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Since it is trick-or-treat season, Lionsgate picked the perfect time to release a few first-look photos from the forthcoming The Strangers trilogy. An exact release date hasn’t been announced yet, but the first one, The Strangers: Chapter 1, is set to hit theaters in 2024.
But it’s never to early to start with the promo, right? Josh Horowitz from MTV will moderate a First-Look Panel with director Renny Harlin and producer Courtney Solomon at NY Comic Con on October 12. (At 3 p.m. in room 405 if you’re going.)
Earlier this year, I heard some rumblings about a new Strangers movie coming out, but I didn’t look into it. Then today the first look photos dropped, and bam! Interest piqued. I had to know more.
One of the main questions I had was, “What is The Strangers trilogy?” Is it a reboot or a “requel,” i.e. a reboot, sequel, and remake all in one? A new style of movie, which Scream (2022) both defined and proclaimed is here to stay.
It’s definitely a reboot, but beyond that, I’m not sure. Time —and audiences— may decide if it also falls into the requel category —or into some new hybrid category thereof. That’s the zone I’m leaning towards based on something Entertainment Weekly wrote about Chapters 2 and 3. Namely, how it “will explore what happens to the victims of this kind of violence and who the perpetrators are of this kind of violence. Where are they coming from and why?”
That’s an interesting direction. One that The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018), the follow-up to The Strangers, didn’t take. For now, let’s look at what we know about the first one.
The Strangers Trilogy, Chapter 1 Synopsis
Here’s the description from the studio:
From master director Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2, The Exorcist: The Beginning) comes a new trilogy of terror. In Chapter I, Madelaine Petsch (TV’s “Riverdale”) 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.
Two More First Looks Photos
In addition to the photo leading this post, here are two other photos. Besides the fact that Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez look great as a couple together in this film, the photos tell us something else. Mainly, as you’d expect, The Strangers are back. Well, at least two of them are. The Pinup girl and the Burlap Mask dude.
But also, even though these are just still images, it appears that this film has also captured the same ambience and atmosphere the original did. It will be interesting to see if that’s the case.
Check-In
It hasn’t even been 20 years since the original was released. Do you think it’s too soon for a reboot of The Strangers? Or is there no time limit when it comes to remakes?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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