In 2008, a Psychological horror film titled The Strangers was released in theaters. It starred Liv Tyler (Armageddon) and Scot Speedman (Underworld) and was written and directed by Bryan Bertino (The Dark and the Wicked). Loosely based on the real-life Keddie Cabin murders, the movie made $82 million on a $9 million budget and spawned a sequel. Last year, a new film in the franchise, called The Strangers: Prey at Night, was released, earning $48 million on an $8.5 million budget. The first of three films, it once again tells the story of a couple staying in a remote cabin in the woods, being terrorized by three masked individuals. This month, the latest movie, The Strangers: Chapter 2, continues the saga.
After Ryan (Froy Gutierrez; Hocus Pocus 2) is murdered by the three individuals who broke in and tied him and Maya (Madelaine Petsch; Riverdale) up, Maya escapes and wakes up in the hospital. Initially relieved, Maya once again becomes afraid when the power goes out and she receives a mysterious phone call. Running down the hall of the seemingly empty hospital, she suddenly sees the same three masked assassins who came for her before. Fleeing into the night in nothing but a hospital gown, Maya knows she must get away and find help.
Finding a barn, Maya hides and ends up stabbing one of the strangers after they shot the owner. Maya then runs down the road and is picked up by the nurse, Danica (Brooke Johnson; You), from the hospital, whom she met earlier in the evening. Beginning to feel paranoid, Maya jumps from the car and runs into the woods, where she manages to hide overnight. In the morning, she wanders to a house that, conveniently, is rented by Danica and her friends. After Maya is stitched up (again) by Danica, the strangers once again show up and kill Danica and her friends before going after Maya yet again. Throughout the film, there are also flashbacks to uniform-clad children playing in a playground, giving some indication of who the strangers might be and when they began their murder spree.
Once again, Petsch returns as Maya (and will do so once more in The Strangers: Chapter 3 due out in 2026) and makes the most of her hour and a half on screen. We watch as she goes through various stages, from relief to terrified, in a matter of minutes, with some grief and paranoia mixed in. Petsch expertly makes these transitions naturally and in the blink of an eye, which lends to her character's credibility. Sadly, the rest of the cast isn't especially memorable except for the young "strangers" portrayed by Nola Wallace (Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed) and newcomer Jake Cogman.
While director Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger) beautifully created tension and jump scares in the first installment, here is focuses more on Maya this second time and her various twists and turns as she attempts to escape the masked strangers. There are still some jump scares and tense moments, but not much else. There isn't all that much in the way of plot development besides the introduction of the flashbacks, which make the audience wonder who these young children are and, most importantly, who is Tamara?
The Strangers: Chapter 1 seemed almost to be a remake of the 2008 film and made audiences anticipate what comes next. This second movie seems to be a filler to simply get those of us who were already invested in the story to the end in Chapter 3. One has to wonder if Harlin could have simply ended Chapter 1 later and picked up Chapter 3 partway into Chapter 2, therefore making a sequel rather than a trilogy.
My final thought: While I thought Petsch was very good, part of me kept wondering if Chapter 2 is nothing more than her groggy hallucination after being attacked and losing her boyfriend in Chapter 1. I guess we will find out next year.
Grade: C-
