INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS

HORROR'S MOST UNWELCOME GUESTS RETURN IN THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1. DIRECTOR RENNY HARLIN IS IN THE HOUSE

- NICK SETCHFIELD

RENNY HARLIN IS AIMING FOR your primal fears. Your poor, frazzled nerves and overloaded pulse will be collateral damage.

“It’s so relatable,” says the director of The Strangers: Chapter 1, a new take on 2008’s knifey home invasion tale The Strangers. “As kids we all look under our beds or in the closet or out the window – is there some scary thing there?

“Of course, as we grow up we realise that there’s no boogeyman and there are no ghosts and no monsters, no supernatural beings. But you should have been scared. Because there are other people who might be nuts, and just want the worst for you.

“The premise is so simple and so scary, and that makes it enjoyable, because you can see something so scary in the safety of the movie theatre or your home. You can see something so frightening yet know that you are safe.”

Harlin allows himself a morbid chuckle. “At least you think you’re safe…”

RULES OF THE GAME

Inspired by true events – or so claimed the hype – Bryan Bertino’s original movie traded in paranoia, terror and blood, a lean grindhouse slasher that found an enthusiastic audience on a budget of just $9 million. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman starred as the couple who found their rural retreat besieged by three masked maniacs on a house call. Essentially it was a message movie, that message being for the love of all that’s holy, don’t open the door…

“I had no expectations when I walked into the theatre to see it,” Harlin tells