THE STRANGERS. CHAPTER 2

US, 2025, 98 minutes, Colour.

Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Richard  Brake, Pedro Leandro.

Directed by Renny Harlin.

This is very much an interim film. Chapter 1 was released in 2023 – a remake of a well-received menace horror film, The Strangers from 2008.

The focus is on a young woman, Maya, played by Madelaine Petsch. She and her husband were menaced by a group of strangers, wearing masks, unexplained. The focus was on menace and terror. And, similarly, the death of the couple at the end of chapter 1.

Chapter 2 begins with the masked group, their continuing to menace, the discovery that Maya had survived. For the first third of the film they are in desperate pursuit of Maya, the screenplay full of menace, full of vicious attacks, Maya going to the hospital, a mysterious absence of the staff, the strangers coming in to attack her, her escape – and whole series of escapes chases, the strangers catching up with her, her going out into the woods, surviving, an extraordinary encounter with a vicious boar (very similar to that of the boar hunting by Rachel McAdams in Send Help). There are also mysterious strangers, Maya hiding in cars, getting a lift and escaping, fearfully, a number of those challenging her or threatening her killed by the strangers.

There is also the presence of the sheriff from the first film and his assistant, investigating, but also suspicious.

Interspersed throughout are mysterious flashbacks to children at school, also with a great sense of menace.

Ultimately, Maya is rescued by the mysterious group in the car – but, as with so many of the characters, they are attacked by the strangers – though Maya is able to kill one of them and his mother was removed.

The sudden ending and the caption, To be Continued…