The Strangers: Chapter 1

They don't need a reason.

Directed By

Renny Harlin

Produced By

Courtney Solomon
Alastair Birlingham
Mark Canton
Charlie Dombeck
Christopher Milburn

Screenplay By

Alan R. Cohen
Alan Freedland

Story By

Bryan Bertino

Based On

The Strangers
by Bryan Bertino

Starring

Madelaine Petsch
Froy Gutierrez
Gabriel Basso

Music By

Justin Burnett

Cinematography

José David Montero

Editing By

Michelle Harrison

Produced By

Lionsgate
Fifth Element Productions
Frame Film

Distributed By

Lionsgate

Release Date

May 17, 2024

Runtime

91 minutes

Country

United States

Language

English

Budget

$8.5 million

Gross

$47,803,285

Preceded by

The Strangers: Prey at Night

Followed by

The Strangers: Chapter 2

The Strangers: Chapter 1 is a 2024 American slasher horror film written by Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland and Amber Loutfi and directed by Renny Harlin and starring Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez as a young travel who are forced to seek refuge in an abandoned airbnb after their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon. As they settle down for the night, the couple are ambushed by a gang of masked killers who terrorize them from dusk till dawn.

The film was announced in 2022 as part of a new trilogy set to be standalone sequel to the original film. The entire trilogy was filmed in Bratislava, Slovakia in 2022, with Petsch and Gutierrez's characters set to span all three films. The film was released May 17, 2024 with the second and third installments following at a later date.

Official Description[]

After their car breaks down in an eerie small town, a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin.

Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in THE STRANGERS ― CHAPTER 1, the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.

Plot[]

Somewhere in the woods of Oregon, real estate agent, Jeff Morrell, is running from Dollface, Scarecrow, and Pin-Up Girl but is eventually caught by them and killed. An unspecified amount of time later, Maya Lucas and her boyfriend Ryan are on the road to Portland where Maya is preparing for an interview with a leading architect firm, as well as celebrating their five year anniversary. After almost getting into a collision, the couple deduce that they need a break with five hours still on the trip, Maya discovers a diner nearby off the highway in a nearby town, Venus. The pair are eyed by multiple locals as they enter the diner.

In the diner, they meet owner Carol and waitresses Shelly and Annie and they are watched from another table by Sheriff Rotter and Deputy Walters. The duo meet a local couple, Eden and Neil who are celebrating two years of marriage and judge when they discover that Maya and Ryan are still not married after five years together. As they attempt to continue their road trip, they discover their car has broken down and will have to stay overnight in mechanic Rudy’s garage. With the motel being full, Rudy tells them there is an AirBnb nearby belonging to a local named Joe and Shelly drops them off after her shift.

As they settle in for the night, there is a knock on the door and an unknown woman in the shadows asks if Tamara is home before leaving when she is told that there is no Tamara. Ryan discovers that his inhaler is missing, he opts to take the motorcycle on the side of the house into town to get it from his car as well as dinner for the night. Maya stays home, video calling her sister Debbie and her fiancé Howard, and is unsettled when the same woman from earlier returns asking for Tamara. She turns her away once more and is startled by the sound of another woman singing a lullaby from the back door. Ryan rides into town and is threatened by Rudy when he tries to get his inhaler back, he then approaches a local burger joint for dinner and is invited by Neil, Eden, Annie and Rudy’s apprentice, Dougie, to have a drink with them, but he declines.

At home, Maya tries to distract herself by playing the piano and is oblivious when Scarecrow appears behind her. She later has a shower as she waits for Ryan to come home and Scarecrow watches her once more before disappearing. As she dries her hair, the power in the house goes out and as she searches for the fuse box she discovers Dollface standing in the bedroom watching her and she hides in a closet in fear. Ryan returns home and turns the power back on and points out a painting in the bedroom that looks similar to Dollface’s mask and assumes that is what Maya saw. Maya claims someone was in the house and they go outside to find the same woman standing down the road. Ryan approaches her and threatens her and she runs off before he can catch her.

As they eat dinner, they discover red liquid dropping from the ceiling and they find a dead chicken hanging from the chandelier. They are then ambushed by the three Strangers who break into the house and they hide in the bedroom. After Scarecrow smashes the door open — the house goes silent and the Strangers seemingly disappear. Maya and Ryan attempt to flee on the motorcycle but it is blown up by Scarecrow and they hide in the bathroom where Maya discovers a crawlspace underneath the house. As they attempt to flee, Ryan has an asthma attack and Maya gets a nail impaled through her hand. They manage to avoid detection by Pin-Up Girl and escape to the outside where they discover a shed. Neither of them notice that Pin-Up Girl is later waiting inside the shed for them.

