THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3 movie poster | ©2026 Lionsgate

Rating: R
Stars: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Hannah Galway, Richard Brake, Pedro Leandro, Nola Wallace, Jake Cogman, Finn Cofell, Kyle Breitkopf, Ella Bruccoleri
Writers: Alan R. Cohen & Alan Freedland, based on characters created by Bryan Bertino
Director: Renny Harlin
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release Date: February 6, 2026

Back in 2008, writer/director Bryan Bertino brought forth THE STRANGERS, a non-supernatural slasher that derived much of its creepiness from its uncomfortable plausibility. A couple spending the night in a cabin is terrorized by three masked intruders, who have no obvious motive but display clear expertise in what they’re doing. It’s not that this sort of thing is likely to happen, but then again, there’s no reason it couldn’t.

In 2018, Bertino served as screenwriter, as did Ben Ketai, and Johannes Roberts was the director on THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT, which presented us with presumably the same trio of masked motiveless killers, this time going after a family of four.

In THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT, the predators have acquired those above-and-beyond abilities of horror movie blade wielders, but the movie was essentially non-supernatural. By the end, all three were presumably down for the count.

So, in 2024, director Renny Harlin and writers Alan R. Cohen & Alan Freedland introduced THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1. The same team worked together on 2025’s THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 and the new THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3, all “reimagined” from Bertino’s original concept. The three movies were shot simultaneously, which was surely a marathon undertaking for the game cast and crew.

To be clear, the current trilogy is not intended as a prequel to or a remake of either of the earlier two films. They have their own mythology, which started showing up in CHAPTER 2 and is elaborated on in CHAPTER 3.

Since all three of the Harlin/Cohen/Freedland STRANGERS are set (except for flashbacks) over the course of a few days, and since 3 picks up right where 2 ends, it’s helpful to have seen the earlier two films, partly for plot comprehension and partly to determine whether THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3 is a desirable viewing experience overall.

Even that preparation may not fully ready one for the “say what?” nature of some of what happens in THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3. When we learn what’s been going on in the tiny Oregon town of Venus, our first question is why the place hasn’t long ago been targeted by federal agencies.

To recap, three people in masks – Scarecrow, aka Gregory (Gabriel Basso), Pinup, aka Shelly (Ema Horvath), and Dollface, aka Jasmine (Ella Bruccoleri) – have been terrorizing town visitor Maya (Madelaine Petsch). They’ve murdered her fiancé, and diligently tried to end her life, but somehow Maya has managed to survive thus far. At the end of CHAPTER 2, Maya at last managed to kill Pinup.

We get flashbacks to Shelly and Gregory as children – respectively, an impressive Nola Wallace and Jake Cogman – and then as teens (Finn Cofell and Kyle Breitkopf), illustrating their early homicidal tendencies.

What we don’t get is a why or when for the adoption of their masks. There’s also what seems to be material missing that would explain why Gregory takes the blame for actions taken by Shelly. Unfortunately for the movie, CHAPTER 3 makes Shelly by far the most interesting member of the pack, and she’s dead when the movie starts.

The film attempts to delve into the psyches of some of the adult characters in ways that no actors can be blamed for – these scenes are just about unplayable. (This reviewer, at least, could not imagine how they could be played differently to work better.) They also go on for so long that we wonder what the intended effect is.

There’s one sequence in particular that flirts with crossing some bright, shiny red lines in a manner that invites laughs more than outrage. It’s not a good sign when members of a press screening audience (not this reviewer, but others) start talking back to the screen.

THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3 fulfills its genre requirements as far as body count and variety of weapons, although it doesn’t have many jump scares. The movie’s tagline is “See how it ends.” On that front, it faithfully delivers.

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