Horror sequels seem to follow very different rules. While most genres struggle to keep a franchise going after a decade of radio silence, horror series are always ready to drop a new installment. While some ideas spawn a never-ending run of movies of varying quality, others lie dormant for a decade or more. The Strangers falls into the latter camp, spawning Prey at Night after ten years of waiting.
Bryan Bertino wrote and directed the first Strangers outing, but he turned directing duties over to Johannes Roberts for the sequel. Roberts crafted no-budget horror outings throughout the 2000s before earning attention for The Other Side of the Door and 47 Meters Down. Both of those films turned tiny investments into massive box-office returns. He maintained that reputation in recent entries like Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.
What is The Strangers: Prey at Night about?
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Director |
Johannes Roberts |
|---|---|
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Writers |
Bryan Bertino, Ben Ketai |
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Stars |
Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman |
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Release Date |
March 9, 2018 |
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Runtime |
85 Minutes |
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Box Office |
$32.1 Million |
The Strangers: Prey at Night follows the three murderers from its 2008 predecessor as they find new victims. Dollface, Pin-Up Girl, and the Man in the Mask killed James Hoyt and fled, moving on to new targets. The in-universe gap could be any length. The sequel opens with a short-form recreation of the first film’s ending. The Strangers kill an older couple in an Ohio trailer park, leaving their disinterred corpses tied to chairs. The following day, the couple’s niece, Cindy, her husband, Mike, and their kids, Luke and Kinsey, reach the park for a vacation. Cindy and Mike intend to enjoy some quality time before sending Kinsey off to boarding school. Much like in the first film, their arguments take up a fair amount of the first few minutes. Suddenly, a loud knock at the door interrupts the family.
Answering the door, they find a woman hiding her face. She asks for Tamara and leaves after the family assures her she isn’t there. Kinsey and Luke find the Strangers’ earlier victims in the trailer next door, kicking off the chaos. While they’re out, the killers smash their cell phones, leaving them without a way to call for help. Dollface attacks the trailer while Mike and Luke examine the bodies. Kinsey outruns the knife-wielding intruder, making for the door in the trailer’s roof. She escapes, reaching a hand down to her mother. Cindy sacrifices herself, allowing Dollface to stab her so Kinsey can slip away. After watching her mother die, Kinsey escapes in her car. Meanwhile, Mike and Luke struggle with the Man in the Mask. Mike finds a hidden gun and starts to drive away, but the masked man hurls a cinderblock into the windshield, causing a crash. Mike sends Luke off with his gun while the Man in the Mask enters the car. After a bracing execution, Luke and Kinsey are forced to struggle against the killers without their parents.
What is The Strangers: Prey at Night’s Rotten Tomatoes score?
The Strangers: Prey at Night has a 40% positive score from 126 professional reviews. Audiences were even less kind, offering only a 35% positive score from more than 3,000 reviews. This is a significant fall from The Strangers‘ 49% critical and 48% audience scores. While the first film is almost perfectly divisive, the second entry angered longtime fans and confused newcomers. The first film earned some praise for its atmosphere, tone, and appreciation for violence against random civilians. The follow-up is more of a neon-lit 80s slasher nod. Its soundtrack is excellent, and it enjoys a couple of great scenes, but most of the plot remains generic. It feels like fanservice for a community that doesn’t exist. The violence becomes comical, while the semi-grounded killers revert to a more traditional Jason Voorhees flare. It’s somehow even less ambitious than its predecessor, but the more trashy presentation is arguably more fun.
How does The Strangers: Prey at Night end?
After losing Cindy and Mike, Luke and Kinsey drive away while the Man in the Mask chases them. Kinsey tries hiding, but Dollface slashes her arm and leg. While Luke tends to her wounds, the Man in the Mask rams the trailer, forcing them out. Luke hides Kinsey under the porch and runs to the neon-lit pool. He defeats the Pin-Up Girl in combat, killing her with her own knife. In the film’s best scene, the Man in the Mask attacks to avenge his fallen comrade. He and Luke fight in the pool while Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” plays over the speakers. The Man in the Mask wins the brawl, stabbing Luke in the pool. He leaves him to bleed out, but Kinsey pulls him to safety. She hides him before running to the road.
Kinsey stops a cop, but Dollface slashes his throat. Kinsey takes the officer’s rifle and puts a bullet in Dollface. Kinsey pulls off Dollface’s mask and demands to know why the killers targeted her family. She answers, “Why not?” before Kinsey finishes her off. With two Strangers dead, the Man in the Mask crashes his truck into the cop car. Kinsey discovers a puddle of gasoline dripping from both cars. She ignites the fuel, but the Man in the Mask survives. He chases Kinsey briefly before exiting his vehicle and removing a shard of glass from his abdomen. He falls as Kinsey tries to hitch a ride with a passing family. The Man in the Mask attacks again, but Kinsey puts him down by striking him with a baseball bat. The final scene depicts Kinsey and Luke at a hospital. Kinsey awakens from a nightmare as an unseen figure knocks at the door.
The Strangers: Prey at Night may be nothing like its predecessor, but the sequel has its moments. Its neon-lit slasher nonsense feels like a throwback, but it would hit the spot for anyone who misses that golden era. The next entry in the franchise will likely return to the original standard, but Prey at Night remains a worthy entry in a questionable series.
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