{"id":40189,"date":"2025-09-29T11:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/?p=40189"},"modified":"2025-09-29T00:10:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T07:10:26","slug":"btlradioshow-09-29-2025-rennyharlin-matthewbissonnette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/miscellaneous\/behind-the-lens-podcast\/btlradioshow-09-29-2025-rennyharlin-matthewbissonnette\/","title":{"rendered":"BTL Radio Show – 09\/29\/2025 with guests RENNY HARLIN talking THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 and MATTHEW BISSONNETTE talking DEATH OF A LADIES’ MAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I\u2019m excited for this week’s BEHIND THE LENS, thanks to a director whom I adore and have been chatting with for multiple decades, RENNY HARLIN<\/strong><\/a>, who goes in-depth with me for THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2, and writer\/director MATTHEW BISSONNETTE, who brings us a film I immediately connected with, DEATH OF A LADIES’ MAN starring Gabriel Byrne.<\/p>\n

Let’s kick things off with RENNY HARLIN.<\/p>\n

THE STRANGERS began back in 2008 thanks to w\/d Bryan Bertino, who treated us to the tale of James Hoyt and Kristen McKay, who visit an isolated vacation home to enjoy some time together.\u00a0 Hopeful bliss turned into terror making their stay a nightmare.\u00a0 In 2018, director Johannes Roberts<\/strong><\/a>, with a script by Bryan Bertino and Ben Ketai, rebooted the franchise with THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT<\/strong><\/a> starring Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman, and Christina Hendricks. It was always Johannes’s intent to do a sequel, but that didn\u2019t pan out, and THE STRANGERS legacy kinda fell apart; that is, until 2024, when director Renny Harlin<\/strong><\/a> stepped into the franchise with what has become a three-chapter series with all three films shot at the same time over 53 days of principal photography, with a cast led by Madelaine Petsch.<\/p>\n

In THE STRANGERS CHAPTER 1 – we met Maya and Rory, whose car breaks down in a creepy and eerie small town, forcing them to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive.<\/p>\n

Now in 2025, we have the chilling next chapter of THE STRANGERS franchise with THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2. Directed by Renny Harlin and written by Alan R. Cohen & Alan Freedland, Madelaine Petsch returns as Maya, and joining her are, among others, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Richard Brake, and Pedro Leandro.<\/p>\n

This go-round picks up the morning after the final scene of Chapter 1, where we find Maya in a hospital as the sole survivor of The Strangers\u2019 murdering spree of the previous night. But the night\u2019s events aren\u2019t over as she must now do everything in her power to survive the continued, relentless attacks from the masked killers while reckoning with the ways that these events are transforming her into someone else.<\/p>\n

As we saw in the original 2008 movie and then again in 2018 and 2024, THE STRANGERS attacks are focused on one location, one home. A very violent home invasion.\u00a0 But with THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2, we go from one home to an entire of the town, expanding the terror and violence AND letting Renny Harlin embrace the environment of the town to include forested areas, animals, wild boars, farms, hospitals, not only amping up the tension and action, but fueling the character development of Maya as she fights to survive.\u00a0 I love THE STRANGERS:\u00a0 CHAPTER 2 and the development and broadening of not only the characters of Maya and The Strangers themselves, but also the visual tonal bandwidth and visual grammar.\u00a0 Renny uses all the tools in the toolbox to expand the story, from adding a tonally different – and beautiful – backstory, to cinematographer Jose David Montero\u2019s more challenging gorgeous and textured lighting and lensing, to editor Michelle Harrison\u2019s rapier edge-of-your-seat editing that showcases the ECUs and dutching of Jose\u2019s impressive work, to composer Justin Caine Burnett\u2019s impeccable score that adds tonal elements that connect it to Chapter 1, but are enhanced and expanded to musically embrace the wider scope of the story.<\/p>\n

THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 is all about survival for Maya and using her physicality and real environs to deliver a visceral moviegoing experience.<\/p>\n

Always a pleasure and privilege to speak with Renny Harlin, this time was no different, as we tried to cover as much filmmaking territory about this film as possible in a very brief interview.\u00a0\u00a0An insightful and enlightening conversation, we dive headfirst into not only the evolution of the franchise but the challenges of bringing it to life, along with Renny\u2019s creative freedom in the second chapter as he develops and broadens not only the characters of Maya and The Strangers themselves, but the visual tonal bandwidth and visual grammar; emphasizing the importance of real environs, adding a tonally different – and beautiful – backstory, developing cinematographer Jose David Montero\u2019s more challenging gorgeous and richly textured lighting and lensing which includes ECU’s and the use of special macro lenses, careful planning to maintain tension without dialogue, the complexity of the editing with Michelle Harrison\u2019s rapier edge-of-your-seat seamless integration of new and original material, and Justin Caine Burnett\u2019s impeccable score that adds tonal elements that connect it to Chapter 1, but are enhanced and expanded to musically embrace the wider scope of the story, complementing the visuald without overtly signaliing tension.<\/p>\n

A side note to you:\u00a0 When you see the movie, stay through the credits because there\u2019s a sneak peek into CHAPTER 3. And dare I say, it had me gobsmacked when I saw it.\u00a0 \u00a0Based on the post-credits tease, CHAPTER 2 sets us up perfectly for what’s in store in CHAPTER 3.<\/p>\n

THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 is currently in theatres.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n