THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The Strangers was 2008’s sleeper hit for surpassing its budget 10 times over, while also an intense horror flick to say the least. With said success being made, it’s crazy to know it took a decade for studios make a sequel possible. Because of such a gap, it’s hard to know if it was all worth it.
PLOT
The 2018 stand alone sequel dubbed Prey at Night follows a family of four having a small weekend vacation at a secluded trailer park. The family includes: Mike, his wife Cindy, their eldest son Luke and teenage daughter Kinsey. Their reason to have a vacation where their Aunt Sheryl (Mary Louise Casanta) and Uncle Marv (Ken Strunk) comes from Kinsey transitioning to boarding school due to bad behavior. From the drive to reaching their destination, she doesn't seem to budge in bonding with her family. Upon arrival, Mike becomes firm in wanting to make the best of it by taking their kids' cellphones. Shortly after, a young blond woman knocks for someone named Tamara. Since the family do not know anyone of that name, Mike dismiss her. When Kinsey chooses to go for a walk, Luke chooses to join her to try cheering her up until they find their aunt and mutilated in their mobile home. Around that time, the same woman knocks for Tamara again and this time Cindy dismisses her. With that moment giving their worry, they go out to look for their kids. When they do, the Luke & Kinsey tell their parents what they saw. Luke takes his dad to see the bodies to prove what he saw but when Kinsey & Cindy to the trailer home they rented, they find their phones destroyed. The blond woman then returns in a doll mask trying to kill them with a knife. Kinsey would escape from the bathroom ceiling, but Cindy would be stabbed from behind trying to protect her. When the guys return to the trailer and find the bodies, Mike & Luke get targeted by a masked man. As they return to their trailer, they would be devastated finding Cindy dead as well. Mike arms himself with a gun left behind by Marvin, he and Luke tend to drive away and call for help before the masked man causes them to crash. The incident causes Mike to be impaled by a wooden piece of the porch. Knowing that he won't survive the blood loss, he encourages his son to find his sister before the man in the mask finishes him off by stabbing him with an icepick. The masked man then pursues Kinsey with the assist of a brunette in a mask, credited as Pin up Girl, who taunt her to go back to the trailer. When she does, she gets attacked by Dollface who slashes her arm an stabs her leg. Thankfully, her brother arrives in time to hold the stranger at gunpoint, giving the siblings enough time to escape from her. Just when Luke tends to her wounds in another trailer, the man in the mask rams the home with a car, causing the remaining family members to hide in a porch elsewhere. Luke would then head to a general store to call 911 for help. He does so when finding a telephone, only moments before he defends himself again by killing Pin up Girl. Man in Mask would fight him in a pool and would leave him for dead when stabbing him in the back. Thankfully, Kinsey had followed and saves him from drowning. In return, she is able to hide him while she goes looking for help. She does encounter a police officer responding to her brother's call, before he gets killed by Dollface as well. Kinsey is able to get the upper hand by shooting her with the cop's firearm. She would then unmask her and ask why did she attack her and her family. After she soullessly responds, "Why not?", she finishes her off by shooting her again. The masked man goes after again and tries to ram her like he did to the trailer, only to have his vehicle stuck to the cop car. Kinsey would then start a fire via gas leak, which causes both vehicles to explode but the man in mask still pursues her. However, the remaining stranger collapses upon following his victim towards a bridge. Kinsey would finally encounter another civilian passing through, a woman and her son, hopping on the back of the truck. Man in Mask would pursue her one last time before Kinsey ends the terror by bludgeoning him with a bat. The film would time jump some time after the incident, showing Kinsey in the hospital with a now recovering Luke. But the film would end in a cliffhanger with Kinsey being alarmed of a knock on the door.
