The Strangers: Chapter 1 movie storyline. Maya drives across the country with her longtime boyfriend, Ryan, as the pair begin a new life together in the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon and they are forced to spend the night in an isolated Airbnb home. Through the night they are terrorized by three murderous masked strangers.
Madelaine Petsch stars as a young woman starting a new life with her fiancé. Suddenly, during a road trip stop in a remote vacation rental in the woods, they become the prey of a mysterious gang of masked strangers who attack without warning or reason. What begins as a fight to stay alive becomes one woman’s journey of courage and cunning in this horror series bridging three compelling films.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 is an American slasher film directed by Renny Harlin, and written by Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland and Amber Loutfi. It stars Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez and is the third film in The Strangers film series.
It is the first installment of a new trilogy of standalone sequel films, where Chapter 1 follows a similar premise to the original release, before continuing from there and expanding the story-arc for the main characters. Though initially marketed as a reboot of the franchise, it has since been clarified that the films will take place in the same continuity as the first two installments. The plot centers around a couple who come into contact with the three psychopathic masked strangers while on a roadtrip.
Principal photography on all three films commenced in September 2022 in Bratislava, Slovakia and wrapped in November 2022. Harlin told Entertainment Weekly that it was “the challenge of a lifetime, but I also really embraced it. On a Monday morning, I could be shooting the second chapter, and Monday afternoon I could be shooting the first chapter, and Tuesday morning I could be shooting the third chapter.
It was incredibly demanding for the actors, for the continuity in terms of the make-up and wardrobe, and for my director of photography, because we wanted to create a visual language that develops so that the movies get bigger, more epic, as we go [on]. It just kept all of our juices pumping all the time”. The Strangers: Chapter 1 was a theatrical release on May 17, 2024.
Two sequels which were filmed concurrently with Chapter 1, will be released at unspecified dates in 2024. Harlin stated that the studio green-lit a trilogy to “explore what happens to the victims of this kind of violence…” confirming that the movies would detail who the killers are and where they came from. The filmmaker stated that they were intended to be neither a remake nor reboot, and that the tone was going to be close to the first film.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024)
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Rachel Shenton, Ema Horvath, Ella Bruccoleri, Froy Gutierrez, Ben Cartwright, Florian Clare, Rebecka Johnston, Miles Yekinni, Brooke Lena Johnson
Screenplay by: Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland, Amber Loutfi
Production Design by: Adrian Curelea
Cinematography by: José David Montero
Film Editing by: Michelle Harrison
Set Decoration by: Iulia Petrescu
Art Direction by: Ghinea Diana, Silvia Nancu
Music by: Justin Burnett
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: May 17, 2024
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