Ella Bruccoleri Archives

Review: ‘The Strangers: Chapter 2,’ starring Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso and Ema Horvath

September 26, 2025

by Carla Hay

Madelaine Petsch in “The Strangers: Chapter 2” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

Directed by Renny Harlin

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2008, in the fictional town of Venus, Oregon, the horror film “The Strangers: Chapter 2” (a direct sequel to 2024’s “The Strangers”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Latin people and one Asian person) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A woman leaves the hospital where she was receiving medical treatment because of a murderous rampage caused by three strangers, who continue to hunt down the woman.

Culture Audience: “The Strangers: Chapter 2” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and the 2008 “The Strangers” movie, but this atrocious sequel is proof that “The Strangers” franchise has run out of original ideas.

“The Strangers: Chapter 2” is a pathetic excuse for a movie. It just might have the stupidest crime victim in one of the worst horror sequels of all time. The protagonist constantly and deliberately runs away from safety and runs toward danger, as if she wants to get murdered. It’s all so heinous to watch.

Horror movies often have characters who do mindless things that put them at risk of getting killed. But “The Strangers: Chapter 2” (which has mediocre-to-bad acting) makes it obvious that the filmmakers had no real story and just decided to throw together a bunch of chase scenes that relentlessly insult viewers’ intelligence. The violent murders in this bottom-of-the-barrel trashy movie aren’t nearly as offensive as how “The Strangers: Chapter 2” assaults viewers’ time and brain cells.

Directed by Renny Harlin and written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, “The Strangers: Chapter 2” is the second movie in a planned trilogy of “The Strangers” movies directed by Harlin and written by Cohen and Freedland. These three movies (which were all filmed back-to-back) continue the story that began with 2008’s “The Strangers.” The villains in each “Strangers” movie are three masked and unidentified serial killers (one man and two women), who drive around and stop at houses in remote areas to randomly murder strangers.

In “The Strangers: Chapter 2,” the three killers are described in the movie’s end credits by the types of masks they wear. The male killer wears a scarecrow hooded mask, so he can be called Scarecrow (played by Matus Lajcak), and he likes to use an axe in his murders. The younger female killer wears a doll mask, so she can be called Dollface (Olivia Kreutzova). The older female killer, who wears a Betty Boop-styled mask and can be called Pin-Up (played by Ema Horvath), is more unhinged than Dollface. The women are more likely to use knives, but all three killers can also use whatever weapon is at their disposal.

In “The Strangers: Chapter 1” (released in 2024), the main protagonists were a dating couple named Ryan (played by Froy Gutierrez) and Maya (played by Madelaine Petsch, one of the executive producers of this movie trilogy), who went on a cross-country road trip from New York to Oregon, because Maya had a job interview in Portland, Oregon. (“The Strangers: Chapter 1,” “The Strangers: Chapter 2” and “The Strangers: Chapter 3” were actually filmed in Bratislava, Slovakia.) Because of car trouble, Maya and Ryan got stranded in the rural town of Venus, Oregon, where they rented a cabin in an isolated wooded area and were targeted by the serial killers. By the end of the movie (spoiler alert), Ryan died, while Maya was in a hospital.

The end of the “The Strangers: Chapter 1” is also mentioned in “The Strangers: Chapter 2,” which shows Maya waking up in the hospital and being told by hospital staffers Nurse Danica (played by Brooke Johnson) and Dr. Tate (played by JR Esposito) that Ryan died from a loss of too much blood. Maya and Ryan had been dating for five years when he was murdered. The couple had been having some relationship problems because Maya wanted Ryan to propose marriage to her, but he was reluctant to make that commitment.

In an unintentionally silly part of “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” the serial killers captured Maya and Ryan in the cabin’s living room and were about to kill them when Ryan had a change of heart about the marriage proposal. He proposed marriage in a scene where Ryan knew he was probably going to die, but he asked Maya to marry him anyway. Maya said yes to the marriage proposal, right before Ryan got the fatal blows from the serial killers.

The reason why it’s important to mention this traumatic marriage proposal is because an unintentionally funny part of “The Strangers: Chapter 2” is Maya always correcting people who describe Ryan has her “boyfriend.” She insists that people describe Ryan as her “fiancé.” It doesn’t matter what people call Ryan. He’s still dead—although Maya has flashback memories and hallucinations of Ryan in “The Strangers: Chapter 2.”

