By the time The Strangers: Chapter 3 gets underway, it becomes clear that this trilogy’s real antagonist isn’t masked strangers or small-town rot, but sheer creative exhaustion.

The film picks up right where the second part ended, with Maya (Madelaine Petsch) killing Pin-Up Girl. Despite the build up, the inevitable confrontation between Maya and Scarecrow (Gabriel Basso) is a major let down. Their encounter unfolds inside a chapel, where an unmasked Scarecrow bears his heart open to Maya about the mutual losses they have suffered, and any remaining sense of threat evaporates.