sondramedia Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to The Strangers – Chapter 2 director Renny Harlin about helming the brand new Lionsgate horror sequel film. Harlin mentioned how Chapter 2 differs from Chapter 1, filming all three Strangers motion pictures on the identical time, and extra.
“The Strangers are again – extra brutal and relentless than ever,” the official synopsis reads. “Once they study that certainly one of their victims, Maya (Madelaine Petsch), remains to be alive, they return to complete what they’ve began. With nowhere to run and nobody to belief, Maya should survive one other horrific chapter of terror as The Strangers – pushed by a mindless, unceasing goal – pursue her, greater than keen to kill anybody who stands of their means.”
The Strangers – Chapter 2 will probably be launched in United States theaters on September 26, 2025, from Lionsgate.
Brandon Schreur: Renny, I actually appreciated The Strangers – Chapter 1 and I appreciated The Strangers – Chapter 2, however I feel the factor I used to be most impressed about, right here, is how completely different they really feel from each other. That is clearly a sequel set in the identical world and all of that, however the first one is such a claustrophobic house invasion thriller that’s tense in all these varieties of how. In Chapter 2, you develop it so we go outdoors of that cabin and into town. And it takes place over a few days. How would you say issues have modified from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2? What ought to audiences put together themselves for and anticipate on this new one?
Renny Harlin: Good query. I have to say, there was at all times a component of frustration that we skilled making the primary one. We wished to pay homage to the unique Strangers by Bryan Bertino. We didn’t need to copy it, however we wished to make use of it because the premise of this sequence of flicks and arrange the stakes in the identical means that they did within the unique film. On the identical time, that put us in an unfavorable place of telling that very same story, kind of, that was within the first film.
So I used to be at all times chomping on the bit to get to the second film, to have the ability to present the viewers the place we go along with the characters and every part else. In a humorous means, for me, the second film, the second chapter, was form of like my Rambo, the primary Rambo film, First Blood. You understand, it’s a survival film, and I wished to make this type of extra epic. The primary film, it’s a house invasion, so let’s name this a city invasion. Now we get to discover the city extra, the encompassing forests, and completely different areas — it was a chance to make it larger and nonetheless focus laser-sharply on our important character and her psychological journey. And in addition begin revealing bits and items concerning the Strangers with out altering the truth that the assaults are random and there’s no rhyme or purpose to this.
However, yeah. I wished this film to really feel very completely different from the primary one. Similar characters, identical paranoia, however completely completely different setting.
Yeah, city invasion. I like that. That sums it up actually good — the entire place is creepy and also you don’t know who you may belief or something like that. You shot The Strangers Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3 all on the identical time. I’m certain that was no small feat and that there have been all types of challenges that got here with doing one thing like that. Now that every part is claimed and completed, you’ve filmed the flicks they usually’re popping out, is that this one thing you’d ever need to strive once more? Do you are feeling such as you’ve discovered one thing from this expertise that may equip you for the longer term, or is it a case of as soon as was good?
Oh, no. All I’ve discovered is that I might insist on having extra time. Now we’ve shot three motion pictures in 53 days, and that was powerful. The problem was that we had been capturing, actually, to amortize the units. We’ve got some units in widespread in all three motion pictures, although they’re very completely different. However there are specific units that we use kind of in all three motion pictures. As soon as we’re in a sure setting, we shoot all three motion pictures there. We would, one morning, be capturing Chapter 2, and within the night we’re capturing Chapter 1, and the following morning capturing Chapter 3. That made it a problem for the actors to at all times be in the best emotional place. Make-up folks to have the blood and gore match. And for all of us simply to recollect the place are we and the way intense ought to this be — are we in a lull or are we in a peak?
The privilege was, how usually as a filmmaker do you get to discover the characters for 4 and a half hours as a substitute of 1 and a half hours? So, having a 273-page script was unimaginable, and I’d do it once more in a heartbeat. I’d like to do it. However I’d say that we’d like extra time.
That makes complete sense. There’s a second on this film that I’m dying to speak to you about. Proper originally, within the hospital. I’m such a sucker for one-shots in motion pictures, and I liked it when the Strangers are strolling across the completely different rooms, looking for her. It’s filmed so nice, and it’s so tense. Are you able to inform me a bit bit about filming that second? Had been there any large challenges you needed to take care of to make that each one work?
Thanks, yeah. I’m glad that you just pointed that out. It was simply one thing that I wished to discover, to not impress folks or be a flowery filmmaker or something like that. However I simply felt like that setting lent itself to one thing like that in a really natural means. It took us a number of hours to rehearse the shot. It needed to observe by means of the corridors, inform completely different story factors, get the reveals of the menace in the best place and the best time, and all of that.
…The pacing, the rhythm, the reveals, and the misleads — it’s simpler to try this once you’re doing it within the enhancing room and also you’re getting all of the beats proper. However when you may’t edit and you need to edit it in digicam, it takes time to design. As soon as we had rehearsed, it didn’t take that many takes to get precisely the take that we wished.
Due to Renny Harlin for taking the time to debate The Strangers – Chapter 2.
