THE STRANGERS Remake Trilogy Moves Forward with Director Renny Harlin and Actress Madelaine Petsch
The Strangers franchise is making a comeback with a new trilogy of films that are currently in development thanks to Lionsgate, and the first of these films has already started production in Bratislava, Slovakia. Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea, Die Hard 2, The Long Kiss Goodnight) is directing the movie from a script written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland (The Freak Brothers, Due Date).
I really liked the original The Strangers movie. It delivered some great horror! Good luck to the creative team trying to top that one. I’m curious to see what they do with it, though. Maybe they’ll do something unique and inventive.
Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale, Jane) will star in the film, and in it, she “drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (Froy Gutierrez, Cruel Summer, Hocus Pocus 2, Teen Wolf) to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.”
Producer Courtney Solomon said in a statement: “When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world. Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”
Producer Mark Canton said: “When you’ve got two horror aficionados like Courtney Solomon and Renny Harlin coming together, you’ve got all you need to create some incredibly smart, lean-forward-in-your-seat, addictively thrilling entertainment. Fans of the original film will be blown away; new audiences will discover the intensely unnerving world of The Strangers.”
Eda Kowan, Lionsgate’s EVP of Acquisitions & Co-Productions, added: “The Strangers taps into such primal fears that it will always be relevant – but what truly sets this project apart is the way the filmmakers have expanded the story and given these characters a new life.”
Renny Harlin shared: “My mother instilled the love of movies in me through the world of Hitchcock and other masters of suspense and horror. My breakthrough to Hollywood happened with the success of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4. It is only fitting that I get to return to my favorite genre with the incredibly well written trilogy of The Strangers. The characters and the storyline are all grounded in reality and offer me an endless tapestry of haunting visuals in bringing these movies alive.”
What do you think about The Strangers getting a remake trilogy?