Johannes Roberts’s sequel to Bryan Bertino’s awful 2008 home-invasion thriller The Strangers is a throwback to the slasher movies of the 1980s, but much gorier and grosser, an exercise in pure sadism that is all the more sordid because it is quite efficiently made. The targets are a squabbling middle-class family—parents Mike (Martin Henderson) and Cindy (Christina Hendricks), and teen children Kinsey (Bailee Madison) and Luke (Lewis Pullman)—who are visiting a relative in a trailer park. It soon becomes clear that three masked maniacs have slaughtered everyone and are now intent on finishing off the new arrivals, using hatchets, knives, and an old pickup truck as their weapons of choice. The only question here is the order in which the four potential victims will be attacked and/or killed, resulting in an ugly and protracted game of cat and mouse in which one’s concern for the mice—never very high to begin with—grows increasingly weak. The primary character here is Kinsey, who serves as the proverbial damsel in distress, repeatedly escaping in order to have a final series of confrontations with the leader of the murderous crew. Roberts manages some imaginative death scenes, but the film’s nihilism—when one of the killers is asked why she’s slaughtering people, her response is simply “Why not?”—is so pervasive that the only proper response is revulsion. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes on the music (3 min.), “Family Fights Back” (2 min.), and “A Look Inside” (2 min.), an alternate ending (2 min.), and the music video for “Prep for Night.” Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for a decidedly unsavory sequel.] (F. Swietek)
The Strangers: Prey at Night
Universal, 86 min., R, DVD: $29.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $34.98, June 12 Volume 33, Issue 4
The Strangers: Prey at Night
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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