The Strangers: Chapter 1 images show Madelaine Petsch and killers in first part of Renny Harlin trilogy

Director Renny Harlin (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) is bringing us not only a remake of the 2008 film The Strangers (watch it HERE), but an entire remake trilogy – at least, it has been referred to as a remake trilogy before, but some have said it’s set “within the same universe” as the original film. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Harlin has revealed that the three new Strangers films are titled The Strangers: Chapter 1, The Strangers: Chapter 2, and The Strangers: Chapter 3 – and Entertainment Weekly has also shared the first images from The Strangers: Chapter 1, giving us our first look at the trilogy’s version of the title characters, as well as those played by Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale) and Froy Gutierrez (Cruel Summer). These images can be seen at the bottom of this article.

The new Strangers trilogy was filmed in Slovakia, and all three movies were shot simultaneously. As Harlin described 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 centers on Petsch’s character as she drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (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. Lionsgate plans from there to expanding the story in new and unexpected ways with its sequels.

Rachel Shenton (All Creatures Great and Small), Gabriel Basso (Hillbilly Elegy), and Ema Horvath (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) are also in the cast.

Harlin said Chapter 1 “is close to the original movie in its set-up of a young couple in an isolated environment in a house and a home invasion happening for random reasons.” Then Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 “explore what happens to the victims of this kind of violence and who the perpetrators are of this kind of violence. Where are they coming from and why?“

To read more of what Harlin had to say, click over to Entertainment Weekly.

All three entries in Harlin’s The Strangers trilogy are expected to receive theatrical releases next year. The director and producer Courtney Solomon will be providing more information on a panel about the three films at New York Comic Con on October 12th.

Are you looking forward to Harlin’s The Strangers trilogy? Let us know by leaving a comment below – but first, take a look at the images from The Strangers: Chapter 1. You might notice that the strangers look pretty much the same as they have before, which is something Harlin insisted upon. He told Entertainment Weekly, “We felt it was central to the movie that the masks are the same. The masks in The Strangers are not like the Batsuit or something that evolves over years. To us, the Strangers are the Strangers, and I, as an audience member, wanted to see them just the way they were in the original film. Is there a place where you can find these masks? No. It was a process of studying what they were like, how were they made, how they fit on the actors’ faces, how [to] create that same impression. It was one of the real challenges of the movie.“