Sometimes it’s the lack of action in a scene that can make it terrifying. That is the case for this new clip from The Strangers: Chapter 1, a reboot of the 2008 home invasion terrifier.
This latest iteration is being helmed by director and actioneer Renny Harlin whose work is considered some of the best (Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea) in building suspense. And you can see his skilled hand in the near-silent clip below.
In the scene, Maya, played by Madelaine Petsch, thinks that her companion Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) is knocking on the front door. When he doesn’t answer her, she becomes suspicious and looks through the peephole to find someone standing there. It’s an unnerving scene worthy of Hitchcock.
Harlin has been working on this project in Slovakia. It wasn’t just this film either; it is a trilogy. He says the shooting schedule wasn’t linear to the individual films, meaning he could be shooting a scene for Part 1 and the next day, Part 2 or 3.
When this project was announced, some people on social media were surprised. They couldn’t believe someone would remake such a young film, and a revered one at that. And to be fair to those folks, Harlin can be hit or miss (remember The Covenant?), but even if the script he is working with is bad, he knows how to pace action and suspense (The Long Kiss Goodnight). Whether or not he’s able to pull it off in a close quarters environment remains to be seen. But based on this clip, we are willing to find out.
No official 2024 release date has been specified at this time.