It’s been ten long years, but the masked slashers known as The Strangers are finally headed back to theaters inThe Strangers: Prey at Night. Despite critical acclaim and box office success, the sequel toBrian Bertino’s 2008 film languished in development hell for years, even though the script was already on the page. But now, a decade later, the trio of extra-creepy killers are back in action with a revamped take at the hands of47 Meters DownhelmerJohannes Roberts,who’s bringing a retro throwback vibe to the newly-revived horror franchise with his love letter toJohn Carpenterand horror cinema of the 1970s.
For the sequel, the Strangers get an expanded playground and head to a vacation retreat mobile home park, where a family in crisis stops in for the night and comes face-to-face with the murderous masked madmen. A bitter, isolated teenager about to be shipped off to boarding school (Bailee Madison), her all-American brother (Lewis Pullman), and her weary parents (Christina HendricksandMartin Henderson) – in the tradition of the first film, they’re already frayed and frazzled when they come up against the Strangers, with underpinning of drama that fuels the horrors about to unfold.
Last summer, I had the opportunity to see Roberts – and Baghead – in action on the set ofPrey at Nighton a cold night in Kentucky. I’ve been on a lot of horror sets over the years and they’re usually not very scary, but in the quiet dead of night on the freshly constructed, convincingly abandoned mobile home location, nothing but the sound of bugs and the light of fireflies, it was pretty darn easy to let a chill slip up your spine. Especially when you turned the corner to signs of chaos; a minivan crashed into a mobile home, or a big ass truck looming down the road with a masked assailant inside. In addition to getting creeped out, I also spoke with the cast and crew, and learned quite a bit about what to expect from the long-awaited horror sequel. Check out the highlights below.
The Strangers: Prey at Nightarrives in theaters on March 9.
