The ten year wait is finally over for horror movie fanatics. “The Strangers: Prey at Night,” sequel to the original “The Strangers,” finally came out earlier this month. As the second entry in the movie franchise, many wonder if it lives up to the well-respected first entry. In short, the sequel does manage to surpass the first movie in very few aspects, but falls short in the long run.

“The Strangers: Prey at Night” finds two parents dropping off their troublesome teen daughter at a boarding school while bringing their older son for the ride. Before they could get to the boarding school, they stop for the night at their relatives’ trailer park. Little did they know that the infamous trio of murderers would later on show up, testing their ability to come and work together as a family.

As mentioned earlier, the movie did manage to get some things right. An eighties theme was present throughout the movie by the look of the trailer park and soundtrack. This was really the only aspect that brought life and excitement to the movie. Each time someone was killed, there was always some eighties song being played, whether it came from a nearby truck’s radio or the stereo system of the trailer park’s pool.

Speaking of pools, the pool scene is probably the only scene you’ll remember. Every other scene had the character make an insanely stupid decision, but this scene gave the character an actual chance to keep them self alive. The colorful lights around the pool, complemented by “Total Eclipse of the Heart” made this scene the best in the whole movie.

Other than that, this movie is nowhere near as good as the first. “The Strangers” was much better, able to pull off a scary tone and keep the audience on the edge of their seats. In fact, I remember when I saw the first movie years ago, I was so terrified I couldn’t finish the movie. The first entry in the franchise also took their time when it came to killing characters, whereas the sequel just jumped straight into the killing. This made the movie seem very rushed, failing to build character development.

When not compared, “The Strangers: Prey at Night” is an above average horror movie where characters, like always, make the dumbest decisions no one would even think about making.