418: The Strangers: Prey at Night

[00:00:00] 125. Let's get to the second Strangers movie which is The Strangers Prey at Night, which came out in 2018, 10 years later after the original. It is directed by Johannes Roberts who also did the two 47 Meters Down movies which I'm a fan of

[00:00:19] at least to a certain extent. It stars Christina Hendricks who is great from Mad Men and Drive and some other things, Martin Henderson, Bailey Madison, Lewis Pullman, Damian Maffei, not many others. And the synopsis is a family of four

[00:00:35] staying at a secluded mobile home park for the night are stalked and then hunted by three masked psychopaths. So like I was saying with the first one, one thing that I think opens this franchise up or now that it's a

[00:00:49] franchise up for endless possibility is the whole idea is three strangers terrorizing anyone. It doesn't have to have a big motive, there is no motive really. And so basically you could do anyone in any situation anywhere and so

[00:01:05] I think that's very exciting because you really could do whatever you want with it. And I think when this one came out I watched this one first. I had heard of the original but I had never watched it. I was like alright well this one seems a

[00:01:18] little bit more like 80s kind of B-movie my style like I'll check this one out. I think I did see it around the time it came out, maybe got the blu-ray or something but I've seen it maybe three four times now and I just rewatched

[00:01:31] it after I saw the first one. And I enjoyed the movie. I don't think it's as good as the first but I think that it is another very solid slasher film, home invasion slasher film that reinvents itself by taking place in this trailer

[00:01:46] park and also adding some 80s elements to it as well which the first didn't have at all. And I think firstly the cast is pretty good. Christina Hendricks as I said I really like her in everything. I haven't seen many of the other cast

[00:02:01] members I believe but I love the actress, the daughter, in this. I think she's great. And going into the original concept of the movie where like alright well we're going to this trailer park for the night. I think it was for like a

[00:02:14] vacation or it was for I can't remember exactly what the reason was maybe they're going to college I can't remember but the family just going there by chance and then showing up and it's all deserted and then spoilers here the

[00:02:26] aunt and uncle are dead because of the strangers and then the strangers knock on the door and say it's Tamora home and everything lets loose. So the original idea is there and then they it's more of a outside sort of slasher film as

[00:02:42] opposed to being a home invasion movie like the first one is which I like. I think that's interesting and so I don't know if there's anything really bad about the movie there's nothing amazing in it either I don't think. There are

[00:02:55] some good sequences. The bathroom attack where Christina Hendricks's character dies I think is really good. The sequence where the daughter is being chased and she hides in that t-shaped play thing on the playground and then the doll face

[00:03:11] shows up in the darkness I love that like there's a great use of shadow and light and sound as well in a very good soundtrack good 80s synth pop soundtrack. The pool fight towards the end with the Sun and the main like man stranger in

[00:03:27] the pool and like they're going underwater and then above water and I think all that is very very good. Also one thing that I do really like in this one that they took the chance and did but it makes sense and I mentioned this in

[00:03:40] the first film's review is these characters the strangers aren't immortal they're not Michael Myers they're not like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family or whatever and they kill like the daughter kills the the blonde stranger

[00:03:58] girl and that line of why not like why are you doing this to us why not and it's a bounce off of because you were home and so I think that again adds that psychopathic open-ended well I saw you on the street well I saw your light was

[00:04:15] on why not you know let's go and terrorize you and I think that's a very sadly a very modern idea of people being able to get away with anything feeling like they can do whatever they want and find ways of escaping and

[00:04:28] blaming on somebody else or whatever it might be and I mean maybe that's weird to say but I think that's kind of true in this day and age and these little moments of terror and attacks especially in public that have been happening a lot

[00:04:40] and so I like all that I know I like how they actually do kill her she's dead but then you think well we don't know who these people are they could just go find another girl to take over that position so it's just one replaces another so all

[00:04:55] that is good I like I mean the family relationship is actually fairly decent I think for a movie like this I believe that their family I like the relationships between each character I think you get enough to wreck well I actually feel

[00:05:09] like I'm getting to know these people you know it's not these blank faces I think I'm like alright well the daughter is upset about this the son doesn't get along with this person the mother is upset about this the dad feels this way

[00:05:21] etc etc so I think all that I like a lot and is unexpectedly refreshing because I think the first movie I believed that they were a couple and in this I believe that they're an actual family so that's saying something

[00:05:34] the sequence with the dad after he's been in the car wreck and the man the stranger comes in just sits right next to him iconic love that the final sequence and I also I've forgotten about this about the man this stranger where

[00:05:50] there's that very Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired ending where she's the only one alive I think and then she comes across someone driving by and she gets in the backseat or in the pickup of the truck and then barely gets away and obviously

[00:06:09] that's very Texas Chainsaw as I said which I mean it is what it is I wish they wouldn't do that as much calling back to these classics but I still think it's well done and I like the look of the man completely on fire I think

[00:06:22] that's good so yeah I mean there's a lot of very effective sequences there's nothing where I'm like oh my god this is as good as the first or this is the best slasher movie of the year or best horror

[00:06:35] movie of the year it's nothing like that it is fairly disposable you know there's nothing really going on underneath aside from very basic family dynamics of a troubled relationship you know that sort of thing and making amends and not

[00:06:47] having that chance to or trying your best to make things work especially if you're in a situation like being chased by crazy killers but yeah besides that the sequence with the cop where they show up I think I like that a lot and

[00:07:03] yeah I think there's just not as many like it doesn't stick with me as much as the first I feel like when I saw the first one I remember it almost every scene very vividly whereas this one I'm sort of having to backtrack a little bit

[00:07:16] and dig a little bit deeper to remember certain things even though I still liked it and I like it a lot more than other home invasion films as of late there's something more maybe intentionally so it's more comedic it's lighter on its

[00:07:29] feet it's not as alright this is dark serious stuff it's a these innocent people are being chased by crazy people go you know so that's basically what the movie is if it's not for you it's not for you but there's just something about

[00:07:43] the strangers group those ideas and thinking about in a realistic setting and even just the look of those characters very simple like simple is best when it comes to horror and I think that's something that these first two movies

[00:07:56] especially do very well and I don't need it to be crazy complex I don't need there to be a lot of effects it's just hey what if this actually happened in real life so I like it a lot I can always go back and enjoy it and I

[00:08:09] highly recommend it if you haven't seen it so that is a heavy three and a half out of five