The Strangers: Prey At Night Review
R: horror violence and terror throughout, and for language
Aviron Pictures, The Fyzz Facility, BLOOM, Rogue Pictures
1 Hr and 25 Minutes
Dir: Johannes Roberts | Writers: Bryan Bertino, Ben Ketai
Cast: Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman, Luke Wilson
INTRO:
Dear Liv Tyler, I miss you.
A family's road trip takes a dangerous turn when they arrive at a secluded mobile home park to stay with some relatives and find it mysteriously deserted. Under the cover of darkness, three masked psychopaths pay them a visit to test the family's every limit as they struggle to survive.
THE GOOD
For fans who really loved “The Strangers,” the only thing this present day sequel has that carries over from the original to let you get the sense that this is, in fact, a sequel, is the initial setup. You have this family minding their own business and then knock-knock a girl in dim light asks, “Is Tamara home?” That is the closest thing about “The Strangers: Prey at Night” that is at least a bit faithful to its predecessor.
THE BAD
Before I unleash my inner rage on this movie, I want to send my apologies to Eli Roth:
Good sir, I am sorry for what I’ve said about “Death Wish.” I apologize for calling it a film with senseless violence. At least with your movie, I had a little bit of enjoyment. “The Strangers: Prey at Night” on the other hand has to be the most entirely joylessly senseless slasher flick I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
I usually don’t like to shit on directors, but I really can’t stand Johannes Roberts. From his movies’ production quality to the way he directs his actors and the way he films his action sequences, this man somehow gets the money to direct bargain bin quality movies, and studios send them to theaters. I experienced that last year with his previous project “47 Meters Down,” and I feel the absence of quality so much stronger with “The Strangers: Prey at Night.”
“47 Meters Down” had Mandy Moore and Claire Holt who are both talented giving abysmal performances. Since Roberts has four leading cast members this time, they all manage to be worse than Moore and Holt. Poor Luke Wilson is the only one that’s trying for the most part, but everyone else is terrible. One of the worst performances I’ve seen onscreen in a long time comes from this kid named Lewis Pullman who plays the older brother of the family, Luke. Due to Robert’s poor direction in every scene, the boy drains every ounce of intensity that should make you feel on edge. He never seems to have the right reaction to the dire situation that he could die at any minute. There is a scene where he sees someone die right next to him and the delivery of his lines aren’t convincing at all. Shit every one of his reaction you kind of laugh because of how terrible his performance is.
I’ve seen Hendricks, Wilson, Madison give great performances in other projects, but here when they have to play mother and daughter, their performances are God awful. Forest Whitaker must have gotten on set before Roberts called to action and said, “Now the strength of the good actors will be stripped away”.
What made horror fans appreciate the predecessor was the quiet ambiance and subtly that went into the setup that when shit hit the fan, the action kept you on your toes. The predecessor was a home invasion movie that took advantage of the home invasion situation. Whatever subtly the 2008 flick had, is now thrown out the window for this is just a generic slasher movie with shoddy craftsmanship. There is no tension in this at all because right when this family gets into this trailer park, they’re taken out one by one like kids in a “Friday the 13th” movie. We’ve seen slasher movies done well and mostly done from the 80s, but we’re in 2018. If you’re going to make a new horror movie, reinvent the goddamn wheel instead of borrowing from the past.
Clearly, there is a difference between being influenced by others and mimicking others’ work, and Roberts is mimicking old-fashioned Carpenter slasher movies. Horror fans are going to eat this shit up without a doubt because they’ll most likely argue how “The filmmaking plays as an homage to B movies from the 80s.” I’m sorry, but when you have an established property on your hands and decide to give it the most mundane plot ever, you obviously don’t know what you’re doing. This takes place in the present day mind you. If you’re going to do an homage to 80s styled horror movies, make your story take place in the 80s. Take “Ouija: Origin of Evil” for example where one of the advantages it had for being both a second installment and a decently crafted horror movie in general was the style that reflected the setting. The film took place in the late 60s, and director Mike Flanagan decided to it a 60s styled flair even down to the title card.
Though I put a lot of the blame on Roberts, the screenwriters aren’t off the hook either. Bryan Bertino, what are you doing? YOU MADE THE FIRST STRANGERS! Why did you write this? Why did you write a sequel to your horror movie but for some reason forgot how to have your characters be consistent. In a scene where the family is at the trailer park, the older brother (Luke) and his rebellious younger sister (Kinsey) goes wandering off. They see a trailer that is open, and Kinsey goes, “Let’s go in and look around.” Luke says “No, let’s get out of here.” They go in anyway because the dumb white people trope in horror movies cliche hasn’t gotten old just yet. Then when they hear some alarming rumblings in the dark, Kinsey goes, “Let’s get out of here.” But then Luke responds with, “No let's check it out.”
Excuse me if you’re going to make your characters dumb as shit at least write them with consistencies that abide by their character. Such stellar screenwriting consists of each character screaming to the killer, “LEAVE US ALONE!” whenever they’re two minutes away from being killed.
THE RENDY
Literally right after the movie was done, my friend and I saw that the auditorium next door was showing “Get Out,” and we walked right into the theater. I don’t know why they were showing “Get Out” since it is a year old movie, Oscar season is over, and the Presidents day promotion is over, but I was grateful it was playing. Of course, the movie relieved all of the disappointment and anger that “The Strangers: Prey at Night,” made us feel.
By the time the third act kicks in, the movie starts to become at least a little fun for Kinsey, who is the only character that decides to kick ass. What brought this movie all the way down was the reveal. Remember how in the first movie when Liv Taylor asks to the home invaders, “Why are you doing this,” and they respond with, “Because you’re home”? “The Strangers: Prey at NIght” does the same thing as its predecessor but this time around, the reasoning is different.
In order for me to explain how the reasoning of all this senseless slashing is stupid, I have to spoil a bit of the movie for you:
Towards the climax, after Kinsey kills a masked murder, she takes off her mask and asks her, “Why are you doing this.” In her final moments of life, the clearly teenage girl in a doll-face mask says, “Because, why not?”
From that moment on towards the end of the movie, those three words kept rotating in my head, “Because why not?” If the entire motivation for the approximately six killers that are working together as a unit to terrorize and murder this family is based from these words, then this gives me less than a fuck to care to be in this goddamn theater. Jason had a motive. Freddy had a motive. Every slasher, killer, murderer, and cannibal in these type of movies had a logical reasoning to why they kill, and these people just felt like It?! Oh I got something for you!
LAST STATEMENT: Due to the lack of care put into the performances, the writing, the direction, the editing, and most of all the story, “The Strangers: Prey at Night” is a sequel that fails to capture any of the tension of the original. With a poorly crafted execution, this film gets a straight up FUCK YOU from me! Why? Because WHY NOT?
Rating: 0.5/5 | 13%
uper Scene: “Total Eclipse of the Heart”
