It’s the end of the road for this reboot trilogy of The Strangers, which lives up to the promise of what came before. Which, of course, wasn’t much promise at all.
There’s no big time jump here or changing up anything big storywise, as The Strangers – Chapter 3 once more picks up right where the last one left off, essentially meaning these three films seemingly take place over the course of maybe three or four days. This may be a tighter timeline than Friday the 13th Part 2, 3 and 4!
The last film revealed the identity of one of the Strangers, Pin-Up Girl, to be local waitress Shelly (Ema Horvath), before she was killed by our heroine, Maya (Madelaine Petsch). Since most of what happens in these movies is Maya running from the Strangers, them catching up to her, then her escaping again, well, it’s soon enough time for her to get grabbed by them again. And given the ad campaign has leaned heavily into this aspect, I think it’s safe to bring up that the two remaining Strangers, Scarecrow and Dollface, begin to force Maya to wear their dead buddy’s mask, dragging her along as they carry out their deadly Strangers business.
After kicking off this new trilogy with a weak retread of 2008’s original The Strangers with Chapter 1, Chapter 2 barely felt like a movie at all, with almost zero plot except Maya being chased. That being the case, it wasn’t a high bar for Chapter 3 to feel like an improvement, and on that basic level, yes, this new movie is better than Chapter 2. There’s actually at least an attempt to introduce some new elements here, even if they’re done clumsily, as we see the Strangers seemingly attempting to indoctrinate Maya into their murderous ways.
But still, that can’t overcome the central issue, which is that it's all so dull and lifeless. The characters are as paper thin as they come. Maya’s sister, Debbie (Rachel Shenton) finally reaches the town this time out, accompanied by a couple of others, and yet we still get almost zero idea of what her dynamic is like with Maya or those she’s traveling with. There’s more emotional resonance given to Scarecrow and Shelly/Pin-Up Girl than there is for anyone in Maya’s life, leaving little to connect to or to feel any stakes.
Which wouldn’t be so egregious if the movie at least delivered on a visceral level, but it rarely does. Director Renny Harlin has felt checked out through this whole trilogy, which continues to be the case here, except for rare exceptions. One of those exceptions involves a scene where a motor home is hit by a truck, sending it toppling over, as we watch the people inside thrown off their feet, while the perspective changes around them. That one moment has more energy and style to it than most of The Strangers – Chapter 3, briefly reminding the audience that Harlin used to deliver genuinely fun and thrilling action movies like Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger.
There’s at least two sequences that attempt to build tension via one character searching for another, only to completely drop the ball on a satisfying pay off. In both cases, there is a very quick and unsatisfying resolution rather than any sort of big confrontation or fight that could inject some adrenaline into the proceedings.
Another place the movie really holds back that could have been a highlight is in the arena of makeup effects and gore. There are multiple characters killed by axe chops in this movie, but I started to realize that nearly all of these kills are accompanied by admittedly strong sound design that tries to distract you from how little you see that axe making contact. Similarly, there’s some moments involving a thresher on a farm doing exactly what you think it might in a movie like this, but those involve a bit of blood being sprayed and a few errant glimpses of the aftermath, rather than actually going big by showing what’s occurring. It just feels like any place the movie could have popped more, it misses out on. Though perhaps they didn’t have enough money for more makeup FX because they spent it on song licensing, with the familiar likes of Heart’s “Crazy on You” and The Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin” included on the soundtrack.
Yes, there is still the business of revealing who’s under the masks of the other two Strangers, but in Scarecrow’s case, we learn their un-shocking identity almost immediately, in a manner that makes it odd it was even held back from Chapter 2 at all. And for Dollface, it’s just sort of a random “This is how they met her” flashback, because any questions about what followed are skirted past, as the tiny bit of backstory we get for her doesn’t lean towards lifelong serial killer.
Once more written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, the movie just never goes for it enough in any direction – whether serious or silly – to make you feel anything. The scenes where Maya is forced to accompany the Strangers as they kidnap and kill could and should feel terrifying and horribly unsettling, but just play out in an uninvolving, inert manner. And on the flipside, more flashbacks to Scarecrow and Pin-Up Girl as murderous children never lean into what could be something more sardonic and winking. Go full Bloody Birthday with this sucker if you’ve got twisted little murder kids! Only right near the end – in the scene that includes the aforementioned “Nights in White Satin” – does Chapter 3 get a bit more arch and camp in a way that elicited a genuine audience response, but by then it feels too late.
There have been recent reports that there will be a “supercut” of The Strangers trilogy eventually, combining all three films into one and adding back in excised elements, including – somehow – two extra killers who were in scenes that were filmed but then cut out. I’m sure there will be some inherent interest as a curiosity, and because The Strangers remains a title that carries some weight in the horror realm. But given how underwhelming and underbaked the entire approach to these new films has felt, it’s hard to imagine there’s a version that could change that perspective entirely and present the story as something truly noteworthy. But hey, who knows, maybe it will be the horror version of the director’s cut of Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven. Stranger things have happened.
