Lionsgate is rebooting The Strangers franchise with a trilogy of new films to be directed by Renny Harlin (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Deep Blue Sea), the first of which is currently shooting in and around Bratislava, Slovakia.
Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale) will star in the project alongside Froy Gutierrez (Cruel Summer) and Gabriel Basso (Super 8). The first film will follow a couple (Petsch and Gutierrez) as they drive cross-country to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. But when their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded property, where they are terrorised from dusk til dawn by three masked strangers. Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland wrote the script.
“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” producer Courtney Solomon said. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”
Released in 2008, The Strangers sees a young couple (Liv Taylor and Scott Speedman) staying in an isolated house where they are stalked by three unknown assailants wearing chilling masks. A sequel, The Strangers: Prey at Night, followed in 2018.
Words: Samantha McLaren (@themeatispeople)
