"The Strangers: Chapter 1" First Look Released

Lionsgate has unveiled a first look at the new installment of the 2008 horror franchise "The Strangers".

The original film The Strangers was a home invasion pic that Bryan Bertino wrote and directed in his feature debut, with Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman starring.

It registered as a sleeper hit upon its May 2008 release via Universal Pictures and came to be appreciated in the years following as a cult classic, with the sequel "The Strangers: Prey at Night" being released in March 2018.

The entry titled, "The Strangers: Chapter 1", serves as the first part of a new trilogy. It Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Gabriel Basso, Rachel Shenton, and more.

The movie described it as follows: "From master director Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2, The Exorcist: The Beginning) comes a new trilogy of terror. In Chapter I, Madelaine Petsch (TV's Riverdale) 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."

Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland (The Freak Brothers, Due Date) wrote the franchise launcher, to be distributed worldwide by Lionsgate. 

Courtney Solomon (Cake, After film franchise) is producing alongside Mark Canton (Power Universe, 300), Christopher Milburn (The Protégé, Unhinged), Gary Raskin (Midway), Charlie Dombeck (The War with Grandpa) and Alastair Birlingham (Moonfall). Andrei Boncea, Dorothy Canton, and Roy Lee are exec producing, with Rafaella Biscayn, the Slovakia-based Frame Film SK, Johanna Harlin, Juan Garcia Peredo, and Alberto Burgueno serving as co-producers.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Harlin, who helmed an entire trilogy that will be released next year, opened up about his plans for the new trilogy and whether the new movies will reference to the original movies.

When asked if the new movie, which he describes as not really a reboot nor a remake, would reference the other two The Strangers movies, Harlin replied: "Definitely." 

The filmmaker continued, "I have to say that the original Strangers is one of my favorite horror films ever. I remember seeing it and, and not knowing anything about it and being just blown away that how random it's violence is, how these people get into a city situation which they don't understand at all. And us as the audience keep wondering why. And we realized like, like you said, it's just because they happen to be home in that house. And that's exactly what we are exploring," 

"For me, it was very important to give the fans of the original film, give them the same experience. Obviously, the movie is not a carbon copy in any way, but it definitely has a similar story of two young people in an environment that should be cozy and safe and turns out to be a night of all nightmares. And I think it was very important to give the fans the similar experience that they enjoyed the first time. And then those who don't know anything about the original can come here here just with no expectations, give them something that will blow their socks off." 

"I, as a fan of the original film, I wanted something that feels familiar, feels, truthful to the original. And then we obviously, we made a second movie and a third movie at the same time because we wanted to explore uh the reasons behind this," he added.

"I feel like myself, and I'm sure a lot of the people who love the love, the original film were asking the question, like, why did this happen? And who were these people? And where did they come from and where are they going next? And that's the kind of answers that I wanted to explore in the second and the third movie and just go beyond what the original movie was."