“The Strangers: Chapter 1” isn’t even the first Renny Harlin movie to feature a home invasion. His 2007 film “Cleaner” with Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Ed Harris, and Kiki Palmer featured a character whose wife had been murdered in a home invasion before the action of the film began. Harlin’s 2011 thriller “The Resident” also involves stalking, and he is slated to direct the upcoming “The Strangers: Chapter 2” and “The Strangers: Chapter 3.” Harlin only recently shared details of his personal home invasion experience, and noted that it terrified him. Shooting the “Strangers” movies brought back the exact same fears he experienced years before. In his own words:
“My experience made me realize we are completely at the mercy of just that one bad stroke of luck. […] There were moments at night when we were doing these [scenes] where I did step aside and I had tears in my eyes, but I think people thought I was just really tired or something. But I was reliving that situation.”
Luckily, Harlin was not harmed, as his home invader was not violent like they are in “The Strangers.” He did say, though, that he had feelings of “helplessness and a violation of the sanctuary.” Harlin described the entire experience — which happened in 2000 — to People Magazine, saying that he heard someone outside his bedroom door at night. His dog began barking, and he heard the invaders running away. When he went downstairs, he saw several men running out of his house and driving away in a pickup truck. They had turned on all his lights.