Displaying items by tag: Ema Horvath

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…

THE STRANGERS – CHAPTER 3

US, 2026, 91 minutes, Colour.

Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Emma Horvath, Richard Brake, Hannah Galway, Rachel Shenton, George Young, Pedro Leandro.

Directed by Renny Harlin.

The Strangers, Chapter 3 continues the narrative from the first two chapters but also has some explanations from the past.

There is a prologue set three years earlier than the present, a young woman coming to the motel, given a fatal room, the three killers with their masks coming to her room, abducting her, killing her.

Meanwhile, in the present Maya continues her attempts at escape from the masked killers. Once again she is very resourceful but becomes the victim, not only of the sheriff, but also of the masked Gregory, get caught up in the sinister events, take refuge in a caravan which is attacked, the husband killed, the sister abducted and killed in front of Maya.

There are further complications when Maya is taken and an innocent couple in the motel room are confronted with the trio, but Maya able to stand one of the killers. Gregory, putting her mask on Maya, Maya to stand in for the young woman.

There is also a sequence when Maya, mourning the death of Shelley, unmasked.

In the second part, there was some explanation of Gregory and his partner, flashbacks to school days. This time there are more explicit flashbacks, a young Gregory killing, partnering with Shelley, his father the sheriff covering up with the guarantee that nobody local was killed. There is also a scene where Gregory and his associate invade a hotel room, intending to kill a couple, only to find that the woman has killed her flirting boyfriend. She dons a mask and becomes one of the group.

There is a buildup to the finale, Maya entering the tunnels and finding the sheriff, who has stabbed his deputy who has worked out what is happening, sitting in his cabin, listening to religious broadcasts. Maya advances through the tunnels, into Gregory’s shrine, building up to a final confrontation, Gregory and now Maya pretending she loves him and then killing him.

WHAT LIES BELOW

US, 2020, 84 minutes, Colour.

Ema Horvath, Trey Tucker, Mena Suvari.

Directed by Braden R. Duemmler.

While there are many intriguing aspects to this drama with touches of horror, it does not always make sense to the viewer while we were watching though there is some kind of ultimate explanation  the end.

The audience needs to note the colours and fire and mystery of the opening, the touch of the eerie – so when it is repeated at the end, there will be some kind of explanation.

However, the drama side of the plot focuses on a teenage girl, interested in science, rather introspective, coming from the summer camp, picked up by her rather giddily carefree mother, played by Mena Suvari, the mother eager to introduce her daughter to her new boyfriend, their clashing contrast during the car trip, the mother eager to impress her, often referring to her as, baby girl.

Then there is the boyfriend, John Smith, played by Trey Tucker, the tall dark and handsome type, very tall, musclebound, working around the house, and her daughter, partly intrigued, partly repelled, partly suspicious, bonding a little out of curiosity but because of his interest in science and his experiments and research.

On the one hand, he is absolutely devoted to his girlfriend, even proposing, she delighted. On the other hand, he is seen to be suspiciously interested in the daughter, a disturbing initial period experience, his hovering outside the door while daughter showers…

But, ultimately, there are weird things going on, his laboratory, the mother and her being transformed and captured and held, the interventions of the daughter, attempts at rescue, confrontation with John Smith – and, then the ending, the supernatural aspect of the whole story, the bright maelstrom and whatever power comes from there to inhabit John Smith.

Many audiences did not follow the film well and rubbished it. But, if this kind of drama/melodrama/romance/horror appeals, then this is an offbeat example.