Not long after Maya gets the bad news about Ryan being dead, Maya is interviewed in her hospital bed by Sheriff Rotter (played by Richard Brake) and Deputy Tommy Walters (played by Pedro Leandro), who can only get a vague description from Maya about the killers and the killers’ truck. And quicker than you can say “awful horror movie,” Maya finds herself beng targeted by the masked killers again in the hospital, where all the lighting suddenly turns red.

During this ludicrous chase scene, the hospital staff is nowhere to be found, except for an unlucky orderly (played by Vincent Zaninovich) who walks into the hospital’s morgue at the wrong time. Maya is in the morgue and sees what happens to this orderly. She also ends up hiding in the same storage unit in the morgue where (surprise!) Ryan’s body is being stored. Her reaction isn’t to scream or jump in fright but to caress Ryan’s face and reminisce about the good times they had together.

Maya has multiple chances to be in a safe place and to get help, but she keeps running into the woods, where she knows the serial killers are lurking. Four housemates named Jasmine (played by Ella Bruccoleri), Chris (played by Florian Clare), Gregory (played by Gabriel Basso) and Wayne (played by Milo Callaghan) give a car ride to Maya, who flags them down on a rainy night after she runs away from the hospital. The roommates offer Maya a place to stay at their house, after Maya tells them that she escaped from killers chasing her in the woods. But before they go to the house, Maya jumps out of the car and runs back into the woods.

The movie’s flimsy excuse for Maya’s irrational actions is that she’s paranoid and feels that she can’t trust anyone. That only makes sense up until a certain point. It doesn’t make sense when Maya gets in the roommates’ car and doesn’t ask to be driven to the nearest place where she can emergency transportation out of Venus. Maya left her phone behind at the hospital, but she could’ve borrowed a phone to ask someone in her life to buy her a train ticket or plane ticket.

Maya also doesn’t think about going to the sheriff’s office when she gets a car ride because that would be too logical for an idiotic movie like “The Strangers: Chapter 2.” Maya has been told that the sheriff’s office hasn’t been able to solve the murder spree in the area, including other murders that happened before Maya and Ryan arrived. However, that shouldn’t have prevented her from seeking shelter and protection at a law enforcement station that should be open 24 hours a day.

Doesn’t Maya have any family or friends who can help her? The movie shows that while Maya was in the hospital before the seral killers arrived, she got a video message from her sister Debbie (played by Rachel Shenton) saying that Debbie and someone named Howard (presumably Debbie’s husband or boyfriend) were stuck at Heathrow Airport in London, but they arranged to have a private EMT (emergency medical techician) service pick up Maya in an ambulance. Once Maya saw that the killers found her at the hospital, and Maya escaped, the last thing on her mind should be waiting around for a private ambulance. The only new things that are revealed about Maya in “The Strangers: Chapter 2” is that she has a sister, and Maya acts even more dimwitted than Maya did in “The Strangers: Chapter 1.”

“The Strangers: Chapter 2” attempts to give a backstory for two of the killers, by showing flashbacks of Pin-Up (played by Nola Wallace) and Scarecrow (played by Jake Cogman) as children. However, this backstory is poorly written and unsatisfying. It’s enough to say that Pin-Up and Scarecrow have known each other since childhood, when Pin-Up began showing homicidal tendencies. As a serial-killing adult, Pin-Up is known for knocking on people doors and asking, “Is Jasmine here?” The movie shows Jasmine as a child (played by Pippa Blaylock) and how Jasmine knew Pin-up and Scarecrow when they were all about 7 to 9 years old.

“The Strangers: Chapter 2” can’t even get small details right. During all the frantic and brutal fights that Maya has in the movie, her gold-painted fingernails continue to look perfectly manicured. And there’s a scene in the woods where dirty and disheveled Maya suddenly pulls out a needle and thread to sew up a wound. Where did that needle and thread come from while she was running for her life? Don’t expect any logical answers in a movie that has no logic and can only shovel up cinematic garbage because that’s all this terrible movie has to offer.

Lionsgate released “The Strangers: Chapter 2” in U.S. cinemas on September 26, 2025.

Review: ‘Polite Society,’ starring Priya Kansara and Ritu Arya

April 28, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Polite Society”

Directed by Nida Manzoor

Culture Representation: Taking place in London, the comedy film “Polite Society” features a racially diverse cast of characters (South Asian, white and a few black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A teenage girl, who wants to become a stunt performer, tries to stop her older sister from getting married to a smooth-talking, wealthy man, who wants the couple to move to Singapore after the wedding.

Culture Audience: “Polite Society” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching female-empowerment comedies, told from a multicultural perspective.

