LionsgateTake a look at the Man in the Mask, Dollface, and Pin-up Girl, and you’ll know that The Strangers – Chapter 2 is a horror movie through-and-through. But there’s also a rather unexpected movie that director Renny Harlin sought inspiration from.
The Strangers horror franchise started with Bryan Bertino’s 2008 original (still one of the best horror movies ever made), which was followed up ten years later with the divisive sequel, Prey at Night.
Then, in 2022, a trilogy of movies set within the same continuity were announced, with Cliffhanger filmmaker Renny Harlin taking on directing duties. The Strangers – Chapter 1 dropped last year, and now Chapter 2 is getting ready to make its debut.
These films center on the journey of Maya Lucas (Madelaine Petsch), with the sequel picking up where the first entry left off and delving a little deeper into the backstory of the masked killers.
The Strangers – Chapter 2 inspired by action movie classic
Orion PicturesIn a conversation with Dexerto, Harlin revealed that while The Strangers – Chapter 2 is a slasher, the story is centered on Maya’s brutal fight for survival. And he had the Rambo classic First Blood as a key inspiration.
“After the first movie was in an enclosed space, I really wanted to open up the world and make it a survival movie,” he told us. “I kept talking about Rambo, First Blood or The Revenant.”
Harlin continued, “I wanted it to be a final girl against the Strangers, against the whole town, against nature, and then ultimately use these environments also as her allies and learn to live and survive in them and use them to her benefit.”
The idea was to ”build a really strong female character who is not just a damsel in distress, but is really capable even after this insane mental and physical torment” she goes through.
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“I really wanted to give the audience a relatable character whose suffering is very real and very raw,” the filmmaker added.
Chapter 3 will be “twisty and twisted”
Harlin went on to tease what to expect in the final film of his trilogy, saying that Chapter 3 is “so out there and so twisty and twisted. I think the audience will really enjoy it… we went somewhere where nobody expected us to.”
For the uninitiated, The Strangers trilogy was filmed back-to-back, so the third movie is expected to drop sometime next year.
Harlin is also looking ahead to the future, and if all goes well, there’s room to make Chapters 4, 5, and 6. “We want to explore her [Maya’s] character further on her journey and we want to explore the Strangers,” he explained.
“There’s always a way to maybe do a movie that goes back in time and shows the Strangers doing their things some time ago, and that way revealing more about them.
“But I wouldn’t deny the possibility that there could also be more Strangers in this town than what we’ve seen at this point – more masks to be explored.”
Until then, The Strangers – Chapter 2 is in cinemas from September 26, 2025. In the meantime, check out the new movies streaming this month and the scariest horrors based on true stories.