Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Richard Brake, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath
The Strangers saga comes to a merciful end (hopefully) with Chapter 3. The opening scenes provided a challenge for me in that I tried in vain to recall anything about Chapter 2. Chapter 1 wasn't any great shakes, but I do recall it had at least a little suspense to it. I gave it two stars. The ensuing sequels don't provide much in the way of suspense. There are a lot of killings and an attempt to display that our protagonist (Petsch) is somehow transformed into a killer herself thanks to the violence she's endured. We've seen that before too, and it isn't exactly revelatory.
Renny Harlin is a skilled director who is better than this material. I know, I've seen examples of this. The movie isn't shoddily made, just pointless and disengaging. There are ample jump scares for those who go to horror movies to experience those and a lot of blood for those who to go watch that. Those audience members will get what they came for.
As for the rest of us, The Strangers, Chapter 3 runs only about ninety minutes and still feels like a slog. I did admire, for what it's worth, some of creepy performances and I wished they were in the service of a better movie and series.
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