Based on real events about a family who is viciously attacked by three masked psychopaths, “The Strangers: Prey at Night” takes its beats and cues from the 2008 cult classic “The Strangers.” The gift here is: it’s better than the original.
Headed for a secluded mobile home park to stay with relatives, our vacationing family of four has issues. Rebellious teen Kinsey (Bailee Madison) hates her family and the boarding school her parents Cindy (Christina Hendricks) and Mike (Martin Henderson) have decided she needs. Kinsey’s brother Luke (Lewis Pullman), annoyed with his younger sister, remains bored with his parents and their ‘bonding’ vacation. Director Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down) sets up this portrait of a typical American family and casts it in sharp relief for what’s to come.
Roberts clearly has a knack for atmospherics, starting with the family’s late night arrival at a park shrouded in a creepy fog and lots of dark spaces. We’re put on edge by subtle, tension-building cues: a blood-red smiley face scrawled on a mailbox, fresh half-eaten food in their mobile home’s fridge, and not a living soul anywhere to be found. Then, there’s that thunderous Gestapo door knock—too loud to be friendly. When Cindy opens the door to reveal an innocent-sounding teen standing in the shadow, we know this girl isn’t selling Girl Scout cookies.
Tension builds as Kinsey and Luke go exploring. Predictably, we know something bad’s going to happen. But trying to guess who, when and how drives the narrative forward. Robert’s use of close-ups, zooms, and a sense of isolation keep us biting our nails. Our teen siblings finally enter the park manager’s trailer and Roberts puts our already taxed imaginations to work. Starting with blood-red “hellos” scrawled jaggedly on a window and a blood-stained sheet covering what must be the park’s manager.
At this point, our guests go into all-out flight or fight mode. The family is separated then reunited to discover what our triple psychos are up to. Following a classic, although predictable format, the struggle for survival segues from huddled victims in dark corners to sudden, spurting arterial wounds.
Roberts and cinematographer Ryan Samul adroitly use the confines of tiny trailer rooms to limit our victims’ escape choices. And both are equally adept at getting the most out of a weaponized pickup truck.
Adding to this “Strangers'” theatrical ambiance is an 80’s music soundtrack that lyrically accents the film’s overt terror. Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart underscores a gut-wrenching fight for survival between Luke and Man in Mask at the park’s freakishly lit-up pool. And no less terrifying is a brutal confrontation between Dollface (Emma Bellomy), Kinsey and Cindy in a space barely large enough to swing a butcher’s knife–all to the sounds of Live It Up by Mental as Anything.
Unlike many slasher films, Roberts eschews the sound cues that warn us of impending doom. The pacing is tight and tension rarely ebbs as Dollface, Pin-Up Girl and Man in Mask seek to carve up their prey.
A minor problem with this “Strangers” is that our three psychopaths kill with no underlying motive–much like Leatherface in the “Chainsaw” films. A MacGuffin motive was fresh back then, but today, it’s a ‘been there done that’ device. In the “SAW” films, there’s a motive and people are killed in ingeniously clover ways. And at least in “Halloween,” we have a bare-bones motive that drives Michael Myers. The killers in this terror romp are both mindless and unimaginative. Other than wearing different masks, our mutant murderers are basically the same. The only saving grace here is that we at least get to see one killer finally unmasked. 
That said, “Strangers: Prey at Night” succeeds as a ‘bury your face in your palms’ fright flick. The satisfying difference between this “Strangers” and others like it is that some members of this family actually have a shot at survival. A pistol, shotgun, nine-iron club, even a Zippo lighter are used, albeit awkwardly, to turn the tables on our mindless sickos. The perennial question posed by viewers in both “Stranger” films is somewhat answered halfway into “Prey at Night.” Asked by Kinsey, “why are you doing this to us?” Dollface answers simply, “why not?”
Markedly improved from its predecessor, “The Strangers: Prey at Night” is more thought out with a solid through-line. It delivers those unrelenting white-knuckle moments that make you forget whose popcorn you’re eating.
The final confrontation between good and evil unites the virtual indestructibility of Jason Voorhees with the flaming vehicle chase in “Christine.” We then fade to a hospital room with monitors beeping and ventilators pumping air into someone’s lungs. Have Dollface and Pin-Up Girl returned their knives to their butcher block stand? Did Man in Mask bury the hatchet? There’s a bone-chilling knock on the door. The door is swung open to reveal…
“The Strangers: Prey at Night” is on Digital, Blu-ray™ DVD, and On Demand on June 12th. The DVD and Blu-ray include an Alternate Ending, a “Prep for Night” Music Video-Director’s Cut, A Look Inside The Strangers: Prey at Night and other features.
Check out the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNQrKls7k-Q
Alex A. Kecskes is a published author of "Healer a Novel" and "The Search for Dr. Noble"—both now available on Amazon. He has written hundreds of film reviews and celebrity interviews for a wide variety of online and print outlets. He has covered red carpet premieres and Comic-Con events for major films and independent releases.
