Why are we doing this again? (Fantastic Festival)

“The Strangers – Chapter 2” “manages to be a slight improvement on” Chapter 1 “, which does not say much, but at least it has to go to itself as we go to the end of this remake/prequel/sequel/trilogy of the alternative universe. The director returned by Renny Harlin and the writing duo Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, take the interesting choice of pivot Invasion of the house until the horror of survival, which makes some unexpected pieces and some exciting sequences in the forest, including a funny piece of animals attack set. headlines

Yes, it is true, now we know how strangers were when they were children, and even why they started killing. Now, building a mythology is not necessarily bad, nor does it give your murderous trio masked a little tradition. But really show his first murder and give him a purpose that is not “because you were at home” betrays the thesis of “random murders” of the film (which once again is repeated in an opening text that throws some statistics on strangers that kill people at random).

Taking a “Halloween II” page, the film takes place minutes after the end of “Chapter 1”, with Madelaine Petsch’s Maya Lucas in the hospital after surviving a brutal attack by Dollface, Man in the mask and Pin-up girl. At the moment when the townspeople find out that there was a survivor of the last random murder in his remote city, Maya receives another visit from his possible murderers. From there, the film becomes a cat and mouse game while Maya crosses the Oregon forest, defending the trio of killing, the elements and other dangers.

Harlin is competent when it comes to the aspects of survival of the script, which goes more shots and staticam while Maya runs for his life in the hospital, to more frantic cuts and movements of the chamber in the forest. Now that the surprising factor is gone and the murder attempts are not exactly random, “The Strangers – Chapter 2” Wisely spends a large part of the execution time with Maya has to survive in the forest instead of just trying to escape the capture. Forget about torture or cutting and cube: the most horrible thing that happens in this film implies a simple re-noting of wounds, with the sound design doing a good job when making the audience want to drag deeply into its seats.

Unfortunately, “The Strangers: Chapter 2” It falls apart by nature that it is part of a planned trilogy. Who knows, maybe it is worth it when the last entry arrives and we will look back in the disconcerting options made in the first two and we will see the general panorama. But as it is, these first two films are not successful as independent stories, and as a follow -up not only of “Chapter 1”, but of the original Bryan Bertino film, “Chapter 2” feels like a turn to the left too large. As mentioned, the film tries to explain the origins of strangers, slowly building a conspiracy and a cycle of larger random murders, while allowing us to meet the three people under the masks. The problem is that giving them background stories is to remove the randomness of the murders, and give us a real motivation for murders feels as a complete betrayal of the franchise.

With a fairly abrupt to black cut and a mockery of the mediated credits for “Chapter 3”, it is clear that Harlin and the company think about this as a unique story told in three chapters, one that has more to say that “they do not open the door to strangers.” The problem is that, like a singular movie, “The Strangers – Chapter 2” feels like a false step. It is an improvement simply because this trilogy began quite badly, but nevertheless, a little inspiring survival horror with repetitive pieces, options of disconcerting characters and a mythology that seems to be erasing the reason why its franchise exists in the first place.

/Film rating: 4 of 10.

“The Strangers – Chapter 2” was launched in theaters on September 26, 2025.