THOUGHTS
By the time of this film's release, I had not seen the original yet I felt aware of the expectations that would be made by general fans of horror. Shortly after I came around in seeing it, I knew for sure the quality between both were gonna be different. With the first one having a grounded atmosphere when being a setting of domestic terror, you know that magic can't be replicated. Bryan Bertino knew that when getting the ground running for this, which is why himself alongside co-writer Ben Katei and director Johannes Roberts changed the scenery in making a standard slasher flick. There was no other way to approach when the villains like the strangers are the main characters. It does beneficial in a sense the ante is upped this time with the violence being more graphic and having a higher body count. The best scene for me that I can agree with those who've seen it is the pool scene. That one got to me the most because Ryan Samul's cinematography pulling us into the scenery as if we're going in and out of the water watching the conflict occur. Sarah Finlay's production design on the entire trailer park was god damn impressive due to being the perfect playground for the strangers to toy with their targets. Now I did say the villains are the stars as they were last time around, but it's not as effective like before. Like I don't think they did enough for Pin up Girl which is a shame because she came off as ring leader by the end of the predecessor. Thanks to Lea Enslin's performance in her given time, she is able to taunt Kinsey enough to keep her on edge, but that's pretty much it by the time Luke makes quick work of her. On the other hand, Emma Bellony & Damian Maffei make MVPs out of Dollface & Man in Mask respectively because they do the heavy lifting as in tally up casualties in relentless fashion. Seeing them maintain the sadism is able to keep us intimidated of the whole experience because they're reminders that danger like this can happen to anyone without even knowing it and the class/environment won't guarantee protection. My only takeaway from Man in Mask was making him almost invulnerable in the form of Jason Voorhees & Michael Myers. I don't think we needed that last jump scare where Kinsey rides away in the truck because he should've died the moment he collapsed on the bridge. I honestly don't blame the decision of unmasking Dollface at such a given opportunity because I was just as curious as Kinsey was on what she looked like. While this trio of villains are the superstars, they are again not the ones I'm sanely rooting for. In the end, I'm always rooting for the ones who got to survive the night because of how visible it is they don't deserve what comes their way. This family we follow are indeed dysfunctional, but the chemistry between all four actors is believable enough for me to say they love each other unconditionally and struggle to embrace it until push come to shove. Christina Hendricks & Martin Henderson were a solid pair as Cindy & Mike as they both come off as caring parents who want what's best for their daughter and don't want her to keep going down the bad road that led to her being sent to boarding school in the first place. All they wanted was to keep it all together before it was too late and in their case, it sadly was. Watching them die separately stung because it felt like amends weren't made just yet when they could've been sooner. Despite such a shocking moment, the trauma only strengthened their children for better in order to survive the night. Luke and Kinsey were indeed polar opposites to one another because Lewis Pullman showed the latter to be one who didn't feel the need to act out to seek affection. As for the latter, Bailee Madison showed her to be one who was so confused on what she wanted in life that she felt that the act to rebel would answer her deep thought. Sadly, the attack from the strangers was her realizing the love of her family was all she needed and nothing more. It was hard for her more when it came to her parents getting killed because she's the reason the trip happens and wishes it never came to it. Thankfully, she and her brother overcome the odds but you still wish it didn't take trauma for them to have a stronger bond. With that final knock by the end, she'll have to keep her guard up for the rest of her life. Now I do respect the movie for being different from the predecessor, but I don't think it excuses the other issues I picked up on as I watched it. For instance, it does get hard to like Kinsey because her attitude is over the top bad. Like she shouldn't be mad when Luke gives her advice on how to smoke. I mean that's a pointless excuse to get mad if you ask me. Of all the references that are done and upset me the most, it's not fixing the porch light. Like before, Dollface is obviously responsible for messing with it since it's so easy for Mike to fix it when she leaves. Again if you want to know who you're talking to, turn on/fix the light. And of all mistakes that Cindy makes is not taking her phone when she goes out with Mike to look for the kids. If Dollface scared her so much, she should've grabbed it immediately. It also would've benefitted Kinsey later because she would've taken it before leaving the trailer. And lastly, I think it was a bad idea for Luke to spare Dollface when retreating. If you want to better the chances of surviving the night, get rid of the first threat you get the jump on. I mean that decision was more shocking than Luke surviving after all the blood he lost at the pool thanks to Man in Mask. Other than that, this movie's fine for what it is. In short, The Strangers: Prey at Night is a moderate slasher sequel that hits the checkmarks in being variously entertaining. If you enjoyed the first film, I hope you find something to like about this.
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