It very much is a "chapter 2" situation rather than a sequel. Events pick up directly after the finale of the last film and end on a cliffhanger, with the already filmed third set to finish the story. Quite why this approach was taken is a mystery, as there isn't anything deeper or more expansive going on than what could easily fit inside a ninety minute slasher movie.
We open with the local diner learning that one half of the stalked couple, Maya (Madelaine Petsch), survived being stabbed. We then cut to her in a hospital with no other patients and about two members of staff, both of whom soon disappear so that Maya can be stalked by the masked "strangers". That is pretty much the movie. Maya is chased, escapes, there is a rest period where she is hiding out or interacting with people who may or may not be her pursuers sans masks, she gets chased again. Petsch busts a gut trying to sell everything that's going on but the nature of the plot means there is never any tension. You know Maya won't die, so every slow burn moment is only ever leading up to another ponderous chase scene. In an attempt to spice things up she is at one point attacked by an unrelenting aggressor whose point of view we follow as it charges through the woods, Evil Dead style. It turns out to be a wild boar who can (and has potentially been trained to) smell potential victims from half a forest away. It makes little sense but at least it means the audience isn't alone in nearly being bored to death.
It seems the purpose of this middle entry is to show its lead character slowly transition from victim to potential aggressor. The problem is, pretty much all slasher final girls have this journey and they achieve it alongside other things going on in a regular length movie, there is precisely zero reason for an entire film to be dedicated to a very generic and surface level execution of this idea. The other thing The Strangers: Chapter 2 does with its time is just bizarre. The whole franchise, going back to the 2008 original, is based on the notion that random people can decide to mess with, and murder you at any time. The film opens with a statistic on the amount of people murdered by strangers in the USA every year (it ignores the fact the vast majority of these are problem spur of the moment gun violence), and every iteration has some sort of "chilling" line about the randomness of the victims predicament. Last movie it was "because you were here", this time its "does there have to be a why?". Neither of these moments are remotely scary, but they at least have an idea behind them. So its a pretty interesting decision to start revealing the back story of the murderers, completely undermining the "there is no reason" premise. That's what happens though, as we get flashbacks featuring "Pin-Up" as a child, where she begins her murderous ways.
Even aside from the lack of tension, scares, or common sense, there are some scenes that just feel like straight up mistakes. At one point, Maya drives a pitchfork through the leg of one of her assailants, only for them to appear shortly after with absolutely no sign of injury. Later, Maya discovers that people have been silently tied to chairs, tortured, and killed, while she was oblivious upstairs despite being in a heightened sense of alertness. Inconsistencies like this can work if a horror movie is trying to create a dreamlike state of un-realness but given The Strangers is so desperate to present itself as real life adjacent they just appear to be lazy writing.
Director Renny Harlin, has had an eclectic career, ranging from cult classics like "Cliffhanger" and "Deep Blue Sea", to infamous big budget bomb, "Cutthroat Island", but this trilogy may be his most ill-advised project to date. Whether through lack of interest or studio limitations he is unable to conjure up any real atmosphere or scares and a game leading lady is left floundering. Part three is already in the can, but surely a straight to streaming release awaits.
3 nefarious diners out of 10.
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