The Strangers: Chapter 3 review – pointless remake trilogy ends with a sputter

Renny Harlin shot all three films back-to-back in Bratislava in late 2022. Reshoots followed an indifferent response to the first chapter in 2024, and the second met a similar reception last year; with the modest resources already spent, this final instalment arrives as the trilogy’s last knockings.

The mistake is to expand a morally gloomy universe that was better off self-contained. The more light Harlin and collaborators let in, the more the set-up reads as a generic runaround, at odds with the recent horror renaissance. Maya (Madelaine Petsch) continues to scurry about a devout woodland community like a bloodied fieldmouse with resting iPhone face.

The masked killers, previously three and now two, have acquired ulterior motives; tatted survivor Gregory (Gabriel Basso) and the ever-shifty Sheriff Rotter (Richard Brake) have their links made explicit. New blood arrives in the form of Maya’s sister Debbie (Rachel Shenton), who comes searching for answers and is drawn into another round of humdrum stalk-and-slash.

Slovakia, Bratislava

the strangers, chapter 3, renny harlin, bratislava, madelaine petsch, gabriel basso, rachel shenton, richard brake, remake trilogy, horror renaissance