The Strangers: Prey At Night (2018)

The Strangers: Prey At Night (2018) (see below for preview images)

Directed by Johannes Roberts
Written by Bryan Bertino
 
Starring: Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison and Lewis Pullman
 
IMDb 5.2/10                Rotten Tomatoes 39%                        Metacritic 48/100

Full Trailer:

Okay, let me just start with the whole “based on true events” thing at the beginning.  Once again, “INSPIRED by true events” would have been much more accurate.  So don’t go thinking that all this stuff really happened.  The writer used a number of real events for inspiration for this tragic tale but none of the actual happenings were what happened in the film. That being said, I started the film with an eye roll due to the announcement being made from the get go. I feel like they are trying to lie to me when they do that.  I’d rather the filmmakers just be honest and say, “We were inspired by personal experiences and notorious events when creating the plot for this film.  None of this actually happened.  We made it all up.”  Trying to get me to actually believe that these events really happened, in this age where we can Google everything, is a complete waste of time and truly, almost insulting.
 
The film isn’t much different from the first one.  This time it’s a family that is on a vacation before the rebellious daughter is shipped off to boarding school.  They go to the trailer park that is owned by family of theirs and eventually settle into the trailer they are assigned for the night.  They plan to make contact with their family in the main trailer in the morning.  Little do they know their family members are already dead.
 
No sooner do they get settled when there’s a knock at the door.  And the nightmare begins.  Once again, the three “strangers” terrorize this family and start killing off each member. As usual they are chased and taunted and frightened into running around like scared little rabbits.  
 
Now, I thought that this one was actually a little better, maybe, than the first.  I think it’s because there’s no broken love story to muck things up.  Not to mention that I was a very rebellious teen myself and immediately realized that this whole ordeal is actually HER FAULT.  See, if she wasn’t acting like an ass all the time she wouldn’t be getting sent to boarding school which, in turn, means that they wouldn’t be having this family vacation as the final family get together before she’s gone away. So, truly, if she wasn’t acting a fool, they wouldn’t have even been there and everyone who died would still be alive.
 
I still don’t think it was a bad film and any horror movie lover would like it enough to watch it at least once.  It’s not like there’s a whole lot to expect from a modern day slasher film anymore. And they did the job fairly well. So, hopefully none of you will feel let down when you watch it.  I thought there were some pretty killer moments, to be honest.  (Killer…no pun intended but, a great one nonetheless.)
 
RATINGS
3/5 Stars