Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Richard Brake, Rachel Shenton
Nothing about The Strangers: Chapter 1 made we want to revisit the small Oregon backwater town where Maya (Petsch) and her late fiance were brutally and randomly attacked in a home invasion. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't memorable either, and the second chapter is nothing more than a brutal series of attacks on poor Maya, who sustains numerous bruises, injuries, and physical/psychological trauma at the hands of the masked killers who really want her dead. Why do they go after Maya with such passion? The movie provides flashbacks to the killers' religious childhood upbringing, and away we go.
The motives are meaningless. They are just brief respites from the relentless assaults on Maya, who to her credit can take a living and keep on ticking. But The Strangers: Chapter 2, while directed skillfully and slickly by veteran Renny Harlin, is let down by a series of jump scares and endless brutality. Maya doesn't deserve this abuse and neither do we. These killers go after her like she owes them a gambling debt. Actually, I think the goons sent out by loan sharks to break bones have more compassion.
We are promised a Chapter 3 soon, or otherwise another gloomy installment. Remember when horror movies used to be fun. They were built more on suspense than slaughter, but that seems like eons ago. Probably because it was.
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