Picking up where Chapters 1 and 2 left off, The Strangers: Chapter 3, the final entry Renny Harlin’s ultimately limp reboot trilogy, has arrived for the few lingering hangers-on still curious enough to see how it all shakes out. After Chapter 1 mostly stuck to the exact formula set by the original 2008 film, and the sequel became a somewhat more intriguing middle entry of cat-and-mouse maneuvers, the stage is set for Maya (Madelaine Petsch), terrorized for so long, to have her revenge, of sorts, on the Strangers (who are named, apparently, Scarecrow, Dollface, and Pin-Up Girl — who knew?). Moreover, if you enjoyed the flashbacks of backstory for the mysterious trio we got in the last film, you’ll be pleased to know that this is all expounded upon much further here, for better and (in actual fact) worse.
Chapter 2 ended with Maya killing Pin-Up Girl by purposefully crashing an ambulance they were both in, which throws Dollface and Scarecrow in particular into mourning. And this is where we meet as Chapter 3 begins, with Scarecrow, revealed to be town local Gregory (Gabriel Basso), having a bizarrely confessional conversation with Maya in a church. The remainder of the film is less cat-and-mouse thriller and more hostage horror, as Maya is captured and held by the two remaining Strangers for the majority of the film’s runtime, with viewers subsequently treated to their backstory as murderous children and teenagers. Gregory, it turns out, is the town sheriff’s son, and he agrees to cover up their ongoing murder sprees, as long as they do not kill any of the locals, only visitors.
It’s always a risky gambit to peg so much of a franchise’s final entry on villain flashbacks, but they are especially dull in the case of Chapter 3, and they fundamentally misunderstand what is so unnerving about the Strangers to begin with. As we’ve come to know, the Strangers are unknowable, killers who pick their victims “because they were there,” a chaotic randomness that suits their reputation for lurking in the background of shots, or behaving like old-school slasher killers by seeming to move and appear in impossible ways. Once you start down the road of clearing up why they are this way, without even getting into the idea of why the town turns a blind eye to it, it’s practically guaranteed to lead to diminishing narrative returns.
It’s a wonder, then, to speculate about the tenor of the intense reshoots that this film underwent. All three films were initially shot back-to-back over two months in 2022. As director Renny Harlin put it, they shot completely out of sequence, in a way that was “incredibly demanding” for everyone on set. Apparently, after the first film’s release, both sequels went into reshoots, a week for Chapter 2 and three weeks for Chapter 3. Harlin called them “fan-driven,” seemingly shifting focus to “understanding a little bit more about where they come from” because that’s what people were “keen on knowing more about.” Given the total affront such a notion is to the franchise’s fundamental appeal and intrigue, one is left to wonder who such people are, if they even exist, and if so, to ask them: why?
But regardless of what exactly happened behind the scenes, it’s clear that Chapter 3 is the most disjointed of the bunch, a confounding hatchet job in the editing room that leads to a deadened momentum that never builds to much of anything. This final entry is a horror film almost utterly bereft of tension, and while Harlin (Die Hard 2, The Long Kiss Goodnight) is an undeniably skilled filmmaker, and something of a reliable genre craftsman who was able to elevate the preceding film through a mostly wordless middle section, none of that technique is even allowed to emerge here. There are too many boxes to be ticked, even if no one seems to really care why or what for.
For instance, late in the film, as our supposed hero remains helplessly tied up, a witness to Gregory’s carnage, there’s the clear sense that he wants her to take over for the late Pin-Up Girl, leading to a scene where he forces her to stab another victim. But this is played loosely, as Maya seems not entirely unwilling, and there’s no indication of what could possibly be motivating her, or why what is happening makes a lick of sense. The only halfway-developed idea of the entire film is treated with half-assed regard, an empty provocation that the audience can only take as seriously as the film itself — which is to say, not at all.
Lest this seem like a hatchet job, it’s important to acknowledge that there were redeeming qualities about the first two chapters. Unfortunately, this concluding chapter seems destined to please almost no one other than those mystical, befuddling folks who wanted to know what makes the Strangers tick. And even then, even accepting such invalidating desires, it’s difficult to imagine much satisfaction from such a languid experience. All three films are reportedly being re-edited into one giant version, set to return to theatres in a four-hour block with an intermission. Who knows, maybe then it will all come together. What’s certain is that this writer won’t be there to find out.
DIRECTOR: Renny Harlin; CAST: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Richard Brake; DISTRIBUTOR: Lionsgate; IN THEATERS: February 6; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 31 min.
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