Nimra Bucha stars as Raheela and Priya Kansara in “Polite Society” (Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh/Focus Features)

“Polite Society” has fun with its absurdist take on action films. It makes clever commentary about modern feminism and how aspirational culture affects people. Nida Manzoor has sharp writing and directing in this well-cast movie with great comedic timing. It’s an impressive feature-film debut for Manzoor, who has TV directing credits for “Doctor Who” and “We Are Parts.” “Polite Society” had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

In “Polite Society” (which takes place in London), two intelligent sisters named Ria Khan (played by Priya Kansara) and Lena Khan (played by Ritu Arya) are feeling frustrated with their lives for different reasons. Ria, who’s about 16 years old, wants to be a stunt performer and is taking martial arts classes in preparation. Ria believes in herself when pursuing this goal, even though most people around her think that this goal in unattainable for her. Lena, who’s in her early-to-mid 20s, is enrolled in art school in the very beginning of the film, but she drops out of school because she doesn’t believe that she has the talent to become a successful artist.

Ria is very upset that Lena has dropped out of school because she thinks that Lena is a talented artist but just gave up too easily. Lena moves back into the family home and mopes around while she contemplates what she might want to do with her life. The parents of Ria and Lena are immigrants from Pakistan. Based on the language accents of the Khan family members, it’s implied that Ria and Lena were either born in the United Kingdom or have been raised in the United Kingdom from a very young age.

Ria and Lena live and experience British and Pakistani cultures. Even though Lena has dropped out of school and is unemployed, her traditional Pakistani parents aren’t as worried about Lena as they are about Ria. That’s because Lena’s accountant father Rafe (played by Jeff Mirza) and homemaker mother Fatima (played Shobu Kapoor) think that Lena can redeem herself by finding a husband, preferably someone who is affluent. Rafe and Fatima think Ria’s interest in being a stunt performer is an unrealistic dream and not very feminine.

Ria attends an elite private school, where her two best friends are classmates: feisty Clara (played by Seraphina Beh) and mild-mannered Alba (played by Ella Bruccoleri), who are the only people in Ria’s life who encourage Ria to pursue her goals of being a stunt performer. Ria also makes amateur stunt videos that she puts on social media. Lena sometimes does camera work for these videos.

One of Ria’s goals is to do an internship with Eunice Huthart, a longtime stunt performer/coordinator who has worked on several superhero films and other action flicks. “Polite Society” includes voiceover narration from Ria, including Ria reading aloud the fan mail that she sends to Eunice. You know where this part of the story is going, of course.

Early on in the movie, Ria’s mother scolds Ria by saying, “Do you think your father sends you to that school to be a stunt woman?” At Ria’s school, there’s a guidance counselor session where students are assigned internships, according to what a counselor decides would be the best career direction for each student. It’s something that should be discussed privately, but these evaluations are done in front of the entire classroom.

When it’s Ria’s turn to get her assignment, she tells the counselor Ms. Spence (played by Jenny Funnell) that she wants to be a stunt performer. Ms. Spence is dismissive of that career goal, because she thinks being a stunt performer isn’t a real job for women or even a real job in acting. Ms. Spence assigns Ria to be an intern to a medical doctor, even though Ria tells her she has no interest in this line of work. There are some racial undertones to this assignment because of the stereotype that children of Pakistani immigrants want to work in careers involving science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

A loudmouth bully named Kovacs (played by Shona Babayemi), who is a female classmate, predictably taunts Ria about Ria’s desire to be a stunt performer. Ria retorts by loudly reminding the class that Kovacs’ father was in prison for financial fraud. At one point in the movie, Ria and Kovacs get in a physical fight in a school library. It won’t be revealed who wins this fight, but it’s enough to say that the fight confirms to Ria that she shouldn’t give up on her goal to be a stunt performer.

Meanwhile, Fatima is seen having lunch with a small group of high-society Pakistani immigrant women. The “queen bee” of this group is wealthy widow Raheela Shah (played by Nimra Bucha), who loves to brag about her eligible bachelor son Salim Shah (played by Akshay Khanna), a doctor whose specialty is in genetics. Fatima comes from a lower-income household than those of the other women, and she somewhat desperately wants to fit in this group.

And now that Lena has a lot of time on her hands, Fatima thinks it would be a good idea to play matchmaker for Lena. It just so happens that Raheela has invited the Khan family to a party at her mansion. Salim (who is in his late 20s or early 30s) is at the party, and he’s surrounded by adoring women, who all look like they want to date him. However, Raheela has been telling all of her lady friends that Salim is very picky and rejects almost all the women whom Raheela introduces to him.

