THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2
*
Directed by Renny Harlin.
Starring Madeleine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Richard Brake.
Horror, US, 96 Minutes, Certificate 15.
Released in cinemas in the UK by Lionsgate Films on 26th September
It is hard not to wonder what happened to director Renny Harlin and how he ended up here. After a promising start in the 80’s with low-budget horror PRISON, he made an even bigger impression on the box office helming A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER and DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER. While partly responsible for one of the biggest Hollywood flops of the 90’s with CUTTHROAT ISLAND, he was also responsible for such fun blockbusters including THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT and DEEP BLUE SEA, not to mention the literal high of Sylvester Stallone’s wildly entertaining CLIFFHANGER. Since then however it has been a long trudge through the unmemorable and unremarkable, leading us to this; a three film remake of Bryan Bertino’s tense and sadistic home invasion favourite that turned its simple virtues into something quite memorably chilling.
After the complete failure, on every level, of the first film in this stretched-out reboot/remake, we return to pick up the pieces after the most uninspired ‘TO BE CONTINUED…’ ending in cinema history. Waking up after the most boring home invasion ever in the most understaffed hospital in cinema history, Maya, played by Madeleine Petsch, soon finds herself under threat from those pesky masked murderers yet again. Cue suspense free chase sequences, a wild boar attack, and a thin lacing of paranoia that threatens to make things interesting.
To be fair, this is a better film than its predecessor. After the plotless, suspense free meandering of the first film, that may come as little surprise. For slasher fans looking for something unassuming to pass the time, it passes muster, but only just. This is due in no small part to Madeleine Petsch’s far more committed performance. Even if she is the franchise's only girl, she makes for an appealing Final Girl, going through a rite of passage survival that will, eventually, see her face up to her bloodthirsty stalkers. With little in the way of dialogue, Petsch is a far more convincing character when given something more to do than standing around an empty Airbnb, wondering if she heard something.
This small improvement aside, this is still a pointless exercise in onscreen recycling. Fans and admirers of the original film will be annoyed by the need to over-explain every little mystery that made the original film so memorable. If the question of “Is Tamara home?” has kept you up over the years, well you can rest easy now with the pointless and slim backstory included here! There is a smidgen more violence this time around, no doubt brought on by the ire that the first film raised with horror fans on its less than spectacular outing at the box office. However, this is still too little, too late, coming across as a far more pedestrian and neutered version of the type of films that the likes of Alexandre Aja and Coralie Fargeat made their reputations with.
Now that we are two films in, it is hard to see the point here. That this has ended up on cinema screens instead of being quickly rushed out and dumped on some streaming service will no doubt remain one of life's great mysteries, along with what has happened to its once estimable and dependable director. The mid-credits tease for the next and final installment seems to suggest more of the same strung-out shenanigans. Whether that will make it to the big screen at all now also seems to be a mystery at this point in time. Unlike the original, and infinitely superior original, it seems like one very few of us will spend any time thinking about.
Iain MacLeod