We live in an era of cinema where production studios can’t help themselves but revitalise a franchise or movie series that absolutely no one has asked for. In some cases, they surprise and deliver a film of such quality that we get a legacy sequel that stands out on its own, such as Scream (2022), which felt like an homage to the first movie while also delivering something fresh to the franchise and allowing it to be seen through a different lens. The Strangers, in the most respectful manner, was not a duology that needed a remake, let alone a trilogy. If the first film wasn’t enough proof of that, then The Strangers: Chapter 2 is all the proof you need to understand that this might be the most wasteful cash grab to come out of this decade.
The first movie was essentially a cheap reboot of the original film; it featured two people who get forced into staying at an Airbnb for the night, but unfortunately, three strangers appear at their door asking for Tamara, and the worst night ever ensues for their victims. There wasn’t much to differentiate between The Strangers: Chapter 1 and The Strangers (2008); the surprise ending of the woman surviving is even exactly the same. The Strangers: Chapter 2 tries to take a different path from turning the home invasion story into a survival horror, as we pick up where the last film left off with Maya (Madelaine Petsch) waking up in the hospital after her horrific and brutal attack from the strangers. Unfortunately for her, they discover she’s still alive and begin the hunt once more.
After the negative feedback from The Strangers: Chapter 1, Renny Harlin and Madelaine Petsch went back to shoot new footage for the film in hopes of pleasing audiences and rectifying issues they had with the first film. For a movie that went back for reshoots and a film that takes The Strangers out of the comfort of its home invasion genre, it somehow finds itself feeling quite bland with writing from Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland that feels like they were misguided in which direction this entire trilogy was heading.
From Sheriff Rotter (Richard Brake) at the start of the film to Nurse Danica (Brooke Lena Johnson), who’s seen trying to assist Maya throughout the film, every character is made to seem like they could possibly be one of the strangers or are just out to personally make Maya’s life a living hell. This leads you to believe that perhaps Renny Harlin, Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland have something truly unexpected in store, like the entire town being in on the stranger gig, but you’d be wrong.
Instead, The Strangers: Chapter 2 decides to mislead you continuously. However, they’ve revealed the identity of one of the strangers in the first 2 minutes of their film and then proceed to provide unnecessary flashbacks regarding two of the mask-wearing strangers, removing any mystique that remained from the serial killers and tainting the only good thing the franchise had going for it. Killers without a motive who kill because you just happen to be around. It allowed these serial killers to have some level of realism to them, with how much random crime takes place in the world, with the motives never being figured out, but the film removes all of that to set up a third film that already doesn’t seem like it’s going to be worth a watch.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 happens to be slightly better than its predecessor simply for breaking out of its mould and doing something fresh with the franchise, but unfortunately the writing takes that freshness and allows it to rot instantly as they decide to do nothing interesting with the story and instead force you to watch Maya run again and again in the wild as she escapes the strangers and a poorly CGI’d wild boar, which in itself is an odd and baffling addition to the movie that’s just used as a segue for another needless flashback.
For a franchise that was originally all about the random acts of violence (and even continues to open the film up with more facts about random violence), it has somehow switched into a generic film that poorly explains the sociopathic issues that affect killers during childhood. There’s still one more film left, and not even the underwhelming trailer during the credits can make me sit through another one of these.
★★
In cinemas from October 26th / Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Richard Brake, Brooke Lena Johnson / Dir: Renny Harlin / Lionsgate Films / 15
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