Decade in making: Sequel no one asked for
Ten years ago, writer/director Bryan Bertino delivered The Strangers, a barebones horror about a couple ( Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman) staying in an isolated vacation home and t errorized by three masked assailants. No one was calling “encore!” The National Post gave it one star out of four.
But like the you- thought-it- was- dead monster rising long after anyone expects it, Bertino is back as co- writer of The Strangers: Prey at Night. ( Which is weird, because they preyed at night in the last one too.) This time, a couple and their two kids staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three masked assailants.
Who are the family? Just s ome randos played by Christina Hendricks, Bailee Madison, Bill Pullman’s son and a guy who looks like Luke Wilson if you wrung all the funny out of him.
Who are the assailants? Doesn’t matter; they have no backstories, few weapons ( a pickup truck and a few stabby things) and zero personality. Although, based on the music they work to (vintage ’ 80s rock by the likes of Kim Wilde, Air Supply and Bonnie Tyler) I’m going to guess disgruntled GenXers, perhaps fed up with the state of movies today.
They’re not even played by the same actors in this one. In fact, a quick Internet search shows that the only three people connected with both movies are Bertino himself, producer Trevor Macy, and a stunt guy named Cal Johnson.
Prey at Night is directed by Johannes Roberts, a horror filmmaker whose work includes the shark drama 47 Meters Down and i ts upcoming sequel, called ( I kid you not) 48 Meters Down, which I guess is marginally better than Great Whites: Prey at Night. Roberts doesn’t do much with this one, although he experiments a little by having some of the scares approach slowly rather than jumping out every time. Oh, and there’s a nice bit on the soundtrack, when the 1984 pop song Live It Up morphs into an eerie bit of score.
But this isn’t enough to elevate The Strangers into anything more than 85 wasted minutes. The Post once again delivers a one- star rating, and since inflation means the paper now scores out of five rather than four, Prey at Night actually ranks just below its precursor in critical quality.
The Strangers: Prey at Night opens across Canada on March 9.