As Ryan searches for a weapon, Pin-Up Girl catches Maya and she is then ambushed from behind by Scarecrow and Ryan fires a shotgun — scaring both Strangers off. The two return to the house and they hear someone approaching and Ryan catches him off guard and shoots him dead — believing him to be a Stranger. They then discover that it was in fact Joe, the owner of the house, who was returning Maya’s maintenance call. They pair attempt to flee in Joe’s car but Scarecrow rams it in with his truck, forcing the couple to split up. Maya runs off into the woods as Ryan is pinned inside the car and scares off Scarecrow with the shotgun.

In the woods, Maya hides in some shrubs as Dollface searches for her. After discovering the corpse of Jeff, she calls 911 using Joe’s phone she found in the car but can’t get the message across as the call cuts out. She tries to run but is caught by Dollface and knocked out and dragged back to the house as Dollface sings the same lullaby she sang earlier. In another part of the woods, Ryan searches for Maya and avoids another asthma attack and being caught by Scarecrow. He discovers Pin-Up Girl searching for him and holds her at gun point. She turns around and begins taunting him and Scarecrow ambushes Ryan and knocks him out.

Maya and Ryan wake up, having been caught by the Strangers. Realising they are going to be killed, Ryan asks Maya to marry him and she accepts. Pin-Up Girl stabs Ryan and he bleeds out as Scarecrow kicks him to the ground. Ryan dies and Maya pleads with the Strangers and asks them why they’re doing this, to which Pin-Up Girl responds “because you’re here”. Scarecrow takes the knife from Pin-Up Girl and he stabs Maya and kicks her chair to the ground. Seemingly dead, the Strangers admire their work and as they hear police sirens approaching they leave the house and drive off — avoiding being caught.

Maya is later seen recovering in the hospital with a “To Be Continued” title card appearing on the screen.^[1]

Cast[]

Madelaine Petsch as Maya Lucas^[2], a young woman on a road trip to Portland with her boyfriend as she prepares to interview for an architect firm.
Froy Gutierrez as Ryan^[2], Maya's boyfriend who is apprehensive about moving away from the City. He suffers from asthma.
Gabriel Basso as Gregory^[2]
Rachel Shenton as Debbie^[2], Maya's sister who is engaged to Howard.
Ema Horvath as Shelly^[2], a waitress at Carol's Diner who offers accommodation to Maya and Ryan after their car breaks down.
Ryan Bown as Jeff Morell^[2], a dodgy real estate agent who finds himself a victim of the Strangers.
Brooke Lena Johnson as 911 Operator^[2]
Ben Cartwright as Rudy^[2], the owner of the local mechanic garage.
Rebecka Johnston as Lucy^[2], the owner of the local burger joint.

Janis Ahern as Carol^[2], the owner of the town diner who isn't too welcoming to Maya and Ryan.
Stevee Davies as Dougie^[2], Rudy's apprentice at the garage.
Pablo Sandstrom as Neil^[2], a local man who is married to Eden who introduce themselves to Maya and Ryan at the diner.
Pedro Leandro as Deputy Walters^[2], the Deputy of Venus, Oregon who works alongside Sheriff Rotter.
Richard Brake as Sheriff Rotter^[2], the Sheriff of Venus, Oregon who keeps a watchful, apprehensive, eye over Maya and Ryan.
Rafaella Biscayn as Eden^[2], a local woman who is married to Neil who introduce themselves to Maya and Ryan at the diner.
Sara Freedland as Annie^[2], a waitress at Carol's Diner.
Satko Stanislav as Joe, the owner of the Airbnb that Maya and Ryan seek refuge in.

Production[]

In August 2022, producer Roy Lee announced plans for three sequels to consecutively enter production beginning in September of the same year.[4] Renny Harlin was revealed as director for at least one of the sequels, though he was in negotiations to perhaps serve in that capacity on each of the films.

Later that month Harlin was officially announced as director on the three upcoming films; the first of the new trilogy, from a script written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland. Courtney Solomon, Mark Canton, Christopher Milburn, Gary Raskin, Charlie Dombeck, and Alastair Birlingham served as producers on the three films. The new trilogy is intended to be a relaunch of the series with producer Canton stating that the trilogy is intended to introduce new audiences to "world of The Strangers". Solomon stated that when they began the project the intent was to tell a bigger story than before, respecting what fans of the series expect, but also to "expand that world". The producer describes the three films as a "character study", compared to the previous two films. The trilogy will be produced by Lionsgate Entertainment and Frame Film, and will be distributed by Lionsgate Films.

In September 2022, Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez and Gabriel Basso were cast. In October 2022, Ema Horvath was announced to be a part of the cast. The following month, Rachel Shenton joined the cast.

Principal photography commenced in September 2022 in Bratislava, Slovakia and wrapped in November 2022.