The Strangers: Chapter 1 Release Date, Cast, Plot, Trailer And More Details

It's been well over a decade since the micro-budget, based on real-life events home invasion creeper "The Strangers" transformed from the little indie horror that could into a full-blown box office juggernaut. And as fans of the film are still trying to shake some of the more unsettling turns of fate in the menacing thriller, studios are still trying to find a way to franchise the property. The first attempt to do that, of course, came in 2018 when Rogue Pictures revived the concept for its intriguing — if largely underwhelming — sequel "The Strangers: Prey at Night."

Lionsgate has since taken over the rights to "The Strangers," and the genre-loving studio is betting big that it can turn the property into a full-blown horror franchise, green-lighting not one but three new "The Strangers" flicks. The first of the coming trilogy is titled "The Strangers: Chapter 1." It's already worked its way through production and is soon to be playing in a theater near you. Here's what we know about it so far.

The first installment of the new "Strangers" trilogy will hit creep into theaters on May 17, 2024. That weekend, it'll find itself competing against John Krasinski's family-friendly comedy "IF" — so yeah, these films aren't exactly playing to the same audience. Interestingly, all three "Strangers" installments have already finished shooting, as Lionsgate opted to film them concurrently. If Deadline is to be believed, Lionsgate will also take the decidedly outside-the-box approach of releasing all three chapters in the space of a single year. While that hasn't been confirmed just yet, that crazy concept is more than enough to get horror hounds psyched for the new "Strangers" trilogy.

Those who've seen the original "The Strangers" can confirm the performances of Liv Tyler (in a rare and difficult horror role) and Scott Speedman are the glue that holds the nihilistic nail-biter together. Ditto for the work of Christina Hendricks and Martin Henderson, who portray the targeted couple in "The Strangers: Prey at Night." As such, you'd be right in thinking much of the success of "The Strangers: Chapter 1" will rest on the shoulders of its stars. Even the film's director admitted to Entertainment Weekly that it was hard to fill the shoes of those franchise predecessors. In the end, the production tapped a couple of intriguing rising stars to do the emotional heavy lifting in Froy Gutierrez and Madelaine Petsch.

Gutierrez is perhaps still best known for his supporting roles in "Teen Wolf," "Light as a Feather," and "Cruel Summer." He can also be seen in the 2022 sequel "Hocus Pocus 2." As for Petsch, she's fresh off a scene-stealing seven-season run as the impetuous and occasionally "cuckoo bananas" Cheryl Blossom on "Riverdale." She'll no doubt seek to showcase her leading lady chops after graduating from the colorful "Riverdale" ensemble, and fronting the new "The Strangers" trilogy should more than give her that opportunity. Joining those actors in "The Strangers: Chapter 1" are "The Night Agent" star Gabriel Basso, "Mandy" supporting player Richard Brake, and "All Creatures Great and Small" star Rachel Shelton, among others.

"The Strangers: Chapter 1" will focus on Madelaine Petsch's Maya, a woman driving across the U.S. with her boyfriend, played by Froy Gutierrez. They're heading for the West Coast to begin anew, but needless to say, things don't work out like they'd hoped. As Deadline reports, "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."

Major spoilers ahead — director Renny Harlin has made it clear that Maya will survive this encounter, telling ComicBook.com that the subsequent films will focus on Maya's resulting trauma. "This is really an exploration of a young woman who's been the victim of incredible violence and an exploration of what happens to a person mentally and physically," he said, later adding, "Our focus is our central character and her journey and where she's gonna go."

Harlin has also revealed the film will ignore the events of "The Strangers: Prey at Night." In fact, the movie appears to be a prequel to the 2008 "Strangers" and will — wisely or not — dive deeper into the motives of the masked killers. Speaking with Screen Rant, the filmmaker revealed, "Of course, a lot of the appeal of the original movie is you just don't know. It's just random, completely blind horrible violence. But we go deep after the first movie; we start exploring who they are, and we follow our main character, Madelaine Petsch. We follow her through these three movies."

As for whom Lionsgate brought on board to direct "The Strangers: Chapter 1," the studio hired none other than Renny Harlin to helm the project. In fact, Harlin came aboard to helm the entire trilogy, marking a return to the horror genre that essentially helped birth his career.

The director, of course, made quite the entrance into the Hollywood fray, unexpectedly breaking onto the director's A-list after helming "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master." He went on to direct several studio projects throughout the 1990s, including "Die Hard 2," "Cliffhanger," "The Long Kiss Goodnight," and "Deep Blue Sea." He's made some, shall we say, interesting career choices since, booking more legit Hollywood gigs around projects that some might argue err further on the side of B-movie. His last major release was the much-maligned 2021 actioner "The Misfits," which he followed with the all-but-unseen 2021 comedy "Class Reunion 3."

Given the ups and downs of Harlin's career, we're curious to see what he brings to "The Strangers" franchise. Whatever he does, his presence alone may well signal a major Hollywood-esque stylistic change from the original film. Here's hoping Harlin doesn't jettison the things that make the low-budget original such an enduring piece of home invasion horror. 

Lionsgate also brought in a couple of Hollywood veterans to pen the screenplay for "The Strangers: Chapter 1," with film and television scribes Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland working up the story. Like Renny Harlin, the duo signed on for all three of the forthcoming sequels, so if the trilogy has nothing else going for it, it at least has continuity at key creative positions. As for what Cohen and Freedland will bring to the mix, that's actually a pretty big question mark, as neither scribe has much experience in the horror genre.

In fact, some of their biggest credits to date have come in the animation realm — the pair each spent time in the writer's room for "King of the Hill" and later joined the creative team on Seth McFarlane's "American Dad." Most recently, they created the animated series "The Freak Brothers" alongside Courtney Solomon, with Lionsgate also producing that project. On the live-action front, Cohen and Freeland are perhaps best known as the writers behind the Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis starring comedy "Due Date." The longtime collaborators are credited for "The Strangers: Chapter 1" alongside newcomer Amber Loutfi, whose only other screen credit came as an actor in the 2017 short film "Roses, Coffee, and Cold Blood."

The trailer for "The Strangers: Chapter 1" wastes little time getting down to brass, bloody tacks. After showing up in a backwoods town and finding themselves getting weird stares from the "Friday the 13th" locals, Maya and Ryan try to have a romantic evening at their getaway cabin. And wouldn't you know it — that's when three masked-wearing murderers show up. The trailer highlights the uncanny ability the Strangers have when it comes to sneaking up on people and staring creepily, and the footage promises a duel to the death between our heroes and the hunters. In fact, the end of the trailer hints that things will get grisly indeed, as it pays homage to the final moments of the original "Strangers," with Maya and Ryan tied up as the killers loom large over them. "Why are you doing this to us?" Maya asks. The answer? "Because you're here."

When it comes to building tensions and delivering on the disturbing kills, the "Strangers" franchise doesn't play around. The OG horror film was rated R for "violence/terror," and 2018's "Prey at Night" got the same rating for "horror violence and terror throughout." So will "Chapter 1" live up to its bloody predecessors?

Well, a PG-13 "Strangers" movie wouldn't make much sense, now would it? The upcoming movie from Renny Harlin will indeed be rated R for "horror violence, language, and brief drug use," so get ready for messed-up murders and perhaps leave the kids at home for this one.