A slasher with 21% on Rotten Tomatoes made $48 million, and it hits HBO Max today

If you missed the fuss back in 2024, you can now catch The Strangers: Chapter 1 on HBO Max as of today, 30 August 2026. We've already had the sequel pop up on the streamer earlier in the month, so apparently this trilogy wants to come at us backwards. As if slasher films weren’t confusing enough.

The Strangers: Chapter 1 began streaming on HBO Max on 30 August 2026, more than two years after its cinema debut.

Let’s be honest: the main reason people were even chatting about this film is because it’s Renny Harlin doing a new take on the masked home-invasion thing, kicking off an entire trilogy. You might recall, it was in cinemas back on 17 May 2024, but at the time, reviews weren’t exactly glowing. Despite that, it managed to scrape up over $48 million at the box office on a not-huge $8.5 million budget, so someone out there was clearly watching — even if it’s just curiosity or hate-watching.

To give you the gist: Madelaine Petsch leads as Maya, heading up to the Pacific Northwest with boyfriend Ryan (that’s Froy Gutierrez) for a job interview. Because things can never go as planned in this genre, their car dies in the middle of nowhere. They wind up crashing overnight in a random remote cabin. Cue three masked weirdos — Scarecrow, Dollface, and Pin-Up Girl — haunting the couple for no clear reason, unless you count ‘because the script said so’ as a motive.

How the New Trilogy Works

If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s meant to be: the script comes from Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, working from a story by Bryan Bertino (the original film’s creator). Harlin actually shot all three chapters one after another, so they’re built to connect as one long, miserable night for Maya — and yes, her fate unspools into Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

The cast throws in Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, and Ella Bruccoleri for good measure, though don’t expect any of them to be having a fun time. This ‘Chapter 1’ is designed to set up Maya’s ordeal, but make no mistake, it keeps to the straightforward, sadistic home invasion formula — no big plot twists, just pure anxiety and a lot of banging on the door.

• Release date: 17 May 2024 (cinemas), 30 August 2026 (HBO Max streaming)
• Director: Renny Harlin
• Writers: Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland (story by Bryan Bertino)
• Leads: Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez
• Supporting: Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Ella Bruccoleri
• Budget: $8.5 million
• Box office: $48+ million worldwide
• Rotten Tomatoes scores: 21% critics, 45% audience

For all the grief it got from critics — and with scores like those, it really did get battered — The Strangers: Chapter 1 still found an audience. Now with both the first two entries streaming, there’s no shortage of masked home invaders to ruin your night in.