‘The Strangers 2’ is Finally Moving Forward, Hires a Director

When it was released in 2008, ‘The Strangers’ became an instant horror favorite, immediately inspiring talk of a sequel thanks to its thrilling ending—but that’s all it’s been in the last seven years: talk. That appears to have changed, as Relativity Studios has finally hired a director to come aboard the project, which is now officially moving forward, bringing back those masked maniacs to scare our pants off once again.

TheWrap reports that Relativity Studios has hired Swiss director Marcel Langenegger to helm ‘The Strangers 2,’ which will pick up where the first film left off. Langenegger is best known for his feature debut, ‘Deception,’ starring Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams, and he worked as a producer on the indie film ‘3, 2, 1 ... Frankie Go Boom.’

‘The Strangers 2' is said to revolve around a family preparing to send their teen daughter off to boarding school, so they head to the mobile home park run by their uncle for one more family trip. When they arrive, they discover the aunt and uncle dead in their mobile home, the result of a visit from the titular Strangers (simply known as Man in the Mask, Pinup Girl, and Doll Face).

It’s not clear how this film will pick up where the first left off, or whether Liv Tyler’s character may return—her survival at the end of the first film was unclear, leaving the door open to the possibility of a sequel.

The first film was written and directed by Bryan Bertino, who directed the recent found-footage horror film ‘Mockingbird.’ Although many amateur sleuths on the Internet speculated that ‘The Strangers’ was based on true events (in particular, the chilling unsolved mystery of the Keddie Cabin Murders of 1981—read that story if you don’t want to sleep tonight), Bertino has said his story was an original invention, inspired in part by the true crime book ‘Helter Skelter,’ which recounts the story of Charles Manson and his murderous acolytes.

‘The Strangers 2' is being scripted by Ben Ketai, the writer and director of the lackluster horror sequel ‘30 Days of Night: Dark Days.’ Relativity has yet to announce release plans for ‘The Strangers 2.’