The Strangers: Prey at Night

The Strangers: Prey at Night is the follow up to the 2008 film The Strangers. The premise is pretty much the same except it's at a mobile home park and it's a family of four.

Bryan Bertino did the original and wrote this follow up's screenplay. The dialogue and structure of the film is very 80s horror and throws in a lot of tropes that audiences have come to expect. It's formulaic and predictable if you're an adult. This film is rated R but for some reason, the kills that were used throughout the film were generally muted. Sure there's blood but I left the theater thinking that I saw a PG-13 film.

Johannes Roberts has improved since doing 47 meters down. Don't ask me why that film got a sequel. This man loves his horror films and it shows. There are some camera and editing problems but nothing too major. He used the zoom function of the camera so much in the film. There are parts where I could see intent on how he chose the shot and then others seem random. Randomness is a theme to the film so I suppose there's a connection there.

I wish there was more Christina Hendricks, not just because she was in one of my favorite movies of all time, Drive, but because she can act really well and I felt she was just briefly in the film even though she's credited first.

Daughter of Christina Hendricks was the wonderful Bailee Madison who you'll recognize from the television show Good Witch or The Fosters. I believe, maybe foolishly, but I believe that there was intent on how Kinsey emoted at the beginning of the film. I suppose I should say lack thereof. There is a bigger character arc if at the beginning there are little expressions on an actress's face so that when there's horror there's a drastic change in how the audience sees her. She nails the horror queen, Laurie Strode, scream, and whimpering.

The bigger problems with the acting come from the two males in the film. They were stereotypic with underdeveloped characters and poorly written excuses to separate the family from each other. The choices they make are a roller coaster of fickleness.

I disagree with some of the critics on just how bad of a film most believe it was. It's not that bad. Sure the final scenes are an eye roller and the first ten minutes aren't all that interesting, but I enjoyed the hunt and horror the rest of the film provided. I didn't like it as much as the first but I think Bailee Madison carried the film pretty well.

Result: C (The Ritual is a better choice and you don't have to leave home to watch that horror film.)

Comments

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) continues the infected saga with a story that is strange enough to stay engaging and familiar enough for longtime fans to settle back in. If you have followed the previous films, there is enough connective tissue here to keep your interest, even when the execution falters. The film leans into cult imagery and bleak world building, which works more often than not, even if the pacing and presentation are uneven. Nia DaCosta , who previously directed Candyman (2021) and The Marvels , shows some recurring issues with camera direction and dialogue-heavy scenes. Several shots are awkwardly staged, and conversations often lack visual energy. That said, the overall Alex Garland's story structure is solid and appropriately weird for this universe, suggesting stronger material than her technical choices allow to shine. Jack O’Connell , known for Unbroken and Sinners , plays the satanist cult leader and walks a fine line between overacting and cont...

No Other Choice (2025)

No Other Choice (2025) is directed by Park Chan-wook , the filmmaker behind Oldboy and Snowpiercer . His signature style is all over this film, with moments of completely bizarre dialogue and acting choices that feel intentional rather than accidental. While it doesn’t reach the heights of his most celebrated work, it’s still unmistakably his, strange, uncomfortable, and darkly humorous. I still need to see The Handmaiden , which many consider his best film, and this only reinforced that curiosity. Lee Byung-hun , who many Western audiences may remember from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and KPop Demon Hunters , plays the lead role as a desperate father trying to secure a job. His character’s decision to literally eliminate the competition is where the film fully leans into its absurdity. I barely recognized him at first, which speaks to how fully he disappears into the role. His performance walks a fine line between grounded desperation and unhinged logic. Son Ye-jin , known for Th...

Primate (2026)

Primate (2026) is a slasher horror built around a simple hook, a rabid monkey on a killing spree, but it leans far too heavily on genre tropes without doing anything interesting with them. Logical inconsistencies are the film’s biggest issue, with characters repeatedly making baffling decisions that pull you out of the experience. Several deaths are outright spoiled in the trailer, which drains what little tension the film manages to build. The trailer would, wrongfully, make you believe that the audience is being scared the same way Paranormal Activity did. There is also an unfortunate character design choice that feels engineered purely for clout rather than story or theme. Johnny Sequoyah , who some may remember from Assassination Nation and the TV series Dexter: New Blood , is positioned early on as the clear final girl. The film telegraphs this so hard that there is never any real suspense about her survival. Once she is framed as the moral and emotional center, the rest of the...

Movies, Film, and Chili

Search This Blog