New The Strangers Movie Adds Oscar Winner to Cast

Earlier this year came word that horror series The Strangers, having hit a dead end with just two movies in ten years, was set to be rebooted with an all-new trilogy of films. The Hollywood Reporter brings word that another addition to the cast has been made with Academy Award Winner Rachel Shenton set to appear in the new movie as well (Shenton’s Oscar comes from producing, writing, and starring in the live-action short The Silent Child). She joins Riverdale star Madelaine Petsch, Teen Wolf‘s Froy Gutierrez, and The Rings of Power‘s Ema Horvath in the film’s cast. 

According to the trade, the new film “centers on a couple (Petsch & Gutierrez) who drive cross-country 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.” Shenton will play Debbie, the sister of Petsch’s character. Her other credits include All Creatures Great and Small and UK soap opera Hollyoaks.

Renny Harlin, director of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Die Hard 2, and The Long Kiss Goodnight, steps behind the camera for the new movie which was originally announced to be the first in a series of three new movies. It’s expected that Harlin will also helm the other two movies as well, with the studio reportedly “expanding the story in new and unexpected ways.” The new movies will seemingly have no connection to the first two movies. Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland penned the script for the new movie.

The Strangers first debuted in 2008 and was a surprise hit at the summer box office in a year deiminated by Iron Man and The Dark Knight. Written and directed Bryan Bertino, the home invasion horror film starred Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler and introduced horror fans to the trio of masked killers, Dollface, Man in Mask, and Pin-Up Girl, who became cult favorites for horror fans. Though a sequel would enter development almost immediately, The Strangers: Prey at Night wouldn’t’ be released until 2018.