The Strangers: Chapter 2
The horror franchise plods on, now with added flashbacks to explain the three killers’ bloodlust.
Into the woods: Madelaine Petsch hangs on for dear life.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate UK.
There’s not a lot of dialogue in this sequel to last year’s prequel-cum-remake of the 2008 horror film The Strangers. And that is just as well, as the people in the movie really don’t know how to talk to each other. The real star of the film is the sound designer Roland Heap, whose acoustic canvas would probably work on a visceral level even without the imagery or the distracting characters. The director Renny Harlin is no mean technician either, although his obsession with the style of each successive set-up gets progressively more tedious.
By extending an already tenuous premise into a three-part slaughter fest is a dubious exercise in diminishing returns. Without a strong story or any real context to draw the viewer in, the increasing absurdity of three masked murderers killing everybody in their path is nonsensical to the point of exasperation. For horror fans, who are happy just to sit back and watch a woman (young Demi Moore lookalike and executive producer Madelaine Petsch) terrorised out of her wits, this is the cinematic equivalent of a cappuccino without the frothed milk and demerara sugar – just the caffeine. But should one require real jitters from one’s coffee, one might wish to look elsewhere.
To bulk up the second instalment of the trilogy, Harlin and co have introduced flashbacks to rationalise the strangers’ need to kill – which proves to be just as absurd as the rest of the movie. There are two lines, though, that are key. Jasmine (Ella Bruccoleri), in the town’s diner, observes sagely, “you never know what a killer looks like.” We certainly don’t, as the three assailants are concealed behind masks, a sack cloth (à la Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow), a ‘doll face’ and ‘pin-up’, according to the credits. In fact, the assailants are so protective of their identities that they keep their masks on even as they wander through the woods at night in a downpour. The other significant line of dialogue is uttered by a creep called Gregory (Gabriel Basso), who suggests, “does there have to be a ‘why’?”, immediately arousing the viewer’s suspicion as to his philanthropy.
Meanwhile, Maya (Petsch), who has survived the carnage of the first film and the murder of her fiancé Ryan, stumbles through the night in fright, first through the corridors of a deserted hospital and later through the rain-slashed woods. But she’s a resourceful lass, being able to whip up a campfire with sodden wood before being attacked by a deranged wild boar, which has to be one of the unintentional comic highlights of the year.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Froy Gutierrez, Ema Horvath, Ella Bruccoleri, Richard Brake, Brooke Johnson, Rafaella Biscayn, Rachel Shenton, Pedro Lenadro, Florian Clare, Joplin Sibtain.
Dir Renny Harlin, Pro Courtney Solomon, Mark Canton, Christopher Milburn, Gary Raskin, Alastair Burlingham and Charlie Dombek, Ex Pro Madelaine Petsch, Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland, Dorothy Canton, Roy Lee, Paul Weinberg, Norman Merry, Peter Hampden, Kia Jam, Andrei Boncea, Blair Ward, Anders Erden, Renee Willett and Dennis Pelino, Co-Pro Juan Antonio Garcia Peredo, Alberto Burgueno, Johanna Harlin and Mark Frazier, Screenplay Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, Ph José David Montero, Pro Des Adrian Curelea, Ed Michelle Harrison, Music Justin Burnett and Òscar Senén, Costumes Oana Draghici, Sound Roland Heap, Dialect coach Liam French Robinson.
Lionsgate Films/Fifth Element Productions-Lionsgate UK.
98 mins. Spain/USA. 2025. UK and US Rel: 26 September 2025. Cert. 15.
