Final 12 months, director Renny Harlin launched The Strangers: Chapter 1 — the primary of a deliberate trilogy rebooting probably the greatest horror motion pictures of the 2000s — and now he’s again to offer us spherical 2. The Strangers: Chapter 2 is ready to hit the 2025 film calendar on September 26, with Madelaine Petsch reprising her position as Maya Lucas. The primary of the collection was panned by critics, so will the sequel fare higher?
After getting suggestions on the primary film, Renny Harlin and co. reportedly did reshoots on the second and third chapters, however the adjustments apparently did not win over the critics. Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting says as a substitute of amping up the stakes for subsequent 12 months’s last set up, Chapter 2 is only a chase film full of asinine eventualities together with a nasty CGI boar assault. The critic charges it 1 out of 5 skulls, writing:
The center entry [feels] like a throwaway bottle episode that’s disregarded by even its creators. Petsch isn’t sufficient to tug this misfire by way of to its exhausting end. Save for one or two impressed pictures, Chapter 2 seems like Harlin has checked out already, deflating all momentum this trilogy might need had. A post-credit tease weakly units the stage for the ultimate chapter, a job that this installment was meant to attain. However Chapter 2 throttles and chokes out any lingering curiosity within the Strangers and this confounding trilogy.
Tyler Nichols of JoBlo says he really favored the primary chapter for its slasher facet, however this movie was virtually devoid of pressure since we all know Maya makes it to Chapter 3 on the 2026 film calendar. It additionally dials again the violence after an already-tame first chapter. Nicols provides The Strangers: Chapter 2 a “Not Good” 4 out of 10 and says:
I discovered myself aggravated at how little progress was really made within the story. We discover every thing out within the first 5 minutes, and little or no adjustments all through the runtime. In reality, narratively, it doesn’t even really feel like we’re getting a whole movie because it simply kind of ends. I used to be shocked when the credit began rolling. I get there’s one other movie however at the least the primary one had an entire arc.
Rafael Motamayor of SlashFilm additionally charges it 4 out of 10, saying it’s higher than the primary one, however that was a low bar. Chapter 2’s largest mistake, in response to Motamayor, is including backstory for the titular killers and thus taking away from the random “since you had been residence” of all of it. Within the critic’s phrases:
The film tries to elucidate the origins of the Strangers, slowly increase some bigger conspiracy and cycle of random killings, whereas additionally letting us get to know the three individuals below the masks. The issue is that to offer them backstories is to remove from the randomness of the killings, and to offer us an precise motivation for the murders seems like an entire betrayal of the franchise.
It needs to be stated that in the entire evaluations I learn, the critics are all giving Madelaine Petsch her due, as she proves to be recreation for no matter weird set items await her character. Additionally they all point out the CGI boar, so it have to be unhealthy.
Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com touches on each of those topics, calling the boar scene “probably the most ridiculously conceived and executed issues I’ve seen in a horror movie in years, one thing that doesn’t make sense bodily or thematically.” The critics charges the film simply 1 out of 4 stars and says:
The creators of this money seize are aggressively unwilling to go a lot of wherever in any respect. The ‘Two Towers’ of this collection is a leaden bore, a film that alternates between making no sense in any respect and insulting the intelligence of the poor souls who see it. Harlin can nonetheless compose a shot or two—he is aware of easy methods to body a menacing determine in a doorway or backlit by headlights—and star Madelaine Petsch is harmless, completely dedicated to her bodily efficiency, nevertheless it’s nearly extra disheartening to see her put by way of the motions for a film with no inner logic or respect for its viewers.
Jamie Graham of Empire provides it 2 out of 5 stars, saying it was saved from 1-star ignominy for Renny Harlin’s means to border an eye catching shot and craft a good jumpscare, in addition to for Madelaine Petsch’s dedicated efficiency. Graham concludes:
Originality is in brief provide, and the storytelling makes hardly a lick of sense as Maya flees from the home-invasion subgenre into slasher and survival horror territory. … Directly explaining an excessive amount of and never sufficient, this center section of the trilogy fails to amp up the stranger hazard. Maybe the scariest factor is the top title: To be continued…
It appears just like the critics have reached a consensus, as The Strangers: Chapter 2 at the moment stands at 14% on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer from 21 critics to date. If you wish to take a look at the upcoming horror film — or see what that wild boar is all about — don’t let the unhealthy evaluations cease you. The film hits theaters on Friday, September 26.