You’ll want to be sure your security camera is fully charged after checking out the latest promo clip forThe Strangers: Chapter 1.Evil comes knockingin the footage as three masked strangers slowly approach the front door before one steps up to knock. An eerie voice can be heard asking for someone named Tamara before the intruder covers the camera with their hand and the snippet cuts out. While we would have already called 911 the moment three people in spooky masks rolled up in front of our home, the same can’t be said for the unsuspecting characters played byMadelaine Petsch(Riverdale) andFroy Gutierrez(Teen Wolf) in the prequel project.
More than a decade ago, filmmaker and writerBryan Bertinointroduced audiences to a creative take on the intruder genre when he releasedThe Strangers. StarringLiv Tyler(Empire Records) andScott Speedman(Felicity), the plot centered on two unsuspecting vacationers whose rental property is broken into by three masked strangers. While a sequel released in 2018 didn’t make huge waves for fans, directorRenny Harlin(A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) and Lionsgate are hoping to change that with whatwill eventually become a trilogy.
The first title in theupcoming trio of filmsisThe Strangers: Chapter 1, which — like the original — centers around a couple.Catching the plot up to 2023, this time around,Maya (Petsch) and her boyfriend Ryan(Gutierrez) are in the middle of a cross-country move when they’re forced to stay at an Airbnb after their car breaks down in Oregon. It’s here that they’ll meet a similar terror that awaited the victims in the original film as they’re tormented by a triad of masked psychopaths.
Is ‘The Strangers’ Based On A True Story?
Like many great horror films, Bertino’s original movie pulled on real-life events that inspired him to make one of themost terrifying home intruder storiesof all time.In the past, the filmmaker shared that a brush with a break-in as a childis where he largely drew the premise for his 2008 slasher thriller. And then there’s perhaps the mostnotorious break-in storyin American history —the Manson Family murders, which Bertino (and many other filmmakers, writers, and creatives) have weaved into their storylines. Meanwhile, the true crime nerds out there (guilty!) have always held a suspicion that the plot was — at the very least — swiped with the Keddie murders, a quadruple homicide that has yet to be solved decades later.
While he may not be directing the prequel film, Bertino serves the project as its head writer withGabriel Basso(The Night Agent) andEma Horvath(The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) also starring.
‘The Strangers: Chapter 1’: Release Date, Cast, Plot, and Everything We Know About the Reboot
More masked mayhem is on its way.
Watch the security footage clip below and lock your doors when you step out to seeThe Strangers: Chapter 1in theaters on May 17. Learn everything we know about the prequel production in ourall-encompassing guide above.
The Strangers: Chapter 1
A young couple drive cross-country toward a new beginning; unfortunately they have no choice but to stop in a secluded Airbnb in Oregon–and endure a night of terror against three masked strangers.
