“A young couple drive cross-country toward a new beginning; unfortunately, they have no choice but to stop and stay at a secluded Airbnb in Oregon–and endure a night of terror against three masked strangers.”
Director: Renny Harlin
Writers: Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland
Stars: Madelaine Petsch, Rachel Shenton, Gabriel Basso, Froy Gutierrez, Ema Horvath, Richard Brake
Release: May 17, 2024
IMDB
The Strangers (2008) came out when I was in high school, and it was a perfect movie for over-eager teenagers. I can remember my friends and I all talking about how hot Liv Tyler was and how creepy the movie was as a whole. The Strangers, while not great by any means, is a simple premise that is meant to be consumed in a giant gulp. To that end, it accomplished its mission.
Now we are going back in time with a prequel. The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024), the third film in the franchise, takes place before Bryan Bertino’s 2008 original story. The foundation of the story is essentially a mirror of its inspiration. The trailer above has shots that were taken directly from The Strangers, and the last line reading of the preview is an altered callback to perhaps one of the most memorable horror lines from the 2000s.
Lionsgate Films is hoping to capture some sort of horror nostalgia and praying that Chapter 1 clicks with audiences because Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 will also be coming out at some point in 2024.
Three The Strangers movies in a calendar year. If this is your strategy, Chapter 1 better be a big hit.
A question I must ask myself is why I am so pessimistic about the idea of The Strangers being a pre-made trilogy when there was a great threesome of horror movies with Netflix’s Fear Street. The answer I’m leaning towards is a simple one: Fear Street is an original cinematic story not based on previous films. Additionally, The Strangers is labeling its stories as “Chapters” while Fear Street had unique years which automatically told the audience to expect something different every time.
Consider me a little skeptical about this attempt at carpooling three house invasion movies. It wouldn’t surprise me if the films delve a bit into the characterization of the house invaders to fill time within the three movies, and that alone scares me. Home invasion movies are often at the best when the audience knows nothing about the evil doers.
Looking at the first The Strangers: there are only two named characters and the entire cast is made up of 11 people, three of which were uncredited. There are 18 members of the cast in The Strangers: Chapter 1, and everyone of the actors have a real name attached. It scares me adding humanity to the villains when the scariest part of a home invasion is knowing absolutely nothing about why people you don’t know are doing what they do.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 is directed by Renny Harlin. Early in his career Harlin had the chance to tackle some big franchises with A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) and Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990). Cliffhanger (1993) is a great one-off action Sylvester Stallone adventure and who can forget that one Samuel L. Jackson scene from Deep Blue Sea (1999).
The issue is that over the last 20 years, there have not been many well-reviewed or recommendable projects. The last 11 movies Harlin has made have a rating below 6.0 on IMDB.com. User ratings are not the ultimate barometer, but that long of a cold stretch is worthy of raising a questioning eyebrow.
All three films of this new Strangers trilogy are written by Alan Freedland and Alan R. Cohen. The duo have worked together for the majority of their career, primarily in television. The last movie they wrote was the 2010 comedy Due Date (2010). While the concept of a guaranteed trilogy scares me personally, the approach to hire television writers may prove smart. In theory, both Alans have experience writing to continue stories from one viewing experience to another. That’s the optimistic point of view.
Despite my pessimism, The Strangers: Chapter 1 will possess me to press play when it gets to streaming on whichever service wins the rights. I am not confident that the movie will be well reviewed, but fans will flock to the theater and it’ll be a top-rated streamer for the shut-ins.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 will be released in theaters on May 17, 2024.
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