The Strangers: Chapter 2

A lot of negative reviews from folks with their opinions. I've got mine as do others and I like reading what folks have to say. I'll still check out things for myself.

This really isn't as bad as folks say it is. I mean, it's no masterpiece but it doesn't pretend to be. This is a popcorn flick in time for the spooky movie season and it found it to be decent.

The set up is clear from the trailers. From there we are introduced to our protagonist and a mixed group of weirdo characters. Then the killer trio shows up to well, kill people, but they're also a vulnerable group.

The suspense is fair and tension pretty decent for a horror movie. I'll just say this, it's a pretty decent little follow up horror movie. Just see for yourself and don't let others make up your mind for you.

Honestly, I found this more enjoyable than the first one. The tension and suspense worked really well, and that long take in the hospital was just fantastic. What I loved most is that they finally gave the killer some backstory! You can feel the film pushing to become a franchise and I'm here for it.

After her recent ordeals, Maya wakes up in a small hospital only to discover that the strangers have unfinished business with her.

What could be better? It's a cold, rainy evening, and Halloween is soon upon us. I'll answer my own question: almost everything else would have been better than this.

It's definitely a pocketing of the success of the 2008 original, but it also feels as though they're diminishing that cult classic. I don't want backstories of the killers, nor do I want to know who Tamara is. It's the ambiguity that's terrifying; we didn't need answers; not knowing was scary.

On the plus side, I have to applaud the acting talents of Madeline Petsch; I think she's excellent throughout. Let's at least give it credit for being original, unlike its predecessor. Some scenes work; I thought the scenes at the morgue looked great.

Unfortunately, after the tension at the hospital, it nosedives and begins to feel repetitive and silly. The whole idea of the strangers visiting is what worked, the claustrophobia of it, that didn't exist in the woods sadly.

4/10.

This film was mostly filler with a small amount of substance, zero of that substance contributed well to the story. The cinematography and sound was pretty good, but the writing and direction was terrible.

The entire movie seems to run on the same cadence: Maya finds herself in a dangerous situation and is cornered by the strangers, she inexplicably escapes, only to find herself again in a dangerous situation and in need of some implausible escape. I found the movie to be a tedious money grab and there is zero reason why we need 3 movies where the original got the job done in 1.

Truly an abysmal film, full of logic holes, the worst CGI animals since either CGI or animals themselves were invented. The script plods along, somehow managing to be all-chase and all-dull at the same time, a feat never before achieved in cinematic history. The backstory elements are nonsensical and simply diminish (again) the original 2008 movie. Renny Harlin was a talented director but this goes to show there's only so much a once-talented creator can do when hamstrung by a stupid script and a flimsy excuse to flog a dead horse yet again for money. This is a cynical and joyless slog of a film that I would advise people to avoid.