The Strangers: Chapter 2
Genre: Horror
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath
Release Date: September 26, 2025
Platform: Theatrical
Rating: 1/5
By Crystal Justine
“You’ll likely find yourself checking the clock and asking, “Is it over yet?”
The second installment in what is meant to be a horror prequel trilogy for THESTRANGERS franchise has arrived, and if you’re holding out hope for an improvement over last year’s The Strangers: Chapter 1, you’ll find it barely making the cut. THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 is a fraction of a hair better than its predecessor, and that’s due to one sole reason: it finally shows a glimmer of being a prequel, rather than a poorly disguised remake of the 2008 original.
Directed by Renny Harlin, the film stars Madelaine Petsch as Maya—our only real contender for “final girl” status, who somehow survived the first film despite mind-blowingly horrible decision making. Unfortunately, her line of reasoning continues to defy logic and doesn’t get any better in this follow-up. Time and again, Maya is faced with two options and consistently chooses the worst possible one, steering the plot into increasingly nonsensical territory.
Let’s be clear: CHAPTER 2 isn’t a “so bad it’s good” situation. It’s just…bad. Still, knowing this is part of a planned trilogy does offer a tiny incentive to stick with it. There’s a faint curiosity that lingers, but more out of obligation than excitement to know how they might wrap up. As the film drags through its 98-minute runtime (typically a sweet spot for horror), you’ll likely find yourself checking the clock and asking, “Is it over yet?”
One thing THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 does have going for it is Petsch. Despite the weak script and her frustratingly written character, she fully commits to the bit. Whether she’s running, hiding, crying (and crying, and crying), or taking a brutal beating, Petsch sells the terror. She spends the entire film in a state of panic and dread, and her performance is the closest thing to grounded in this otherwise aimless installment. Like many actors before her, she may just be paying her horror genre dues early in her career—hopefully on the way to more promising and quality projects.
The only redeemable creative decision here is the use of flashbacks to the killers’ childhoods, which finally gives the audience a hint of its intended backstory. The casting of younger versions of the killers is particularly interesting, because even as children, it’s hard to pin down who grows up to be which masked figure when a majority of the cast looks like one another. If intentional, that choice is clever in a frustrating way, the kind of detail that feels smart yet is irritatingly underutilized.
With one more chapter to go, the bar is currently on the ground. But in tradition of a classic three-act structure, perhaps a strong final act could redeem the trilogy. Whether this slow-burning prequel arc pays off remains to be seen, but here’s to hoping all this buildup hasn’t been for nothing.
