The Strangers : Prey At Night

In 1981 a family called the Sharpes rented a cabin in the Keddie Resort in northern California. On the 12th of April one of the daughters returned home from a sleepover and found her mam and two brothers tied up and murdered and her sister missing. 37 years later this case has never been solved. This horrible story inspired 2008's The Strangers and now 10 years later The Strangers : Prey At Night.

Mike and Cindy are parents at their wit's end about what to do with their rebellious daughter Kinsey. They decide to send her to boarding school in the hope that her behaviour will be sorted out. Before this they go on one last trip to spend time together so with their son Luke they head off to a trailer park owned by family. There's other people at the park too....

I was expecting nothing from this but wanted to see it as I genuinely enjoyed the first film in the series. Horror sequels tend to be a pointless exercise in repetition and belated sequels in any genre nearly always end up bad so imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a pretty damn effective exercise in terror like it's predecessor. Like the original film the first thing the movie does right is give us a group of protagonists we can identify with. Slasher films are nearly always populated with teenage muppets who you want to see cleaved in half so it's refreshing to see characters onscreen you don't want to see die. Here we get a mam, dad, son and daughter, all struggling with normal family problems using recognisable family dynamics. We know people like these, with these issues so of course we don't want to see them die onscreen. When a horror film can do this it's winning already.

Characters aside there's lots to like about this. It has an oddly timeless feel due to some very effective uses of classic 80's music from Kim Wilde, Tiffany and Bonnie Tyler Moore. At moments during the film you wouldn't be faulted for thinking the film was set in the early 80's until you are jarred by the sight of a modern car or a smartphone. It creates an unsettling mood. A swimming pool scene scored by Total Eclipse of the Heart is a cracker. The camera cutting between underwater turmoil and the serene surface and the 80's atmosphere bringing to mind similar scenes from Cat People and Rosemary's Killer. The tone is heightened by nods to other horror classics of the period like Halloween and Friday The 13th. The camp by the lake, certain things worn by bad people and musical cues that really bring the work of Sean S. Cunningham and John Carpenter to mind. Director Johanne Roberts and writer Bryan Bertino obviously have a love of the genre and that love is plain to see onscreen.

And then of course there's the scares. Here's where the film really shines. It's properly old fashioned in its depiction of horror. The slowburn feeling of "somethings not right here", the relative lack of overt blood and gore ( the violence in this is tough but it's not graphic and exploitative) and the lack of cheap shocks and jump scares which is always appreciated. During scenes you'll see things in the background that will put the willies up you (oo-er) straight away because you know something is coming but the people onscreen don't. It works so much better than the loud noises horror of other modern movies. Then there's the baddies and their motivations. The reason behind what we see happening might be a cop out to some but the more you think about it all the scarier it gets. It's all rather nihilistic.

I liked this. The cast do a fine job, Christina Hendricks and Bailee Madison especially. They succeed in making you give a shit about events onscreen and the fact that all this happens in under 90 minutes is even better. Horror fans will get a lot out of this but there's something here for everyone even if you haven't seen the first film. It's a fine friday night movie.