How To Watch The Strangers: Chapter 1 At Home
Lock your doors and hide in the bathroom: The Strangers are coming home. More specifically, the first installment in Renny Harlin's new horror reboot trilogy, "The Strangers: Chapter 1," is now available to rent and buy digitally, with a home media release hopefully to follow.
In case you're not up to date on your "Strangers" lore, here's a quick recap: the original horror movie "The Strangers" rattled viewers to their core when it was released in 2008, scaring the bejesus out of spooky movie fans thanks to its tension-building, bad-guys-in-the-background slow burn, and a home invasion plot with no rhyme or reason. Director Bryan Bertino co-penned an unrelated sequel, the underrated mobile home park slasher "The Strangers: Prey At Night," in 2018, with Ben Katai co-writing the script and Johannes Roberts directing. The first "Strangers" film is polarizing but widely considered one of the freakiest movies of the aughts, while the second is a cult classic in the making.
Enter Harlin, the director behind "Die Hard 2" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4," who is set to direct an entire trilogy of films from the "Strangers" universe, beginning with "Chapter 1." The new movie was advertised in trailers as similar to the 2008 original, although "Riverdale" alum Madelaine Petsch and "Teen Wolf" actor Froy Gutierrez star in this one, and it's clearly not a direct one-to-one remake. In her review of the film, /Film's BJ Colangelo described it as "the first of a new reboot trilogy doubling as a prequel within the same continuity of the first two films."
You can watch The Strangers: Chapter 1 on digital right now
Theatergoers and critics were not too keen on "The Strangers: Chapter 1" (it holds a depressing 22% Rotten Tomatoes score among critics, doubled to 44% for moviegoers), but if you dug the original and want to see for yourself if the new version is up to snuff, you can do that now via premium video on demand options. Despite having just hit theaters roughly a month ago, the movie is now available to rent or purchase digitally on Google Play, YouTube, Microsoft, Vudu, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV, with options available on demand via Spectrum and Xfinity for cable subscribers. You can rent an Ultra HD version of "The Strangers: Chapter 1" for roughly $19.99 at each of these retailers, or buy it for $24.99.
Though there hasn't been a home media release date announcement for the film as of publication time, the official website for "The Strangers: Chapter 1" makes it clear that you will be able to buy it on DVD, Blu-ray, and UltraHD from retailers including Walmart and Amazon. The official site includes a list of links to pre-order pages, including for the surprisingly pricey Ultra HD and Blu-ray combo pack that's currently listed as $42.99 on both vendors. Luckily, though, there are cheaper options available (the Blu-ray and DVD pre-order combo pack is currently just under $20 at Walmart).
The site also indicates that there's a Walmart exclusive steelbook version of the movie in the works, which will be a DVD, Blu-ray, and UltraHD combo pack for just $29.99. Special features on the home media versions of the film haven't been announced yet, but the steelbook does appear to feature a cover emblazoned with the film's nightmarish villains staring through a peephole. If you already love this film, this steelbook pre-order seems like a great way to buy it. If you need to watch it sooner or just want to see what all the (admittedly negative) buzz is about, you can now rent "The Strangers: Chapter" 1 digitally wherever PVOD rentals are available.