Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The Strangers: Chapter 1.
Summary
- The Strangers: Chapter 1 sets up a sequel with masked killers terrorizing Maya, leaving her to face them in a hospital setting.
- The mid-credits scene hints at a Halloween II-inspired storyline, borrowing from iconic horror franchises for the sequel’s plot.
- The Strangers franchise draws creative inspiration from Halloween, with eerie masked killers stalking their prey with no motive.
The ending of The Strangers: Chapter 1 sets up a sequel that can replicate one of the most famous slasher franchises in cinema history. The Strangers: Chapter 1 is a follow-up to 2008’s sleeper hit home invasion horror The Strangers and its belated 2018 sequel, The Strangers: Prey at Night. Like their predecessors, The Strangers: Chapter 1’s characters are terrorized by masked killers who invade their secluded Airbnb in this reboot. Maya and Ryan’s idyllic road trip takes a turn for the terrifying when their home for the night is invaded by the eponymous murderers.
By The Strangers: Chapter 1’s ending, Ryan is dead and Maya has barely escaped the ordeal with her life. As sirens are heard in the distance, the Strangers flee from the scene of the crime and leave Maya to die alone. However, in The Strangers: Chapter 1’s mid-credits scene, a surviving Maya is seen recuperating in a hospital bed. Just when things seem to be looking up for the traumatized heroine, one of the Strangers is shown still watching her. This sets up a sequel storyline that borrows from an iconic horror franchise.
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The Strangers 2 Already Has A Massive Problem After Chapter 1’s Cliffhanger Ending
Although The Strangers: Chapter 1’s ending works fine, the twist does effectively give away the ending of The Strangers: Chapter 2’s planned plot.
How The Strangers’ New Trilogy Could Mirror The Initial Halloween Movies
The Strangers: Chapter 2 Will Likely Feature A Hospital Setting
The Strangers: Chapter 1’s mid-credit scene featuring Maya in the hospital hints that the next sequel will take place in a hospital setting. The Strangers: Chapter 2’s story and hospital setting is likely to borrow from Halloween II, which picked up straight after Halloween’s ending. Like The Strangers: Chapter 2, that iconic slasher sequel followed the surviving Final Girl as she evaded a masked killer in the hospital. Despite The Strangers: Chapter 2’s sequel challenges, the franchise is clearly borrowing from the best when it comes to inspiration. Halloween II’s hospital-set storyline was endlessly influential after its release.
Everything from the ending of 2006’s Black Christmas remake to 1982’s Visiting Hours to 2021’s Halloween Kills borrowed inspiration from Laurie Strode’s 1981 hospital stay. As such, it is no surprise that The Strangers: Chapter 2 seems set to riff on the influential sequel. Although Halloween III: Season of the Witch took the series in a completely different direction, that sequel’s experimentation with new lore could still help shape The Strangers: Chapter 3. In a nod to Season of the Witch, The Strangers reboot trilogy’s final chapter may center on the masks and the deeper meaning behind them.
How The Halloween Movies Clearly Influenced The Strangers
The Home Invasion Horror Series Inspired The Classic Slasher Franchise
The Strangers: Chapter 2 borrowing from Halloween II adds up since The Strangers franchise always owed Halloween a creative debt. Like Halloween’s infamous killer, Michael Myers, the Strangers are scary precisely because they have no discernible motive for their violent crimes. The Strangers also operate a lot like the villain of John Carpenter’s iconic horror movie, stalking their prey before chasing them. They mostly use bladed weapons and wear masks to hide their identity, proving that The Strangers: Chapter 1’s killers already borrowed from the slasher cinema icon before the franchise’s sequel relocated to a hospital setting.