229. The Strangers Prey At Night

THE STRANGERS PREY AT NIGHT
Cert 15
85 mins
BBFC advice: Contain strong threat, injury detail, violence, language

I never understood the popularity of slasher movies such as Nightmare on Elm Street. They suggested to me that society had gone very bad if Freddie Kruger was seen as a hero.
Therefore, I didn't see any of them at the cinema. Neither did I expose myself to the Halloween franchise.
However, for the sake of completeness, I subjected myself to Johannes Roberts' The Strangers Prey At Night - and it was every bit as bad as I feared it would be.
My eyes started to roll from the opening seconds when its titles claim it is based on a true story.
This has become a very liberally used phrase at the cinema recently. Previously, its accepted meaning was that there was a moment of history which would have been recognisable from a movie's presentation.
That simply isn't the case here. It's supposedly a combo of different events including the Charles Manson murders.
These merely lay an excuse for bloody knifings and slashings accompanied by the screams of the pursued.
Roberts' film stars Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison and Lewis Pullman as a family who stop off at a closed down trailer park on the way to taking the fractious daughter to boarding school.
From the moment that a sullen young woman knocks at their door and asks: "Is Tamara at home?", they face a struggle to stay alive.
Meanwhile, I was hoping they would be bumped off as quickly as possible to bring the bloody purgatory (for me and them) to an end.
And that's it - the family run and the crazy people with knives chase, they run and they chase, they run and they chase...and they run and they chase.
The film is set at night so it is very dark and the scares are induced by bangs at the door and jolting sound effects.
And, inevitably,  the family's teenagers who loathe each other sudden become best buddies in the do-or-die scenario.
Oh, and its backdrop and soundtrack make it appear to be from the 1980s and yet mobile phones play a significant part in the plot.
But, hey, the film jarred so badly, who cares about continuity? I could not wait for it to end. The small mercy was that it was only 85 minutes' long.


Reasons to watch: If you are a fan of the 80s-style slasher movies
Reasons to avoid: It is cruel, gory and pointless

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 2/10

Director quote - Johannes Roberts: "I’m a massive fan of John Carpenter - he and his movies were an influence on the film but it wasn’t direct or anything. In fact I drew inspiration from some surprising other films including Duel, The Fog and Christine."

The big question - What is the attraction of slasher movies?

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