Last year, Renny Harlin’s godawful reboot The Strangers: Chapter 1 dropped into theatres with a thud by blatantly rehashing a lesser version of the 2008 original film. The original plan was to release all three films last year, but they underwent reshoots after both critics and audiences savaged Chapter 1. I scored Chapter 1 a 3.5 out of 10, with the only reason I didn’t go lower being the mild optimism that the following two films in the trilogy would expand on the original story in an interesting way. Having now seen The Strangers: Chapter 2, I now realize that was a mistake.
To give a summary of what little story exists here: the film takes place the day after the events of the last movie, wherein Maya (Madelaine Petsch) survived a brutal attack from a trio of masked killers, but her fiancé Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) did not. She’s recovering in the hospital room, informing the police of what happened. However, word gets out about her survival, and the killers are back on the hunt to finish the job. The rest of the movie is essentially one feature-length chase, as Maya attempts to escape the Strangers and tries to figure out who in the small town of Venus, Oregon, she can actually trust.
“Within the first 30 seconds, The Strangers: Chapter 2 arguably commits the cardinal sin of its own franchise: it reveals the face of one of the killers.”
Within the first 30 seconds, The Strangers: Chapter 2 arguably commits the cardinal sin of its own franchise: it reveals the face of one of the killers. Not only that, but the film flashes back multiple times to their killers’ childhoods, showcasing where their urge to kill began. It even gives an origin story for the little iconography the series has, including the “Is Tamara home?” taunt.
That’s right: Instead of ripping off its own source material like in the last one, The Strangers: Chapter 2 instead is an even worse version of both 1981’s Halloween II and Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake. Attempting to add some mythos for these killers goes entirely against what the franchise’s entire schtick is to begin with. It goes against even the film’s opening text that highlighted the word “random”.
Rather than being scared, I spent the entire movie feeling bad for Madelaine Petsch, who is giving her all in a very physical performance that’s undermined by the near-constant amount of bafflingly stupid decisions the writers, Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, have Maya make throughout the film. “Why is she leaving her cell phone in an elevator when she’s not in any danger or panic?” “Why is she fighting a CGI boar?!”
These are just a few questions I was asking myself, trying to make sense of her actions. Aside from the physicality, I don’t buy into Maya’s growing resilience because there’s nothing to her as a character to latch onto, not in the last movie and even less so here.
“The Strangers: Chapter 2 is a film that isn’t just dead on arrival; it was dead from the point of conception.”
The Strangers: Chapter 2 additionally tries to follow up on the mystery behind the identity of the other two strangers, but there aren’t any memorable characters whatsoever. What Harlin does instead is have every character outside of Maya look as suspicious as possible in extreme close-ups or shots of them shifting their eyes, from the local nurse to the town mechanic.
Even the sheriff feels like a potential scumbag, but that’s due to the casting of perpetually villainous actor Richard Brake. The few characters who don’t immediately come off suspicious only show up to get killed just as quickly as they showed up. Speaking of which, the film can’t even deliver on a single entertaining kill, as nearly all of them happen off-screen.
What makes the whole thing even worse is that this movie feels completely pointless. We know that it’s the middle chapter, which means things won’t get resolved. The film doesn’t bring a single interesting idea or concept to the table. It doesn’t even feel like it’s building to anything. It’s just completely aimless. The film “ends” on such a weak note during the mid-credits sneak preview for Chapter 3, I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is a film that isn’t just dead on arrival; it was dead from the point of conception. It’s not just the worst film of the year, it’s one of the most creatively lifeless films I’ve ever watched. I don’t think I’ve seen a trilogy that, two films in, is unable to have a single redeeming quality across either installment.
It’s not “so bad it’s good”, it’s “so bad, it’s mind-numbing.” It’s a complete waste of time for everyone involved, both the creatives and the audience. I’ll still be there to see Chapter 3, if only to see if this putrid trilogy can get any worse than this. I doubt it, but I can count on these films to go lower.
