Director Renny Harlin shot an entire trilogy of Strangers movies at the same time, and while there was a point when it looked like Lionsgate might be releasing all three of the movies within 2024, that idea was clearly pushed aside. The Strangers: Chapter 1 (read our review HERE) reached theatres back in May of 2024, and The Strangers: Chapter 2 (read that review HERE) didn’t come along until September of 2025. Thankfully, the wait for The Strangers: Chapter 3 won’t be as long, as Lionsgate recently announced that the film will be reaching theatres on February 6, 2026. With screenings just hours away, producer Courtney Solomon has revealed to Dread Central that the trilogy was going to add two more masked strangers into the mix, but they ended up on the cutting room floor.
What’s the synopsis?
Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale) stars in this trilogy and is joined in the cast by the likes of Richard Brake (31), Froy Gutierrez (Cruel Summer), Rachel Shenton (All Creatures Great and Small), Gabriel Basso (Hillbilly Elegy), and Ema Horvath (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). The Strangers: Chapter 1 centered 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 expand the story in new and unexpected ways with its sequels. Here’s the synopsis for Chapter 3: This final chapter delves into newer and darker territory, the franchise’s darkest descent yet — a ruthless thriller with scares that deliver. The Strangers: Chapter 3 closes the trilogy with a full-circle reckoning that expands the mythology of the iconic masked killers. Madelaine Petsch returns as Maya for the Final Girl’s long-awaited vengeance, delivering a final chapter that fans won’t want to miss. Tethered by a frightening conclusion, Maya and the Strangers are locked on an unavoidable, unforgiving collision course — a showdown that proves they’re far from strangers now.
Enhanced with additional photography
Harlin has said The Strangers: 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?“ Harlin has also said that viewer feedback was taken into account when they were making changes and enhancing the sequels in the additional photography process. The financial success of Chapter 1 allowed for Harlin and his cast and crew, who had completed principal photography on the trilogy in just 52 days, to go back for 8 days of additional photography on Chapter 2 and 15 days of additional photography on Chapter 3.
The new film has been rated R for strong bloody violence and language.
Deleted Strangers
Up to this point, the only strangers we’ve ever known have been Scarecrow (a.k.a. Man in the Mask or Baghead), Dollface, and Pin-Up Girl. Solomon told Dread Central, “There were actually in the original version, two new Strangers that were actually shot and fully in the movies. One was called Ghost Skull. The other one was Witch Face. We filmed them. They’re going to be included in the extras.“
Those “extras” are expected to be on a “supercut” release that will combine the three films in the trilogy into one epic film. The supercut might receive a short theatrical run before moving on to Premium VOD and physical media. Solomon said, “In redoing and working on these movies, the reshoots, the original stuff, whatever, we have so much deleted material on these movies. It’s like an orgy of deleted material. What I’ve pitched is we’d like to do a theatrical for those fans that want to enjoy it theatrically, do that for a week or two.“
Are you interested in seeing a supercut of Renny Harlin’s Strangers trilogy – and in seeing the footage of the new strangers, Ghost Skull and Witch Face? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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