Director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) is revisiting The Strangers and its creepy masked home invader/killers with a new trilogy. Lionsgate unveiled the first three photos from The Strangers Trilogy a week ahead of Harlin and producer Courtney Solomon (Cake) hosting a Q&A panel at the New York Comic Con.
The panel will take place on October 12th from 3-4pm ET in Room 405 at the Javits Center. Harlin and Solomon will talk about all things The Stranger and their experiences making the new trilogy.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 stars Riverdale‘s Madelaine Petsch and Cruel Summer‘s Froy Gutierrez. Harlin directs from a screenplay by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland. The trilogy’s produced by Alastair Burlingham, Mark Canton, Charlie Dombek, and Christopher Milburn.
Lionsgate offers this description of Chapter 1: “Madelaine Petsch stars as a young woman starting a new life with her fiancé. Suddenly, during a road trip stop in a remote vacation rental in the woods, they become the prey of a mysterious gang of masked strangers who attack without warning or reason. What begins as a fight to stay alive becomes one woman’s journey of courage and cunning in this horror series bridging three compelling films.”
In a recent interview with EW, director Harlin confirmed he’s a fan of the 2008 horror film starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. Harlin also revealed his new films aren’t remakes or reboots, but rather they’re a trilogy based on the original film. Fans can expect Chapter 1 to be “close to the original movie in its set-up of a young couple in an isolated environment in a house and a home invasion happening for random reasons.”
One aspect of the story Harlin refused to change was the masks donned by the Strangers. “The masks in The Strangers are not like the Batsuit or something that evolves over years,” said Harlin to EW. “To us, the Strangers are the Strangers, and I, as an audience member, wanted to see them just the way they were in the original film.”
The Strangers Trilogy is targeting a 2024 release.
