Indeed, “The Strangers: Prey for Night” (** OUT OF ****)
arrives ten years later as a belated sequel to writer & director Bryan
Bertino’s 2008 horror chiller “The Strangers.” Although Kristen McKay
(Liv Tyler) survived in the original “Strangers,” she doesn’t show up for the
sequel. While Bertino received first credit for writing this follow-up
film, “Forrest of the Damned” director Johannes Roberts has taken over the
helm, and “30 Days of Night: Dark Days” scribe Ben Ketai has contributed to the
screenplay. Mind you, “The Strangers: Prey for Night” lacks the
nihilistic artistry of “The Strangers.” Nevertheless, the sequel proves far
more satisfying in terms of dramatic closure. Whereas only Liv Tyler
lived in “The Strangers,” two characters escape the knives, ax, and vehicular
mayhem in “Prey for Night.” No, you don’t need to watch “The Strangers” again
to appreciate its tardy sequel. If you do, you may notice certain scenes
are replicated here for greater impact. One of the things that made “The
Strangers” such a startling exercise in terror was its violence. At one
point, Kristen’s terrified boyfriend, James Hoyt (Scott Speedman) found a
shotgun. Unfortunately, when he wielded it, Hoyt accidentally killed Mike
(Glenn Howerton), his best friend. Since the front door stood ajar, Mike
had blundered into the house, and Hoyt mistook Mike for one of the three
foes. Nobody perishes from friendly fire in “Prey at Night.” The
two films share some similarities, but they remain largely different based on
their respective settings. “The Strangers” emphasized claustrophobia
because the bedlam occurred in a ranch house in the woods. The hysterics
in “Prey at Night” are not confined to one house. Instead, the
pandemonium rages within an isolated trailer park where only the manager and
his wife remain during the off-season. Ostensibly, the two movies take
place after dark, and the predators eventually sabotage all means of
communication. As slick as Johannes Roberts’ direction is, “Prey for
Night” amounts to a lukewarm, standard-issue, 1980s slasher saga. Bits
and pieces of the storyline—not the body parts of its slain victims—have been
tweaked sufficiently to make it its 85-minute running time tolerable.
In “The “Strangers,” Kristen and James had just gotten home
after attending a wedding. Clearly, they were amorous couple, but they
had not set a date for their own wedding. “The Strangers: Prey at Night”
deals with a family in turmoil. Cindy (Christina Hendricks of “The Neon
Demon”) and her husband Mike (Martin Henderson of “Windtalkers”) are driving
their problem child daughter, Kinsey (Bailee Madison of “Just Go with It”), to
a boarding school. Kinsey has a rebellious streak a mile wide. She
wears Goth girl make-up and smokes cigarettes without inhaling them. All
of Kinsey’s girlfriends skip school and participate in activities just as
onerous as she did, but their parents haven’t punished them. Cindy tells
her defiant daughter she wishes that her mother could have confronted her
problem as she has Kinsey’s. Mike loads up the mini-van, and they pick up
Kinsey’s older brother, Luke (Lewis Pullman of “Battle of the Sexes”), who has
been playing baseball with his pals. Naturally, Kinsey and Mike annoy each
other during the journey. Although the family fell behind their scheduled
departure, Cindy has left a telephone message for Uncle Marvin at Gatlin Lake
Trailer Park that they will be arriving late. We the audience already
suspect this family is headed for an ill-fated rendezvous because the three murderers
—the Man in Burlap Mask (Damian Maffei of “Nikos the Impaler,” Dollface
(newcomer Emma Bellomy), and Pin-Up Girl (newcomer Lea Enslin)—have broken in
on Uncle Marvin and Aunt Sheryl and relieved them off all their worldly
anxieties. Interestingly, this older couple slept with a dog between
them, but the canine cowered rather than attacked.
Predictably, Cindy and family don’t have a clue about their
impending doom. They arrive after dark, and Cindy picks up their trailer
key from main office. Of course, nobody greets her. No sooner have
they settled in than somebody knocked at the door. The knocking itself
sound ominous. Cindy opens it to find a girl standing in darkness on the
porch. The outside light is not shining, so Cindy cannot see the girl’s
face. The girl asks her if Tamara is home. Cindy disappoints her,
and she watches the girl leave. Stubborn Kinsey refuses to play cards with Cindy and Mike, and she storms out of the trailer to smoke. Cindy
sends Luke after Kinsey. After the sinister prologue, director Johannes
Roberts devotes about thirty minutes acquainting audiences with the
family. They appear average. The parents are struggling to raise
their two children, but one has run off the rails. If a message lurks in
“The Strangers: Prey for Night,” could it be: “think twice about sending your
daughters to boarding school?” Otherwise, Cindy and Mike seem like a
model couple with few flaws.
“The Strangers: Prey for Night” differs from its predecessor
because its victims enjoy a greater chance of survival. Meantime, the
filmmakers have scrupulously observed the rules of the slasher fest. The
masked villains are virtually indestructible. Some can recover from the
worst injuries. An older man wearing a burlap bag drives them around in a
battered Ford pick-up. He is dressed in a suit and tie. He favors
an ax. Something about the way an ax sounds as it is dragged across concrete
appeals to him. The two girls prefer kitchen knives. They display
no emotions whatsoever when they maim or slaughter their victims. The
masked dastards in “The Strangers” behaved in similar fashion. One of
Cindy’s family asks her assailant why she is trying to kill her. “Why
not?” the girl utters with a dreamy gaze. Not surprisingly, when the
stabbing starts, the family goes berserk. They do the usual, foolhardy
things victims do. Everything about “The Strangers: Prey for Night” is hackneyed,
but the film adheres to the slasher formula with enough style to make it adequate
for a rental.
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