Running Time: 96 Minutes
Rating: 15
Starring: Madeline Petsch, Richard Brake, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Brooke Johnson, Pedro Leandro, Rachel Shenton, Florian Clare
Released in 2008, Bryan Bertino's The Strangers remains a tense piece of home invasion horror which is even more terrifying by how motivation-free the brutality was. After a cult following embraced 2018's The Strangers: Prey at Night, the series was revived with the news of a trilogy shot back-to-back from director Renny Harlin (Deep Blue Sea, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master). Released last year, The Strangers: Chapter 1 managed to be a financial success despite resembling a lame remake of the original film.
Whatever the original intention was for the entire trilogy's release, the negative reactions to Chapter 1 led to 28 additional days of photography for the follow-ups. Considering three of those weeks were devoted to Chapter 3, time will tell how this lions share of reshoots have impacted the finale. For this middle chapter, it is worth mentioning that The Strangers: Chapter 2 is a step-up from its predecessor, although that is damning with the faintest of praises.
Following the attack which killed her fiancee, Maya (Madelaine Petsch) awakens in the hospital still alive and recovering. However, the Strangers have learned about their victim surviving and are intent on finishing the job. With nowhere to run and nobody that she can trust, Maya is intent on escaping her pursuers and surviving by whatever means possible.
Considering this trilogy is intended as a single film lasting 4 and a half hours, that leaves this middle chapter to feel stuck for its 96-minute runtime. There are few places that this chapter can go, as reflected in the film being an extended chase sequence that is largely dialogue-free. To its credit, this is an interesting idea in theory that takes the masked antagonists into new places, yet it is hampered by Renny Harlin's limp direction. It becomes tiresome when the film is constantly stopping and starting, with the lead picking up new items only to immediately discard them. One moment that is frankly laughable involves a brief character appearance to explain how Maya gets a car, only for her to lose it as quickly as it is gained.
Speaking of laughable, the biggest change comes during a middle section involving a CGI boar trained to attack for the murderous trio. Yes, you have read that correctly. It is not a bad idea to try out new things to freshen up a series, but this feels dragged from an entirely different film. The budgetary constraints are noticeable when most of the sequence hides the boar away, yet that is nothing new when most of the kills happen off-screen. If we are going to be stuck with irritating and thinly written characters, the least we could get are some cool death scenes.
Credit is deserved to Madeline Petsch, as the Riverdale alum does a lot of heavy lifting across the film. She tremendously sells the grieving lead that is unable to process her trauma amidst this never-ending nightmare, and one wishes that it was in service of a better film. There is nothing resembling tension across the runtime, instead offering hamfisted flashbacks and heavy hints that tear away the mystique of the titular killers. By the time we get an origin for asking if Tamara is home, one wonders what is the point of this list ticking exercise.
2025 has been a fantastic year for horror, giving viewers many outstanding features that highlight the voices propelling the genre forward in truly interesting ways. There is also room for genre films that wish to offer fun on a Friday night, yet The Strangers: Chapter 2 cannot even offer that. A flaccid piece of horror which is less scary than a room full of happy puppies, we can only hope that the reshoots have helped Chapter 3 more than this.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is available in cinemas now
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