Stree 2 (2024)

Sarkata, the headless villain of Stree 2, looks more like a cartoon than a curse, and in a horror comedy that’s a problem for half the genre. The comedy half is in great shape. Chanderi now worships Stree, and the town has talked itself into believing the women who keep vanishing just left for better jobs. Then librarian Rudra (Pankaj Tripathi) gets an anonymous letter holding lost pages of the Chanderi Puran, the town’s book of legends, plus a warning that he will come. Bittu’s girlfriend Chitti vanishes, so the old crew regroups and drags Jana (Abhishek Banerjee) back in. Rajkummar Rao’s Vicky and Tripathi trade lines like a vintage double act, and Banerjee steals whole scenes. The sequel trades some of the first film’s social bite for franchise housekeeping, and the second half drags. It made $2.6 million in North America. A 6.5 because the jokes land harder than the scares. $61.11 says you find a note on your windshield this week and read it twice before you’ll touch it.

What works: Rajkummar Rao, Abhishek Banerjee, Pankaj Tripathi and Aparshakti Khurana have easy comic chemistry, and the dialogue is quick and genuinely funny.

What doesn’t: Sarkata’s effects make him more goofy than frightening, and the sequel loses much of the original’s social sting while the second half sags.

Who it’s for: Fans of the first Stree who mostly came back for the gang’s banter, and anyone who likes their scares with a laugh track.