The Strangers - Chapter 2 Review
“Who’s Tamara?” – Maya
The Strangers is one of the, well, strangest film franchises I’ve encountered. The concept is simple enough – it all started with a home invasion concept of a trio of psychopaths terrorising a couple on vacation in a wood cabin. That low budget, independent first film in 2008 was just…okay, I guess. Nothing wrong with it, but it was kind of pedestrian in direction. There was nothing special about it, despite the casting of Liv Tyler. Somehow though it gave rise to a superior sequel ten years later, which I really enjoyed. Move forward another six years to 2024, and Hollywood director Renny Harlin helms a trilogy. Chapter 1, which I reviewed here last year, and now the second part. (The third is already in the can and will be released next year. The movies were all filmed back-to-back.)
There are a few confusing elements to all this. I’m guessing, but it’s not confirmed, that these are prequels to the 2008 and 2018 movies? Or are they a total reboot? Who knows? I guess we’ll just have to wait until the credits roll on Chapter 3 to find out.
I was sparing in my plot details in my review of Chapter 1, but here are a few. Young couple, stranded in a small town when their car breaks down, rent a cabin in the woods just outside the town. A young girl comes knocking at the door asking “Is Tamara there?” Thus begins a night of terror, as the couple is under siege by three masked assailants. There’s a large, hulking male wearing a sack cloth mask, called Scarecrow and his two female accomplices, Dollface and Pin-up. At the end of the film, only the girl victim, Maya has survived and she’s in hospital. Unknown to her, Scarecrow is lurking in the shadows.
All right – I’ve added those details in because this film literally takes place immediately afterwards on the same evening – but no real background is given in the movie so here’s a little bit of advice. You don’t need to have seen the 2008 & 2018 movies to enjoy Chapter 1, but it’s vital that you see Chapter 1 before seeing Chapter 2. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time and money.
Chapter 1 went about its business showing the trio doing what they do. Their usual modus operandi. Neither this one nor the previous two explored who was behind the masks or what drove them to do what they were doing. They were faceless cyphers. In Chapter 2, some insight is given.
Some changes have been made as the film begins. Scarecrow is not already in Maya’s room as we’d previously seen. But that’s okay, it was well established in the movie serials of the 30s and 40s that the certain death cliffhanger faced by the hero at the end of the week’s chapter might not be exactly the same the following week for ease of the hero’s improbable escape.
The first section of the movie has a definite Halloween 2 (1981) vibe to it with Scarecrow’s relentless pursuit of the injured and traumatised Maya (Madaleine Petsch). In fact, the main theme of the movie is the chase, as The Strangers ruthlessly track down their victim which brings me to a point that just occurred to me in horror trilogies like this one and the most recent Halloween films. It’s kind of inevitable that the first one is designed to hook you into seeing how the story ends. You get the payoff in the final movie and (hopefully) go home happy. The middle part is the, I guess what can be called the chase. Things are only going to get even worse for our main character until the redemptive third and final instalment.
And that’s the case here.
But Madaleine Petsch deserves a well earned shoutout. Throughout the first and second chapters, that lady has suffered. As far as endurance is concerned, her portrayal of Maya is up there with Jaime Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in the (proper) Halloween movies and Marilyn Burns as Sally in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
From the brief clips we’re shown of Chapter 3 as a sting during the credits (stay in your seat for those) her life is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.
All in all, The Strangers is developing into a cool and enjoyable horror franchise and is showing some signs of originality that were missing back during its humble beginnings in 2008.
Rob Rating = 7
