The original The strangers film is quietly one of the creepiest films of the 2000s. So when the trilogy of new films in the series was announced late last year, we were right to be a little skeptical. But the new trailer for The Strangers: Chapter 1 was released on Friday and already looks creepier than the original, so there may be a lot more scares in this franchise.
The trailer sets up a pretty basic remake of the original Strangers movie. A couple, played by Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale) and Froy Gutierrez (Teenage wolf), goes on vacation to a beautiful but remote cabin that becomes the target of a masked group of people who seem determined to torture them. Like the first film, the trailer is full of terrifying images and cruel mysteries, including why this couple was targeted in the first place. But director Renny Harlin clearly has an experienced hand, confidently crafting chilling shots like the one of Petsch in the shower as a masked killer lurks just out of sight behind her.
While remaking a 2008 film may seem surprising, the real goal of this project is what comes next: two sequels that will follow Petsch’s character after the events of the first film. According to Harlin, the next two films will explore her trauma and the difficulties of her life surviving such a harrowing home invasion. While this sounds like a fascinating project, an obvious risk is that some of the tension of the first film is lost in knowing that someone survives. But if this trailer is any indication, the journey between arriving in the cabin and escaping from it should be creepy enough to more than make up for the spoiler implicit in the remake. Chapter 1 title.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 will be released in theaters on May 17. The original plan was for all three films in the trilogy to be released this year, but after last year’s Hollywood strikes, it looks like they will likely be pushed into 2025 as well.