then I probably won't watch the third one, because then I've lost my interest. But I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that the next one will be better.
00:09:42
Speaker
And I hope it is, because I think Madeleine Pesch is a very talented actress, even though most people only know her from Riverdale.
Mediocre Score and Expectations
00:09:48
Speaker
She was very... Especially for her harm, it was very good in this. Yeah, I'm quite... I'm very much in between, because I don't want to say I dislike this movie, and I don't want to say I like this movie. I'm just going to say it's mediocre, it's like a 50. 52, I want to say. 52 is not a bad score.
00:10:09
Speaker
But again, it's not a great score, because this wasn't a great movie. And it wasn't a bad movie, so it's right in the middle for me. But I think that's the main thing. But... So much came from... Uh... Yeah, I think it's like the main thing I just want to talk about was just the strangers and that... It's okay, if you like the original, I definitely said still go check it out, but just don't expect it to be as good as the original one.
00:10:36
Speaker
And yeah, that's all I have for you guys in this episode. Just wanted you guys to hear my quick review of The Strangers. And yeah, make sure to go check out our Patreon page. Make sure to go check out our TikTok, our Instagram, our YouTube, everything in between. And yeah, thank you guys so much for tuning in. And yeah, I will talk to you later this week talking about Furiosa with Orion.