As soon as Lena arrives at the party and isn’t one of the women fawning over Salim, you just know he’s going to take an interest in her. Lena and Salim begin talking. When he asks her what she’s doing with her life, Salim seems impressed by Lena’s honesty when she tells him, “What do I do? I disappoint my parents.” And when Lena says that she’s taking some time to figure out what she wants to do with her life, Salim tells her: “I think it’s great that you’re allowing yourself to be working it out.”

Meanwhile, Ria doesn’t have a very good impression of Salim. At the party, Ria tells an acquaintaince named Jezah (played by Tia Dutt), who’s close to Ria’s age, what she thinks about Salim as soon as she sees him: “What a prick.” Jezah openly swoons about how handsome and rich Salim is and says to Ria: “I hear he’s quite nice.” Ria says in sarcastic response: “Biscuits are nice.”

Ria is bored at this party, so she goes wandering around the mansion. And she makes a discovery that further raises her suspicions: In a study room, she finds a desk with several individual photos of women on it. Lena is one of the women in these photos. It looks like someone is planning which women could possibly date Salim. This type of planned matchmaking is very common in South Asian cultures, but Ria thinks it’s offensive.

It’s already revealed in the trailer for “Polite Society” that Lena and Salim get engaged. It’s a whirlwind courtship where Salim proposed to Lena after they were dating for only one month. Ria, who vehemently disapproves of this relationship, gets even more upset when she finds out that Lena and Salim plan to move to Singapore after the wedding. Ria also thinks it’s alarming that Salim is a “mama’s boy” who seems overly attached to his mother.

The rest of “Polite Society” is about Ria’s schemes to stop the wedding by any means necessary. She enlists the help of Clara and Alba. And the three pals also get some assistance from an unlikely person. There’s a lot of slapstick comedy in “Polite Society” but also some emotional moments about family relationships.

“Polite Society” takes a satirical look at the lengths that some people might go to climb up a social ladder or to stroke their own egos. The movie is filled with examples of how several people want to be accepted by those who are rich and powerful, while those who are rich and powerful often want to make other people feel inferior. In the beginning of the movie, Lena likes to think of herself as bohemian and edgy, but even she gets caught up in the idea of being a pampered trophy wife who is the opposite of bohemian and edgy.

Even with all the jokes and over-the-top action scenes, “Polite Society” also depicts examples of how women and girls can be “gaslighted” into thinking that they’re “crazy” for pursuing certain goals or for trusting their gut instincts. Although much of the plot is about Ria trying to stop Lena from getting married, the movie isn’t anti-marriage. It’s against the idea that people, especially women, have to give up who they are, in order to fit into someone else’s idea of what a “perfect spouse” should be.

One of the reasons why “Polite Society” is so entertaining to watch is because of the believable chemistry between the cast members. Kansara and Arya are especially convincing as sisters who have a volatile relationship that still has a lot of love. Bucha has some standout moments as Raheela, who becomes Ria’s biggest nemesis in the story.

“Polite Society” doesn’t present Ria as always being correct. It would be very easy to portray Ria as a crusading feminist who has all the answers, but the movie doesn’t make that lazy mistake. Ria is realistically presented as a flawed human being. Ria can get obnoxious in trying to prove her point, because one of Ria’s flaws is that she thinks she is always right. And it causes an even bigger rift between Ria and Lena.

In the last third of “Polite Society,” there’s a plot development that some viewers might not like because they’ll think the movie is taking a sharp turn into science fiction. However, there are clear indications throughout the movie that this story is a heightened version of reality. It’s not easy to balance wacky comedy with serious commentary about how women and girls are constantly being dictated to about how they should look or act when living their lives. “Polite Society” handles this balance as skillfully as an agile stunt performer.

Ria makes some comments in the movie that are criticisms of patriarchy, but “Polite Society” is not a feminist film that’s about bashing men. It’s a movie that encourages tolerance for women’s choices in life. Some of those choices might be mistakes, but people should be given an opportunity to learn from those mistakes.

Ria has to learn that her way of approaching life might not work for other people. Ria’s first impulse is to “rescue” her sister Lena from a life that Ria thinks will make Lena unhappy, but does Lena really need Ria to tell Lena what should make Lena happy? These types of meaningful observations make “Polite Society” better than the average female-oriented action comedies, which often depict feminism as shallow scenarios instead of experiences that truly embody female empowerment.

Focus Features released “Polite Society” in U.S. cinemas on April 28, 2023.