The Strangers: Everything We Know So Far About The Reboot Trilogy
Part of the reason why "The Strangers" has endured as an effective horror movie is that we've all had that feeling of being home alone at night, yet it still feels like there's something else watching us from the shadows. After 85 minutes of homebound terror, the words "because you were home" make all of the preceding violence sound so hauntingly meaningless. A couple on the rocks is thrust into a harrowing night of survival for no other reason besides that their lights were on.
It wasn't until a decade later that a sequel came to theaters with "The Strangers: Prey at Night," which /Film's Chris Evangelista called a "schlocky slasher showcase." Rather than rehashing the hopelessness of Bryan Bertino's 2008 home invasion thriller, the follow-up from Johannes Roberts saw the human prey actually landing a few blows in against their stalkers, and living to see another day. I truly believe it's one of the best slashers of the 2010s. But where do you go after this?
As it would turn out, we're not getting a sequel, but an entire trilogy of films from the ground up with director Renny Harlin at the helm. The word is that the "Deep Blue Sea" filmmaker will helm at least the first movie in this series, but it wouldn't be out of the question for him to tackle the rest.
How will the nighttime stalkers make it work? Let's knock at the door, see if Tamara is home, and find out.
What The Strangers trilogy is about
David Gordon Green had been busy with his "Halloween" trilogy, and is now heading into his "Exorcist" trilogy. There appears to be a recent trend in horror with greenlighting an entire series before the results come in, with "The Strangers" hopping on the trilogy train. At the moment, we only have a synopsis for the first movie in this rebooted series, which I sincerely hope is given another title beyond "The Strangers."
Where the first film focused on a couple in their own home, and "Prey at Night" followed a family taking a rest in an empty trailer park, Harlin's film will instead follow a couple driving across the country to start their new life somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. The pair is forced to stay in an Airbnb after their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon. Unfortunately for them, they're in for a pretty bad stay when three masked strangers start to toy with them.
There's currently no word on what the other two films are about, or if there will be any returning characters carried over besides the killers. Time will tell if these characters become a small part of the larger puzzle, or if they'll meet their end by the Strangers' hands. Either way, this couple is likely going to be tested to the brink of insanity with their attackers playing cat and mouse.
What we know about the cast of The Strangers trilogy
The cast of Harlin's "Strangers" remake includes Gabriel Basso ("The Kings of Summer"), Froy Gutierez ("Hocus Pocus 2"), Madelaine Petsch ("Riverdale") and Rachel Shenton ("All Creatures Great and Small"). There's currently no official casting, however, of who will be playing the three masked killers, or whether they will be wearing the same masks from the previous films.
In terms of who these characters are, Petsch and Gutierez will be playing the currency unnamed traveling couple. According to a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter, Shenton, who won an Academy Award for her work on the Live Action short film "The Silent Child," will be playing Debbie, the sister to Petsch's character. It's unclear how she fits in, but I wouldn't be surprised if she becomes a Lila Crane from "Psycho" type, where she investigates what happened to her sibling at this Airbnb gone wrong.
There are no other plot details to glean from at this time.
When and where you will be able to see The Strangers Trilogy
In an interesting change of hands, Harlin's "Strangers" trilogy will be released worldwide under the Lionsgate banner. Rogue Pictures was behind Bertino's film, while Aviron Pictures was associated with Roberts' 2018 sequel, but both "Strangers" flicks were distributed by Universal Pictures.
The screenplay comes from Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, both of whom worked on such projects as "King of the Hill" and "Due Date." Alastair Burlingham ("Moonfall"), Mark Canton ("Den of Thieves"), Charlie Dombek ("Replicas"), Christopher Milburn ("Unhinged"), Gary Raskin ("Serenity"), and Courtney Solomon ("Red Sonja") will serve as producers. Meanwhile, Andrei Boncea ("The Protégé"), Dorothy Canton ("After"), and Roy Lee ("Barbarian") are attached as the remake's executive producers.
Lee is the only person involved who seems to have some sort of connection to the original films, as he produced Bertino's 2008 chiller.
Given that the first film has just wrapped its Slovakia production, it'll likely be some time before we start to see the poster or trailer. If Harlin pulls it off, then the new "Strangers" could fit nicely alongside "The Rental" and "Barbarian" in an unofficial "you're better off just staying home" horror trilogy of its own.