A scene from ‘The Strangers: Chapter 3’ Photo Credit: Lionsgate
This is the most foolish thing I ever heard, Queen Hippolyta declares in Shakespeare a Midsummer Night’s DreamWhile watching a play performed by Bottom and Rude Mechanicals. One wonders what the Amazon Queen would say if she had to sit down The Stranger: Chapter 3. At least Rude Mechanicals had the man on the moon and his dog, and Bottom provided the laughs.
Renny Harlin’s The Stranger: Chapter 3 is the fifth installment of the series, a reboot of the 2008 film about a trio of masked, sociopathic home invaders. Harlin, who has directed cult action films die hard 2 (1990) and cliffhanger (1993) directed a new trilogy one after the other.
The Stranger: Chapter 1 (2024) finds Maya (Madelaine Petsch) and her boyfriend visiting a small town called Venus in Oregon. After car trouble forces them to spend the night in a secluded cottage, they are terrorized by three masked strangers, the Scarecrow, Dollface, and Pin-Up Girl.
The Stranger: Chapter 3 (English)
Director: Renny Harlin
Mould: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Emma Horvath, Richard Brake, Rachel Shenton
Runtime: 91 minutes
Story: Maya is still haunted by strangers who are hunting her
Maya is the last girl, and after killing the pin-up girl The Stranger: Chapter 2 (2025), she’s still fighting the other two, she doesn’t even have time to clean her face or change her bloodied hoodie – that’s dedication for you.
The Stranger: Chapter 3 Starts with a beautiful cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’ by Shelby Carter. Then again there is a hard definition of a serial killer and we are far from it. Something disturbing happens back and forth from three years ago to 12 years ago to the present or something like that.
We learn that the sheriff’s son was evil even as a child and, for some strange reason, the judge thought it best to let the boy go.
Sheriff Rotter (Richard Brake) is up to no good – the surname may be a clue. There’s Gregory (Gabriel Basso), a Venus local who’s wandering about leaving clues. The best twist was how the third stranger joined the gang.
A scene from ‘The Strangers: Chapter 3’ Photo Credit: Lionsgate
Meanwhile Maya is limping (without washing her face) while her sister, Debbie (Rachel Shenton), has arrived from Portland looking for Maya.
Many inexplicable things are happening like why doesn’t the scarecrow kill Maya? Why does he give her a knife and cut her ropes? Why are strangers killing people? Why was this film made at all? That last question comes to mind again and again as people are stuffed with meat and put through a meat grinder. Unmasking the Strangers robs this lackluster psychological thriller of any remaining interest.
It ends just as it begins – with a lovely song, this time it’s The Moody Blues’ ‘Nights in White Satin’. When the lights came on after a very interesting end-credit sequence, everyone was left wondering why this film was released in February, which is usually the time of love or awards.
The Strangers: Chapter 3 is currently in theaters
published – February 07, 2026 03:45 AM IST