With the release of last year’s The Strangers: Chapter 1, a retreading of Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion chiller The Strangers, director Renny Harlin and screenwriters Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland delivered a largely uninspired, familiar horror effort that hoped it would justify its existence by promising to be the essential springboard for a pre-planned trilogy.
Once it got its recognisable footing out of the way, the tease of The Strangers: Chapter 2 throughout the closing credits of its predecessor suggested that, perhaps, the bigger picture at play and the intended shape to re-form the narrative would make the first film’s underwhelming temperament worth it. To be fair to both Cohen and Freedland, there is something of a bold mentality at hand, with them treating this sequel – which has its lack of finality built in, with Chapter 3 (filmed at the same time as this) promised for 2026 – like one big extended chase sequence for its poor final girl archetype, Maya (Madelaine Petsch), who awakes in a small town hospital following surviving the attacks of the titular “Strangers”, a trio of masked killers, who targeted her and her less-fortunate fiancée, Ryan (Froy Gutierrez).
The overseeing nurse (Brooke Lena Johnson) and investigating sheriff (Richard Brake) aren’t doing much to put Maya at ease, sitting helpless in her bed, awaiting an apparent EMT sent by her worried sister, as she questions them on who “Tamara” is – the name so often said by The Strangers before they stage a fatal attack. “Is Tamara home?” became a truly terrifying question within the realms of the original film, and the fact that it was little more than a mere statement to determine how many people were home before they invaded only added to its fearsome nature. Wanting to give The Strangers something of a backstory and motivation for their killing sprees makes sense in these films’ bid to differentiate themselves, even if killing without a motive is inherently more terrifying, but what Chapter 2 alludes to threatens to undo much of what makes them scary.
As Harlin flits back and forth between what drove The Strangers to their brutal mindset and a current day Maya running for her life, Chapter 2 commits to the simplistic premise of one long chase sequence, with Petsch committing to the material with a dedication it perhaps doesn’t entirely deserve. Evading The Strangers in the hospital, a near-by stable, through the woods, to a supposed safe house (the film really wants us to question if the aforementioned nurse and her roommates – including the unsubtle Gabriel Basso – are trustworthy), Maya is a final girl with true resilience. Though there isn’t much to it, it’s quite a smart idea to dedicate almost an entire film to what many people like the most out of their slasher films – chase sequences and subsequent kills. It’s a real shame then that, as much as Maya runs for her poor life (hell, she even has a run-in with a wild boar in one of the film’s more elaborate sequences), the chases themselves are all largely telegraphed and underdone by a lack of tension in Harlin’s direction. Similarly, despite this film earning a higher classification than its predecessor (Chapter 1 earned an M rating, whereas this is slapped with a promising MA for “Strong Blood and Gore and Horror Violence”), it barely resonates, delivering standard violent fare that will hardly upset the squeamish.
It all ultimately adds up to a rinse, recycle and repeat personality, and when none of what makes up Chapter 2 ends up being substantial, it amounts to a concept thriller that, once again, promises it’ll all come together and be worth the 98 minutes when Chapter 3 releases; a mid-credit moment giving us a highlight reel of the sequel, which, it can’t be denied, throws out some intriguing imagery that almost suggests the hunters becomes the hunted. Does the notion that it may be, may be, all worth it with the release of another film make these shortcomings forgivable? Not particularly, but being sucked into this so-far sluggish universe means I’ll have to finish it out next year – even if I really think I know better.
ONE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is now screening in Australian theatres, before opening in the United States on September 26th.
