The Strangers: Prey at Night is as how its title suggests – a no-brainer stripped down horror thriller that provides the right sensations where it should.
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Maybe it is the general level of expectations that genre fans are expecting these days, but it is always good to deliver what works best and leave the rest to the minimal. A decade later comes The Strangers: Prey at Night that send three psychotic killers going after a family of four in a deserted trailer park.
An 85-minute horror thriller that is loosely based on 2008’s The Strangers by Bryan Bertino should provide the chills and thrills that genre fans are craving for. Johannes Roberts (47 Metres Down) doesn’t fail under this expectation.
After a relatively lengthy exposition that establishes a typical family where the teenagers do not cherish time and kinship with their parents, Luke (Lewis Pullman) and Kinsey (Bailee Madison) soon find themselves in a situation worse than defying their parents.
Sending the clueless victims running about and away from their assailants, there are a couple of effective scenes – especially the showdown at the swimming pool that involves a large kitchen knife, a golf club and an axe.
It also makes it difficult for the audience to understand what drives the three antagonists, as they hide their faces behind masks and remain (almost) silent in the film. This makes it even more frustrating for the family of four as they can only focus on pure survival instincts (a change from the usual talkative villains that tend to explain themselves too much before going for the kill).
Perhaps done intentionally, the characters in the film do not appear to make smart decisions where some of the viewers find themselves cursing at the onscreen characters for silly moves such as splitting up when they should have stayed together.
With the above, it also brings about painful downsides of the film – a thin story with minimal characterisation. Despite good performance by Christina Hendricks as the mother Cindy, she would most definitely find better roles elsewhere.
If one can ignore the cheap conclusive scene and the skimpy film material, The Strangers: Prey at Night is as how its title suggests – a no-brainer stripped down horror thriller that provides the right sensations where it should.
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