Renny Harlin promises more horror in 'The Strangers: Chapter 2'

Renny Harlin, director of The Strangers: Chapter 2, shared harrowing footage and behind-the-scenes insight into the latest instalment of The Strangers things.

According to Deadline, Harlin said Chapter 2 expands the scope into ‘a town invasion’ with a significantly larger scale compared to the first film in the trilogy, which focused on a home invasion.

While 2008’s original The Strangers focused on a single home invasion, Harlin promises this sequel escalates the terror dramatically.

He said, “It was just an incredible chance to take a movie that starts in a kind of claustrophobic, small setting to a totally different level… to an epic storytelling level without sacrificing those quality characters that we established.”

In the first clip, a terrified and injured Maya, played by Madelaine Petsch, flees through the rain and jumps into a stranger’s car—only to sense something is very wrong when the doors lock.

Another sequence, shot in a single, continuous take, shows Maya trying to escape a deserted, locked-down hospital. Her growing panic is quickly justified when a masked with an axe appears in the background.

Harlin shared his own fear of hospitals from childhood, saying, “I think hospitals are scary to begin with.”

He further added, “Having a stranger stalk Maya through the halls of a hospital is kind of a natural way to make Maya very vulnerable in this environment that is supposed to be safe.”

The footage didn’t stop there. A final clip revealed Maya locked in a bathroom, only for an axe to break through the door. The masked stranger grabs her by the head, slamming her into the door and tearing out a chunk of her hair.

For those unversed, The Strangers: Chapter 2 is scheduled to be released in 26 September 2025.