abstract
| - The Strangers 2 and or The Strangers II is a 2014 American Psychological Horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino starring Tommy Flanagan, Cheryl Hines, Tyler Posey, Brie Larson, Margarita Levieva and Liv Tyler. The film serves as a sequel to the 2008 Box Office Hit horror film also written and directed by Bertino and which also starred Tyler as titular protagonist Kristen McKay whom she reprises the character of in this film. Also returning is the three "strangers" of the first film who served as the titular antagonists and whom are reprised by Gemma Ward, Laura Margolis and Kip Weeks though in this film thrown into the mix are two new additional hooded, porcelain gloved "strangers" portrayed by Derek Mears and Tracy Morgan respectively. The sequel like the first opens with a narration explaining the story to follow and is credited as "Inspired By True Events," like its' predecessor though like the predecessor is heavily inspired by break-in's which occured in Bertino's neighborhood as a child and also heavily based on the Keddie Cabin Murders of 1981. The new additional hooded strangers are a take on the cult classic 2006 French film Them. The film was shot on two constructed cabin houses in Enfield Connecticut as well as a railway line road, and at a faux police station set for the climax situated within Universal Studios Florida. The film is distributed by Mandate Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment as well as Universal. It was made on a larger budget than its' predecessor which was made on a budget of $9 million, the sequel being made on a budget of roughly $12 million. The film was a box office success being released on a large theatrical scale to theatres all over on April 12th, 2014. The film was praised by critics such as Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times as being a skin crawling, actually satisfying obligatory sequel, Peter Travers of the Rolling Stone and Empire Magazine gave the film four out of five stars praising its' jump out scares, genuine terror knocked up a notch and thoroughly engaging characters beset against a nightmarish situation, Director Robert Rodriquez acted as a promoter of the film professing his love for its' realistic and unnverving violence, raw tenacity and in your face thrills. It received a 89% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 69/100 on Metacritic.
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