23 March,2018 08:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Johnson Thomas
The Strangers: Prey at Night
Horror; A
Cast: Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman, Emma Bellomy, Lea Enslin, Damian Maffei, Leah Roberts
Director: Johannes Roberts
Writer: Ben Ketai, Bryan Bertino
Rating:
Ten years ago when writer/director Bryan Bertino delivered The Strangers(Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman), the horror fanatics never really stirred up any enthusiasm for it. And they preyed at night too. So one wonders why a sequel was necessary at all- especially one that doesn't work-up either atmosphere, a reasonable set-up or any great enthusiasm for it's kills. There's a strange mechanical monotony in the clichéd, illogical genre elements employed here.
Bertino gets back into the saddle here, as co-writer of The Strangers: Prey at Night- but it doesn't look like he has learnt much from his earlier debacle and the passage of time thereof. His writing hasn't improved one bit and the set-up is so unchallenging that it begins to look ridiculous right from the word go.
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This time round, a couple and their two kids- Cindy (Christina Hendricks) and Mike (Martin Henderson), their jock son Luke (Lewis Pullman, son of Bill) and surly teenage daughter Kinsey (Bailee Madison), who come for a break to a family owned trailer vacation park are terrorized by three masked assailants. Thankfully for us before we can say boo, the masked bandits attack and notch up the numbers in quick succession. And One hour and twenty-five minutes later we're done with the movie and it's pitiful attempts to rack up the fear quotient. Director Johannes Roberts, stages the violent mayhem with ritualistic efficiency but he just doesn't seem to know how to rake up an atmosphere of dread or give the kills some stylistic flourish. It's exasperating to see adult characters behave so stupidly even when they are supposedly disturbed over a crisis situation. The dialogues sound ridiculous and the performances are terrible. There's really no hope for this one!
Watch The Strangers rey At Night Trailer
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