The Strangers: Chapter 1 Trailer Slashes Up A New Horror Trilogy

Remember "The Strangers"? They're back — in trilogy form. Released in 2008, "The Strangers" is a wildly effective horror pic in which a couple finds themselves targeted at random by a trio of masked killers. Written and directed by Bryan Bertino, the film made great use of sound design and slowly building dread to create a memorable scary movie that went on to become a sleeper hit at the box office. In 2018, we got "The Strangers: Prey At Night," a sequel that followed a similar formula but changed up the atmosphere a bit (it felt like more of a traditional slasher movie than the first film).

Now, we're getting a whole new trilogy, helmed by none other than Renny Harlin, the filmmaker behind "Cliffhanger" and "Deep Blue Sea." The plan is to release all three films in one year, and things are kicking off with "The Strangers: Chapter 1." Don't call it a remake, though. This is a whole new set of films set in the continuity of the original movie. Unless it isn't. Got it? Good. Now watch the trailer for "The Strangers: Chapter 1" above. 

"The Strangers: Chapter 1" stars Madelaine Petsch, Froy Guitierrez, Gabriel Basso, and Ema Horvath. In the film, "After their car breaks down in an eerie small town, a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in THE STRANGERS ― CHAPTER 1, the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series."

As Harlin told EW: "When this opportunity came to me, the idea of not doing a remake or a reboot but doing a trilogy based on the original film, I thought it was an incredible opportunity." Notice how Harlin stresses this is not a remake or a reboot? Well ... not so fast.

The filmmaker, who shot all three films back-to-back, did refer to the new film as a "remake" to us here at /Film, saying: "So the opportunity, the chance of a lifetime to take a film that you loved, be able to remake it, and then answer some of those questions that I think all of us who enjoyed the original were left wondering, like, 'Why? Who were the Strangers? Why did they do this? Is this completely really random, or is there something behind this or at least some reasons why somebody is a senseless, horrible serial killer?'" 

So is this a remake or not? I guess we'll see.

In any case, that bit with Harlin asking "Who were the Strangers? Why did they do this?" gives me pause. Part of what makes the original movie so effective is that we never really learn who the masked killers are or what their motive is. They're just three random nobodies who show up out of nowhere and start slicing and dicing, seemingly for no reason at all. In fact, when they're questioned as to why they're doing this, one of them simply replies: "Because you were home." That's pretty damn scary! And that moment is recreated in this trailer, which suggests ... a remake. But then the trailer also features a tagline that says the film will show us "How the Strangers became the Strangers." Which suggests ... a prequel? I guess? It's all a little muddled. But this is a pretty good trailer, overall. Let's hope the trilogy measures up. 

"The Strangers: Chapter 1" scares audiences on May 17, 2024.