Lionsgate has decided to remake of psychological thriller The Strangers with Riverdale star Madelaine Petsch to star and Finnish director Renny Harlin at the helm, The Hollywood Reporter revealed. The movie will also star Gabriel Basso (The Big C) and Froy Gutierrez (Teen Wolf).
The movie aims to be a franchise with different titles to be shot in Bratislava, Slovakia. The movie is based on Bryan Bertino’s original 2008 thriller of the same name that starred Scott Speedman as James, Liv Tyler as Kristen, and Kip Weeks as Man in Mask. The movie follows a couple who stays at a vacation home and is haunted by three masked criminals. The screenplay by Bryan Bertino was inspired by two real-life events, the Mason family Tate murders and a series of house break-ins that occurred in Bertino's neighborhood as a child. Fans have also found similarities with the infamous Keddie cabin murders.
The remake will see Petsch as a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend, played by Gutierrez, to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. When the duo’s car breaks down they are forced to stay at a secluded Airbnb, where they’ll be haunted by masked criminals night long. The remake is penned by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland. Addressing the project, producer Courtney Solomon said in a statement, “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.”
Solomon will produce the feature alongside, Mark Canton, Christopher Milburn, Gary Raskin, Charlie Dombeck and Alastair Birlingham. While executive producers include Andrei Boncea, Dorothy Canton, and Roy Lee. Adding to Solomon’s words, Canton added, “When you’ve got two horror aficionados like Courtney Solomon and Renny Harlin coming together, you’ve got all you need to create some incredibly smart, lean-forward-in-your-seat, addictively thrilling entertainment.” He further added, “Fans of the original film will be blown away; new audiences will discover the intensely unnerving world of The Strangers.”
Petsch is well known to play Cheryl Blossom on The CW television series Riverdale and Marissa in F the Prom. She also has features like Netflix’s Sightless and Creator+ and Sabrina Jaglom's Jane to her credit. Basso is known for features like the 2011 science fiction film Super 8, and the 2013 comedy-drama The Kings of Summer. Gutierrez is well-loved to portray Nolan Holloway in Teen Wolf and Jamie Henson in Cruel Summer.
No further details about the project are available yet, meanwhile, you can check out the trailer of the original feature below: