Summary
- Lionsgate released the first footage of The Strangers: Chapter 1 at NYCC, featuring Madelaine Petsch and masked strangers, promising more horror to come.
- The film, directed by Renny Harlin, follows a young woman and her fiancé who become prey to a vicious gang of masked strangers during a road trip.
- Harlin emphasizes that the film is not a replacement for the original, but rather a deep dive into unanswered questions and exploring the mystery behind the strangers’ actions.
Lionsgate has unleashed the first footage from their upcoming horror movie The Strangers: Chapter 1, and it finds Madelaine Petsch answering a knock at the door. The first part of a new trilogy in The Strangers franchise, the clip debuted at New York Comic Con, and is sure to have horror fans excited (and terrified) for more of the masked strangers. Check out the clip from The Strangers: Chapter 1 below:
As well as the first footage, here’s the official synopsis for The Strangers: Chapter 1:
“From director Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2, The Exorcist: The Beginning) comes The Strangers: Chapter 1. Madelaine Petsch (TV’s “Riverdale”) stars as a young woman on a road trip with her fiancé. But when they stop at a remote vacation rental in the woods, they become the prey of a vicious gang of masked strangers who attack without warning or reason, and must use courage and cunning to survive one long, terrifying night.”
Directed by Renny Harlin, and written by Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland (both of whom are known for The Freak Brothers and Due Date), and Amber Loutfi, The Strangers: Chapter 1 stars Riverdales’ Madelaine Petsch, who Harlin recently heaped praise on while speaking with us at MovieWeb.
“She’s not the replacement of Liv Tyler. She’s completely in her own universe and in her own class. Playing this character was so demanding, and I honestly can’t even imagine any other actor who could do this, and as we were making the movie, we said to each other, we won the lottery.”
Alongside Petsch, The Strangers: Chapter 1 stars Froy Guitierrez (Cruel Summer, Teen Wolf) and Gabriel Basso (The Night Agent, Super 8).
Renny Harlin Explains Why He Wanted to Reboot The Strangers
Speaking exclusively with MovieWeb, Renny Harlin has explained why he wanted to bring The Strangers back for a brand-new trilogy.
“In the whole development of these movies, our goal has been to make sure that we give the fans something that they loved about the original film — the randomness of the violence, the mystery of it all. To me, it’s almost like if the original movie was your favorite meal in your favorite restaurant, we wanted to make sure that we go back to that same restaurant, with the same food, but we add our own spices to it and take it further.”
Harlin promised that the new The Strangers trilogy will be much more than just a remake, going “deeper” than the previous movies.
“But what made this so fascinating to me when Courtney sent me the script, which, by the way was 280 pages long, was that yes, we are making the remake of the original film because we love that film, and we think that there’s a whole new generation who should experience it, but we are going much deeper. We are exploring those questions that were left unanswered in the original — the why of it, and the reason behind it, and all the mystery.”
The Strangers: Chapter 1 is scheduled to be released in 2024.
