This belated sequel is, I am relieved to say, very satisfying and a potent companion piece to the first film. It is not as frightening and visceral as the prior picture, but it counters by being more "cinematic" and cool (the pool scene!), with elegantly framed, playful cinematography and a John Carpenter-indebted synthesizer score. The two films are connected, but have their own identities on levels both aesthetic and thematic, à la Alien/Aliens or House of 1000 Corpses/The Devil's Rejects. And an unnecessary final beat notwithstanding, it wraps up the story of the murderous trio nicely. Which is, in the end, almost certainly preferable to an alternate universe where a generic, repetitive Strangers 2 was rushed into production for release in May of 2009.

This is honest to god one of the worst movies I've ever seen. And I adore the first, it's one of my favorite horror movies and one of the only movies to actually scare me. This is an abomination that does everything wrong in the same way that the first did everything right. Also, the less said about Bailee Madison's godawful final girl performance the better. One of the most annoying characters in recent memory. F

Grade?

I believe David is in the 10th grade by now.

This movie is just the worst. It feels so cheap and low-rent too. I'll be pretending it never happened.

Your response mystifies me. I understanding preferring the first, but this is, in my opinion, obviously a well-crafted horror film with a lot of style and even decent acting.

The stupid as fuck on-the-nose soundtrack selections didn't register to me as stylish. And the pool scene felt like something out of an STV horror movie from 1996. While the first movie used silence to build a sense of dread every other scene here was like "let's blast our ugly '80s-centric score or some song really loudly!"

Also, Bailee Madison's "I'm such a rebel I dress like Wednesday Addams and don't inhale cigarettes" schtick was insufferable. Christina Hendricks was fine in her 20 minutes of screentime. Martin Henderson and the son were also awful.

None of the performances were awful. I do think Bailee Madison's character was annoying though, but her acting was decent enough. Though she's definitely the weakest of everyone. My favorite was Lewis Pullman (Bill's son) as the brother. He was very likable. Looking forward to seeing him in more movies. I was rooting for him to survive. Wouldn't have minded at all if Madison's character didn't make it as long as he did. Was kind of hoping they'd have a role reversal and have a "final boy." They had to know people would like him more than the main character. My audience was audibly disappointed after he was attacked in the pool. The scene itself though was very cool.

Anyway, I honestly found this more entertaining than the first. I do enjoy that film. But whereas that is like a moody throwback to 70's horror the sequel is pretty much straight-up like an 80's slasher and I just found it more fun. That's not to say there's no creepy atmosphere. I thought the deserted trailer park worked well. I also found it pretty suspenseful at times.

I'm really surprised this turned out as enjoyable as it did. It's a stylish follow-up and just as good, if not better, than the original.

8/10 (B+)


Cory, I cannot get over your exaggeration of this. Not liking it is one thing, but it is not nearly as terrible as you make it out to be. I have no idea what you watched but it's hard to believe we watched the same movie.

THE STRANGERS PREY AT NIGHT

First, I really didn't like the first Strangers and I'm not a fan of horror flicks where the freaks win so I can say I was about ready to get up and walk out of the film and it was gonna be my first F of 2018. This film was laughable up to the swimming pool scene but before I get there let me do the laughable nonsense. The first encounter the dog doesn't bark. What dog especially what appeared to be a german shepherd doesn't bark at a random knock in the middle of the night? Come on now. Later in the film everyone leaves the mobile home without their cell phones. No one brings a cell phone. This is 2018. Please. Next, is everyone at this mobile home park dead? There's nobody anywhere. Then we get another sequence where somehow the family gets a gun and it ends up with the brother. He has one of the girls red handed in his sights and...let's her go. Whu what?! Okay, a couple characters I hated. The dad, Martin Henderson of the Ring fame, was terrible. He felt very whiny and was overacting like hell especially in the car after the wreck. Next, the daughter played by Bailee Madison. She was terrible. If she wasn't whiny or fake crying or making noise as if she had a cowbell around her neck everywhere she went. She was almost unbearable. Finally we get to the parts that actually save this film for me. The brother actually hits and kills one of the demons. Praise Jesus! Then of course I get more satisfaction with the other two being defeated. Thank God! I did appreciate that the last guy was turning into Jason at the end there. When he started driving that truck after it had burst into flames I was like come on but excited at the same time. He had to have been drugged up to even do that nonsense. Anyway, it was satisfying for me in how the last 15 minutes played out to save it. I actually wouldn't mind a Strangers 3 with that burned out guy as a villain.

Grade - C

I agree with most Bailee Madison was terrible and wouldn't have mind if she was killed. Pullman was decent, Henderson was under-utilized and gets killed easily (the only time I felt script modified killings). I felt the only good acting in this movie was from Hendricks or the people in mask(s). The doll face girl was hardly used and killed quickly, either an after thought or due to lot of cuts in the movie, though I did like her first reveal in the tunnel. The first half of the movie wasn't exciting as most of these horror movies fail to setup family bonds. The second half while good wasn't exciting enough, the first movie built real horror from non-demonic events and while this tries hard it fails at that. This movie does great in building the atmosphere and keeping the characters/motivations grounded. The pool scene is specially the highlight here and I believe anyone who doesn't like that scene in the movie isn't going to like it at all. The finale was annoying but it was kinda expected as otherwise the movie would have ended too soon.

5/10.

The Strangers: Prey at Night

This is a very poor horror film. It is bad screenwriting 101, with stupid characters and bad performances across the board. It has one of the worst final girls I've ever seen. Bailee Madison is excruciatingly annoying as she runs from killers but cannot keep her fucking trap shut. This is the type of stupid fucking film that has nobody take their phone when they go out or grab a weapon when they're in danger. And why is it that screenwriters are under the impression that people don't know how to use guns? The dad asks "you know how to use that thing?" and the son replies "no". Oh fuck off! What person above the age of 8 doesn't know that you just need to point and pull the trigger? It's fucking idiotic. There was one jump scare that worked and it was while Madison is in a playground tunnel screaming "leave us alone!" and one of the killers appears out of the shadows saying "but we've just started". That was good. But the rest of this film is lame. These kids, especially the brother, just acts like nothing has happened to his parents. "I've killed one of yours. How's that feel, huh?". Hmm, getting lippy with a serial killer in a mask after your parents have just died. Very believable. And the way the film uses the camera is stupid and just makes the characters look even more stupid. Anyway, it's not even a tenth of the quality of the original. And was that final pursuit on the back of the truck an homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Lame.

D+

Bailee Madison's character was so annoyingly loud. It was like she was trying to make the most possible noise throughout.

I thought it was alright at best. Not as good as the first, but watchable enough. I liked how it was shot and some of the music choices, but there wasn't much to the the main characters and they do make a bunch of dumb decisions. This movie is filled with your typical horror movie cliche's, but at least I wasn't bored.

C+

Yeah, I wasn't bored and the music is fine. Despite my D+, I'd probably watch this again! lol