THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT is another terror-filled turn from director Johannes Roberts who is back on dry land after last year’s “47 Meters Down”/”In The Deep”! Roberts brings a unique visual take to suspense films like THE STRANGERS 2, capitalizing on the idea of contained spaces, using that to his advantage and that of the audience for an edge-of-your-seat, tension-filled experience from beginning to end. But, as remarkable as Roberts’ visual style and suspense factor are, a shining star amidst the darkness of horror and terror is Bailee Madison who steps out of her “Good Witch”, “Parental Guidance”, “Northpole”, and “Cowgirls ‘n Angels” family fare persona, pushing the envelope and her acting chops to deliver a performance that is rich with maturity, depth, and nail-biting intensity.
Meet Cindy and Mike and their kids Kinsey and Luke. Leaving the city because of Cindy’s belief that Kinsey is being adversely influenced by her peers and turning into a troublemaker, the family lands in a rural trailer park run by their aunt and uncle. On arriving late into the night, they find the trailer park deserted. Even their aunt and uncle are nowhere to be found. Heading out to the mobile home that will be their new residence, it doesn’t take long before a knock at the door bodes terror for all as three masked psychopaths have the family running for their lives and struggling to survive in a cat-and-mouse game of madness, mayhem, and murder.
Scribe Ben Ketai uses his own director’s eye when he writes a screenplay and together with co-writer and franchise originator Bryan Bertino, the script is not only constructed with an eye towards the visual possibilities of bringing the story to life but raises the who-what-why-when-where questions that keep the audience invested and scared! And they connect the dots. (Shhh! No spoilers here!) Key is that Ketai breaks out of many of the horror tropes we have come to expect in a film like this. But most importantly, we are given a female protagonist in the form of Madison’s Kinsey whom we care about and champion as the scenario intensifies and danger is no longer at every turn from 50 feet away, but 20 feet, 10, feet, 5 feet, in your face. And that’s where the skill of director Johannes Roberts comes in to play.
We are contained within a trailer park and as is seen from the start when Kinsey and Luke first wander out of their trailer, thanks to Kinsey’s pissed-offedness at her parents, the teens then flee in terror and keep running in order to survive as Roberts continually loops everything within itself within the trailer park, adding a great subliminal element for the audience of “they’re running in circles with nowhere to go – they are so panic-stricken they don’t know how to get out of the murderous cycle”. It’s a wonderfully effective technique not only for budgetary considerations but for the world created and in which everyone becomes immersed. Film construct is solid. Particularly notable is the film’s opening scene that gives us a mysterious knocking at the door in the middle of the night, an older woman’s terrified face, and a doll-face masked woman who crawls into bed and then cut! Deliciously piques curiosity and scares the bejeebers out of you!
Calling on the brilliant cinematographer Ryan Samul (and if you haven’t seen Samul’s work with Jim Mickle in “Stakeland”, “We Are What We Are”, “Cold In July” or his work in “Officer Down” or “Experimenter”, do yourself a favor and watch them), together Roberts and Samul develop a killer visual tonal bandwidth that is visceral in its texture thanks to use of light and color, as well as a varied use of framing and dutching with the camera. And talk about use of negative space and the depth of field of shades of black within black!! The richness of the color and its saturation intensifies the experience on the screen and osmotically connects with the audience watching. The putrid sickly yellow ambient light from the various street lights, laced in a summer fog, sets the stage and sets our spidey senses tingling for danger. A pool scene is to die for with crystal clear aqua water, vivid GE bright white area lights and punctuated with neon colored lights wrapped around palm trees. Not only does it add a note of whimsy (that matches the demented childlike nature of the masked psychotic killers), but allows for some respite of darkness while engaging in a beautifully lensed underwater battle, complete with blood seeping into the clear pool (an effect Roberts did beautifully in “47 Meters Down”). But then take a look at shots of Kinsey hiding in drain pipes with headlights staring her down, not to mention the heart-stopping shot of just her eye as she is hidden behind the trellis while Luke goes for help. Breathtaking and heart-stopping! Each image and scene is as visceral as the next while every visual in the trailer park is a complete contrast to the idyllic sunlit, colorfully gardened life the family left behind. Makes you wonder if the family was paying penance for “writing Kinsey off” by sending her to boarding school. Was it that bad that her grades fell and she cut classes? Couldn’t they have stood by her and worked through it? There are worse kids out there. It’s interesting food for thought as well as a wonderful storytelling tool.
But then there’s the aural experience thanks to an incredible soundscape. WOW! WOW! WOW! Applause Applause to sound designers Richard Lewis and Steven Parker. The fear factor and real tension of THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT lies within its soundscape and its immersive aural experience. As with the visuals, the sonic texture is visceral with its play of volume and the layers of sound atop sound. The attention to detail is meticulously executed and designed with the sounds of gravel, keys, a tap tap tap of a single key on a window, exhaustive panting, feet running on wet ground and grass, a knife wielded in the wind or dull axe dragged on the ground, not to mention a killer dual carburetor souped-up muscle car sound for an old pick-up truck driven by the killers. Then there’s the layering of the music, most notably the needle drops. From Air Supply to Bonnie Tyler, the irony of madness, mayhem, and murder set to an Air Supply ballad is too rich for words. Bottom line is that all the sonic layers create a reality that is believable, resonant and immersive.
Also fueling the fire (pun not intended) is the rapier editing of Roberts’ longtime editor Martin Brinkler. He knows pacing. He knows how to build suspense. He knows how to build terror. And he knows how to sustain and how to do it all with precise images at precise moments.
But THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT ultimately comes down to Bailee Madison and her performance. This is HER film. This is HER moment. Her physicality is incredible, but it’s her emotional range that stuns. She had a good training ground in terror and fear with the Guillermo del Toro scripted “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” many years ago and her memory muscles have obviously kicked in here, only to be compounded by her on screen and life experience since. We feel everything Kinsey is feeling and experience fear on a visceral level through Kinsey. The emotion that Madison brings is palpable – be it as rebellious teen, or a hurt teen being sent away by her parents, a sister trying to save her brother, a young woman finding her own strength to fight back and not run. That emotion is raw, pure, honest and from the gut. I knew she was a good actress, I just didn’t know she had attained this level of emotional depth yet in your career. Where and how she found this strength and power amazes me. Particularly standout is the emotional arc of Kinsey as she goes from being the hunted into the hunter. From the thrill and excitement of a culminating moment in the third act to the beauty and poignancy running deep in another scene as brother and sister stories heard earlier come full circle to great conclusion as Kinsey goes from being a young girl to being a woman, Bailee Madison digs deep within herself and hits a performance home run.
Not to be overlooked is Lewis Pullman as Luke. The chemistry between Pullman and Madison is undeniable and beyond believable as brother and sister. Their on-screen antics feel natural and unvarnished with both at ease with each other and their respective characters. Similarly, as Cindy and Mike, Christina Hendricks and Martin Henderson fill the parental bill nicely.
And the film gets off to a great start with the opening titles and the use of the very feminine (and anti-horror) use of bright 1980’s neon pink.
THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT will remind you why tofear things that go bump in the night or knock at the door. . . and why you never want to live in a trailer park! Now it’s time to pray for a sequel!
Directed by Johannes Roberts
Written by Ben Ketai with original screenplay by Bryan Bertino
Cast: Bailee Madison, Lewis Pullman, Martin Henderson and Christina Hendricks
by debbie elias, 01/18/2018 screened
