Out this week is The Strangers: Chapter 1, the first installment of a new reboot trilogy from director Renny Harlin (A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master, Deep Blue Sea). While Harlin previously detailed fresh plans for the overarching trilogy, Chapter 1 first aims to recreate the visceral terror of Bryan Bertino’s original film.
It also lays the groundwork for what’s ahead, introducing the peculiar small town of Venus, Oregon.
Bloody Disgusting spoke with Harlin, producer Courtney Solomon, and executive producer/star Madelaine Petsch (“Riverdale”) about the seeds planted for Chapters 2 and 3 within The Strangers: Chapter 1 ahead of its release in theaters this Friday, May 17, 2024.
Based on the original 2008 cult horror franchise, the project features Petsch as Maya, who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend, Ryan (Froy Gutierrez), to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. 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.
There’s no question that rebooting The Strangers with not one but three movies, all telling one continuous, evolving story, is ambitious. While Renny Harlin was more than up to the task, Courtney Solomon shares what made the director the perfect collaborator on a project that’s more like a miniseries than a straight reboot.
The Strangers – Chapter 1. Photo Credit: John Armour
“Obviously, he has a horror pedigree from the past, and we’re all aware of what it is,” Solomon tells us. “I was looking for somebody who was a great shooter, so I was looking for somebody who would work with me so that I could worry about story and character, which is where my strength lies. In this particular thing, you’re more taking on a sort of showrunner role because it’s a giant movie and somebody that could then give me the Hitchcockian shots that I was looking for to build the suspense and the tension.
Solomon continues, “Together, we could actually blend our talents and our resources, obviously with everybody else on the crew and the amazing cast and Mads and the whole thing. I had been a fan of a bunch of Renny’s work for a long time. I always regaled him as one of the top shooters. When I sent him this 289-page script, he was down for the journey because everybody knows Renny will go on any journey. He’s an explorer.“
Chapter 1 mostly adheres to the familiar beats of Bertino’s film, but with a few noteworthy teases of where the trilogy will head next. Part of that stems from the town where protagonists Maya and Ryan find themselves navigating the locals’ quirks. Some residents are spotted in the background only, like Richard Brake, surely to play a larger role in some capacity, right?
Harlin teases what’s ahead, “Obviously, there are some interesting actors there, and the idea is to introduce the town and some of those actors we’ll see in all three movies, some of them in two, some of them only in one. But definitely, my goal was to introduce a town without, by any means, making it look like a madhouse of crazy, weird characters with interesting faces that could be completely innocent, or maybe some of them could be something more than what’s on the surface.”
Madelaine Petsch as Maya in The Strangers. Photo Credit: John Armour
It’s no spoiler to say that Petsch spends most of Chapter 1 in an intense state of fear due to the cabin siege by the masked trio. As palpable as Maya’s fear of her attackers can be, there’s also a defiance that pokes through. When asked whether that may be truer to Maya’s core or hint toward her overarching arc, Petsch offers more insight into her character.
“I think a person can be two things at once,“ Petsch reflects. “Of course, she was fearful for her life, she was fearful for the possibility of losing Ryan, but she is at heart a stubborn, defiant individual who is resilient and tenacious and won’t back down. So, I think it is definitely a little bit of a keyhole into the future.“
Bloody Disgusting also asked Solomon whether The Strangers: Prey at Night factored into the new trilogy in the process of evolving the story, and the producer expanded more on what to expect. That comes with the emphasis that Chapter 1 is only the first act of the story.
Solomon explained, “We were trying to make our own flavor, but we looked at both that were done. I mean, the first chapter in this, really, is like using the DNA of the original because it was done so well, and it’s the setup for this really amazing story that we’re telling. Why try to improve on something that was done so well as far as the DNA is concerned, the basic beats? Then, we customize to what we’re doing. Also, there’s a new horror audience out there that’s never seen the original. All we’re doing is expanding The Strangers-verse. I knew the OG people would go with us on that part of the journey because this is not over until you watch the end of Chapter 3. If you want to judge this version of The Strangers, you have to go through all the chapters. That’s what this is.”
“But I think they’re going to be very satisfied because we never changed the tone at all through that. In fact, it gets more intense, not less intense. And movie two was nothing like movie one at all. It’s not a repeat in any way,” he adds. “It’s an evolution, both from the point of view of the protagonist and actually being there, if this really happened to you, we go beat by painful beat. That’s the horror. And a little glimpse further into who’s behind the mask without them ever giving a speech or us coming up with some dumb explanation.“
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