Right from the start, ‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’ hits you with a statistic: ‘In 2023, over 1,670 people were murdered by strangers.’ But let’s be real, a factoid in a Renny Harlin slasher flick is about as surprising as a low body count. You can probably take that opening line with a hefty grain of salt.
There’s a strange kind of single-mindedness to this mid-point entry in Harlin’s slasher trilogy, a series that kicked off last year, building on Bryan Bertino’s original 2008 masterpiece, ‘The Strangers.’ The screenplay, penned by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, is essentially one extended, relentless chase. The characters? They’re hardly bogged down by deep conversations or, especially for those masked figures, any need for facial expression. This puts all the pressure on Madelaine Petsch, who plays Maya, our terrified protagonist. The camera sticks to her, demanding every ounce of maniacal emotion, practically counting her pores – if she even had any left after all that screaming.
Maya’s baggage includes a murdered husband, a shattered heart, and a body still reeling from the ‘Chapter 1’ home invasion. As she recovers in the hospital, she’s grilled by the utterly ghoulish Sheriff Rotter (Richard Brake)—whose expression clearly says he’s seen this kind of movie too many times—and his bewildered deputy (Pedro Leandro). Before long, Maya finds herself in a desperate game of cat and mouse against a hatchet-wielding attacker and their creepy, doll-faced companions. Her would-be killer, obscured by a sackcloth hood and grunting like a bear rummaging through trash, remains frustratingly anonymous throughout.
With scant plot progression beyond some rather confusing flashbacks to a strange childhood trio, ‘Chapter 2’ quickly devolves into predictable and frankly silly territory. It leans heavily on Petsch’s surprisingly resilient ‘scream queen’ performance. The film’s standout moment involves Maya locked in a frantic struggle with a wild boar, an encounter that delivers more raw energy than any of her human pursuers manage. This fast, furious, and genuinely fun sequence is a fleeting spark in a movie that, frankly, had already flatlined.
The Strangers: Chapter 2
Rated R for blades, boars and bloody wounds. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. In theaters.