Defining the Strangers movie franchise is no easy task. The original 2008 film, “The Strangers” was truly chilling, and over time it became a cult classic. Its clunker 2018 sequel, “Prey at Night” didn’t fare near as well. But the real confusion came in 2024 with the release of “The Strangers – Chapter 1”, the first film in a new trilogy from director Renny Harlin. “Chapter 2” followed in 2025, and now here we are in early 2026 with “Chapter 3”.

It takes some research to figure out what the trilogy is meant to be. It’s not a prequel trilogy as many of us first thought, but it’s not necessarily a reboot or a rematch either. Instead its creators consider it a “relaunch” and have said that it exists within the same universe as the original two films. That may explain it in words, but finding a concrete connection between the older movies and the newer ones is easier said than done.

Regardless, the trilogy has been quite the rollercoaster ride. “Chapter 1” played like 30 minutes worth of content stretched into a 90-minute movie. But “Chapter 2” was a surprising step up despite a few problems of its own. As with its predecessors, “Chapter 3″ has its own set of issues. Yet it manages to do a serviceable job tying the trilogy together and bringing it to decent conclusion.

“Chapter 3” begins exactly where the previous film left off. After spending the last movie fleeing from the three masked psychopathic strangers, Maya (Madelaine Petsch) managed to kill the one called Pin-Up Girl just before the credits rolled. Now the remaining two, Scarecrow and Dollface, mourn her in their own twisted way before continuing their pursuit of Maya in and around the rural timber town of Venus, Oregon.

Elsewhere the prowling Sheriff Rotter (played by the wonderfully unsettling Richard Brake) patrols the forest-lined country roads with motivations that could be called sketchy at best. Meanwhile Maya’s sister, Debbie (Rachel Shenton) and her husband Howard (George Young) arrive in Venus with a hired bodyguard (Miles Yekinni) after learning Maya was never picked up by the ambulance sent to bring her back home to Portland. Their investigation intersects with the good sheriff while Maya tries to get a leg up on her maniacal pursuers.

Harlin breaks up the current day mayhem with several flashbacks that not only reveal the identities of the deranged serial-killing trio, but how they came together and how they’ve managed to continue murdering for years. These scenes add some disturbing context to the strangers, as well as the townsfolk of Venus. We end up learning more through them than any other part of the movie.

As for our protagonist, much of “Chapter 3” emphasizes the evolution of Maya whose trauma makes her increasingly cold and calloused. It’s a tricky task for the committed Petsch whose performances throughout the trilogy have come in three phases. Each film asks her to do something different, yet all three performances are distinctly connected. So it’s impossible to fairly judge what she’s doing in “Chapter 3” without factoring in the previous movies. When you do, it’s easy to appreciate what she accomplishes.

The Strangers trilogy has become a cheap critical punching bag for many, but it’s far from the cataclysmic disaster it’s made out to be. It’s hard to justify spreading the story out into three feature length films and their strict dependency on seeing the other movies are somewhat of a handicap. As for “Chapter 3”, it may succeed in wrapping things up, but it’s not without its lapses in logic. Still, it manages to do what it needs to do as a final chapter. And judging by its box office performance, it could very well be the FINAL chapter.